WITH its brightly lit glass cubicles displaying scantily clad women to the passing pedestrians, there's no place in Indonesia, or the Islamic world, quite like Surabaya's Dolly district. The hub of the port city's expansive sex industry, Dolly is a narrow lane some metres long, packed with brothels and bars, the touts jostling among the satay vendors and meatball soup hawkers to entice passers-by to ''jiggy jiggy''.
Sex workers in the Surabaya red-light district known as Dolly. Credit: Quentin Jones. It's not exactly Bangkok's Patpong or Amsterdam's red light district, but it's not far off either.
Named after a Dutch madam who set up a brothel in the area during the colonial era, Dolly has thrived for decades with the tacit approval of local authorities. East Java Governor Soekarwo has vowed to shut down Dolly and Surabaya's six other red light districts by , promising an ''unlimited'' budget and an innovative program that mixes financial incentives with retraining and religious instruction. It's enough to start a warung [small food stall] or kiosk.
The government is offering sex workers money management classes, and cooking and sewing lessons. There are also monthly Koran reading classes. Still, even as Mr Indra believes his ''humane'' approach will work, many have their doubts. There are complex reasons why people become prostitutes β¦ many are running away from violence, others are victims of trafficking.
Ms Vera is caring for Mujiana, a year-old who became a sex worker when she was 15 after her father was imprisoned and her mother ran away, leaving her to look after her three younger siblings. She fell pregnant and her prospects looked dire until she was given a scholarship to study public relations through Ms Vera's Abdi Asih Foundation.
