SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

highlighted by the Constitutional Court’s Chairman Mahfud MD, as conveyed in an
online media. 413
Many regional regulations prohibit the practice of selling sex. Such prohibition
occurs because government officials stigmatize sex workers and sex work activities
by associating them with the issue of morality. One of the obvious examples of stigma
generated by the Government is the use of the term ‘immoral woman’ for female sex
workers by the Social Ministry.
Indonesia
…As stated above, sex work activities are not criminalized by the Indonesian Penal
Code. However, in several areas in Indonesia, regional public order regulations
penalize sex work activities. Each local government has a special public order officer
unit (Satuan Polisi Pamong Praja or ‘Satpol PP’). 414 Satpol PP’s main task is to enforce
the regional regulation in their local area.
On a daily basis, it is officers of Satpol PP who authorize the arrest of anyone who
violates the regional regulation, which includes violation of the prohibition of sex
work activities. Satpol PP usually conduct raids [on] a place that is allegedly used to
conduct sex work activities. When sex workers are raided, there are several schemes
that will be undertaken. First, sex workers will be put in a shelter to be processed
administratively. After they are processed, sex workers who have a family can be
redeemed at a cost of IDR 100,000 to IDR 300,000. Second, sex workers who had been
processed administratively, with no one to redeem her/him, will be returned to their
hometown. Third, if their hometown is not in the surrounding area of Jakarta, they
will be put in Social Rehabilitation Center.
The approach by police is different from that of Satpol PP. As the police are not
responsible for enforcing the Regional Regulation, they are usually able to benefit
from policing sex workers. For example, in Jakarta, almost every night police patrol…
the area where sex workers work. The police patrol is meant to protect the area from
crime. However, the police use their role in protection of safety to extort money from
the clients of sex workers. The police also exploit sex workers due to their lack of legal
awareness.
The relationships built between sex workers, their clients, and the police officers are
different in each area. In East Jakarta [for example], the police receive extra payment
from sex workers to keep the surrounding area safe and to protect sex workers from
violence from their clients.
Sex workers are also vulnerable to violence from clients, the local community, or even
their own pimp or madam. Their vulnerability leads to a problem of reluctance [to] file
complaints with the police [even] if they suffer from violence. This is mostly caused
by their lack of legal awareness and bad experiences of their friends when filing
complaints with the police. A case of violence against a sex worker that the police
did not handle properly is Ms. Shakira’s case, which arose in 2011. Shakira was shot
dead by an unknown man in Taman Lawang. The police did not seem to care about
this case, even though the coalition of NGOs pushed them to solve [it] immediately. 415
413 See: http://www.rribandaaceh.net/berita/mk-qanun-jinayat-harus-sinkron-dengan-uu/
414 Article 6 of Government Regulation No. 6 Year 2010Regarding Satuan Polisi Pamong Praja regulates that
Satpol PP has the authority to conduct non-judicial enforcement against Regional Regulation’s perpetrators.
415 See e.g.,: http://m.tribunnews.com/2011/03/10/pria-misterius-tembak-tiga-waria-taman-lawang ,
131