Under-the-table microcredit for Surabaya prostitutes

RNW, 5 August 2010 - 9:39am | By Prita Riadhini

(Photo: RNW)

By day: shawl seller. By night: prostitute. With help from under-the-table loans, several women in the Indonesian city of Surabaya are trying to break loose from the hard life of a prostitute and the poverty that goes with it.

It’s already dark in the city’s red-light district of Tambak Asri. But the darker it gets, the more people appear. The neighbourhood – with around 400 prostitutes – has existed since 1959. Private homes and brothels stand side by side.

Deposit

Syamsiah isn’t well off, just like most of the other women and the clients in the area. A couple of years ago, she tried to get a loan from a bank so she could set up her own business. But the bank demanded both proof of identity and some collateral. She had neither.

Her madam, Suminah, rushed to her aid. She lent Syamsiah three million rupiahs – approximately 225 euros – from money that she had borrowed from a bank. Syamsiah began with a small stall (waroeng) close to the brothel where she worked, and sold soft drinks, coffee, cigarettes and crisps. “Because I’d worked for years for my madam, I could get a loan. If I have no clients, then I stand by my stall. But if I can’t sell enough, then I work as a prostitute.”

Initially, Syamsiah thought she could earn enough money with her stall. “I’ve found a good place. There is somebody else who sells nasi goring close to the brothel. And my madam said to me: ‘You have too few clients. Open a stall.’”

Small profit

The sturdily built Tarti is another prostitute in the neighbourhood. She only works evenings. During the day she roams the neighbourhood with three big plastic bags full of shawls. Which she sells. “I make a small profit. For example, I buy for 8000 rupiahs and make a profit of 2000. If I can just keep my business going,” she says. A couple of months ago, Tarti received a loan from Tukul Bintoro, who’s active in a working group for prostitutes.

Tarti is lucky in that she only has to pay off her loan when it’s convenient for her. And she doesn’t have to pay interest. Tukul Bintoro lent her the money from his own savings and had nothing to do with a bank.

Criticism

It was the banks’ complicated bureaucracy and strict conditions that prompted neighbourhood head of Tambak Asri, Soebandi, to think of another way to offer the prostitutes economic help. “Most of the prostitutes have no proof of identity and no collateral. So we’ve set up a joint pot of money for the prostitutes and their pimps, money the prostitutes can use as starting capital. And so far, approximately 190 women have done just that. A well-filled pot is a good start for a collaboration.” The women can put in as much as they can afford to miss. Soebandi then deposits it all with the bank.

But Hargandono of Surabaya’s Social Services criticises the collaboration. Indonesia pursues a policy against prostitution and doesn’t recognise it as a profession. He believes that most of the women just want to earn money with the least possible effort.

Kurniawan Syaefullah, economist at the Padjajaran University in Bandoeng, sees this kind of under-the-table loan as another form of microcredit. And he thinks that in Indonesia this is a good way to improve your economic position.

No shame

Tarti isn’t ashamed of what she does. “There’s bound to be somebody who says, ‘The shawl seller is a prostitute’. But they don’t say that to my face. I ignore them. In the long run, I don’t want to work as a prostitute.” Yet it hasn’t been going so well for her little business. At the end of a long day she can consider herself lucky if she’s just managed to sell a few shawls. Her dream of giving up her job as a prostitute is still a long way away.