Liliek (Vera) Sulistyowati

Vera is providing alternative choices for prostitutes in Surabaya by interacting with them individually and gaining their trust through informal activities. She is also successfully working with the brothel managers, pimps, and prostitute clients in her efforts to improve the lives of the prostitutes.

Vera's goal is to help women prostitutes and drug-users find alternative work and lifestyles. She believes that the way to bring about change or improvement in the behavior and lives of such women is to gain their trust by getting really close to them. She thinks that the most effective approach is woman to woman, one to one, as one who knows and understands their problems. She started this work and developed her ideas "from the inside", as one who took a job as a manager in a hostess bar when she needed work.

Vera's approach is to work with the brothel owners and pimps in order to achieve fair treatment for the women. Rather than have a contentious relationship with the managers, who have great control over the women's lives, she has successfully included them in her programmes on health and social awareness and maintains links between the management of each house and her Yayasan (organisation). This approach of cooperation rather than confrontation with the organizers of the trade is proving beneficial for the women.

She has recently ventured into the other half of the equation, turning her attention to the behavior and attitudes of the clients, the men who are the regular customers of the sex workers. Her efforts have encouraged the men to regard the sex workers as human beings rather than simply as objects. The particular reason for doing this is to change their attitudes towards the use of condoms which are essential for the control of HIV/AIDS, STDs, and to promote the general health of the sex workers the customers themselves.

Her long-term aim is to show others how to work at the field level in such a way that the focus is not solely on the women, but also on the men who in various roles exploit the women.

The numbers of prostitutes in Surabaya are second only to Bangkok. There are 2500 women concentrated in 2 main areas and these brothel areas are controlled by the local navy and army authorities. The women, and Vera herself, face serious opposition from both the brothel keepers and the military authorities when they strive for changes. The women also face the health dangers of STDs and HIV/AIDS. Many are also drug addicts.

Like others around the world, these women rarely have the skills or contacts needed to make the transition to other jobs and lifestyles. Vera has found that their reasons for entering this profession are fairly complex and they are often victims of poverty, with no one to turn to. The women are often treated inhumanely and cheated by the pimps and owners of brothels.

One of overriding reasons for the spread of STDs and HIV/AIDS among the sex workers is the unwillingness of the customers involved to give any consideration to the health and welfare of the women, most of them refusing even to consider the use of condoms.

Prostitution is not sanctioned in Indonesia although there are areas for prostitutes set unofficially in every town. Despite the conservative attitudes and religious prohibitions towards prostitution in Indonesia, there is often a double standard in which men do not regard the exploitation of sex workers as an unacceptable practice. At the governmental level, the usual "solution" to the problem is to harass the sex businesses and move them on from time to time. Vera knows that there this oversimplified solution simply results in the relocation of the businesses.

Vera's strategy is based on gaining trust, providing alternatives, maintaining relationships with the pimps and others involved, and improving government regulations.

Gain trust: Vera’s first major step came in 1989 when she organized a party and singing competition for the women, an activity very different from their normal lives and one in which they could interact with her and each other in a free and open atmosphere. This was a success and was a starting point for much more - she received sponsorship from Bir Bintang (a major corporation) for similar functions. She was able to begin to talk with the women about other activities together such as an arisan (savings' group) and a health fund. They began to see her as a friend. This became the basis of her idea and she would go to extreme lengths to prove her support for them, even sleeping together with them in

their rooms when one of them was in a crisis situation. Her focus is to counsel them in private problems and to increase their bargaining power as a group. For example, she invited bank officials into the area to enable the women to begin their own savings accounts and become less dependent on the brothel keepers who had formerly often kept their money for them. In all this she is working from the inside, as the most effective way.

Alternatives: In 1990, Vera opened her present organisation, Yayasan Abdi Asih. Her office now has 10 permanent staff and 14 volunteers, with women in all the leading positions. Her organisations now offers counseling, vocational courses (such as sewing and cake-making), a temporary shelter, information leaflets and lectures on HIV/AIDS and examination for STDs and HIV/AIDS with a young doctor who has joined her, condom supplies and the arisan and health savings funds. In the last 5 years, she has succeeded in helping 50 prostitutes and 28 drug-users to start new lives. She is now addressing the twin problems of the need for schooling and a normal life for the children of the prostitutes and the need for alternative jobs for the women when they become too old (40 years of age) to work in this business.

Relationships: Vera must maintain a fine balance in her relationships with the military, brothel owners, and pimps. Her life was once threatened but she has now learned how to approach them. She has developed clear relationships with them by not openly opposing every aspect of the trade, and has been able to gain the trust of the pimps and managers by not threatening their continued income, but rather concentrating her efforts on better conditions for the women. She is now carefully developing relations with the brothel managers: convincing them to accept her programmes for the women, giving them training on the social and health problems and introducing them to her programme of cadreship among the women (one key person in each house to coordinate with her Yayasan).

Peer Groups: Vera has organized the women sex workers into peer groups. She begins by developing a relationship with a few influential women in individual houses. These women become her core group of peer leaders to whom she gives special training in financial and health management. These peer group leaders then hold discussions with the women within their immediate neighborhood to promote the Vera’s programmes. The peer group programme is progressing well and there are 50 women now active as peer group leaders, who are involved with thousands of prostitutes. Abdi Asih holds yearly walkathons on AIDS day in which all the group members participate. She also arranges seminars at which the peer group leaders give presentations on particular problems to invited guests such as government officials, media representatives, and other NGOs.



The awareness raised within the peer groups has allowed for the assistance of 2 women who have full-blown Aids. Vera has been able to convince the women that they must not be isolated or neglected, as is the trend in Indonesia. One of the women, who has 2 children, has had the virus for 9 years and is still not sick. Recently, Vera arranged for her to be on TV to tell her story as a way of improving awareness among the public.

Government regulations: Vera also works with the Women's Research Centre at Airlangga University that documents women's issues and develops appropriate intervention measures. She is working at present on solving the problems the women have in processing their KTPs (official identification documents) at the RW (neighborhood) level.

Customers: Vera has been implementing educational programmes for many of the regular customers. She has been able to convince them to attend seminars that emphasize the importance of safe sex and respect for the sex workers. The next stage of this process is the implementation of "pondok kondom" (Condom Stalls) in a number of locations where prostitutes are located. At these stalls the customers can purchase condoms at cost price as 3 major condom producers are enthusiastic to supply Vera with their products and will give her a "royalty" for each sale. This is an excellent strategy for Vera as she will begin to generate her own income and at the same time will have easy access to data on condom use. The programme has been thought out very carefully and the stalls offer health checks and counseling to customers for STDs, at once promoting better health and better awareness of her programmes.

In the last year, Vera has helped former staff members to develop 2 new organisations, one in Malang and one in Surabaya, which are both using the approaches developed by Vera. They are still under Abdi Asih supervision and have been helped by her Yayasan to approach funders. Government officials have been actively consulting with Vera to learn about her approach and she has numerous linkages with organisations and individuals dealing with the sex industry in other cities, with whom she is collaborating to expand her network and introduce her ideas. For example, in Batam, an island near Singapore, where sex tourism is a newly established industry, Vera has been in frequent contact with an NGO that requested her assistance in developing a programme similar to the one Vera has implemented in Surabaya.

Vera became a widow in 1987 when she had twin girls. She found work as a bartender and could see ways to help the women around her. She had formerly been active in women's programmes in the town where her husband worked and some of her ideas have


developed from her previous experiences. She has now developed her own Yayasan and has followed a counseling course. Her Nominator admires her courage and the fact that she has not succumbed to the lifestyle nor given up her activities because of the pressures. She is a strong and determined woman who now regards her work as her mission in life. She inspires admiration for her drive and conviction and she has been able to attract others to work with her in her organisation in a voluntary capacity.