Batam's Coat of Many Colors

Batam is an island of the Riau group of islands in Indonesia. It is primarily known as the place where many international brands have their manufacturing sites and factories. However, it also has a quite deserved reputation for a very active nightlife.

Most hotels in Batam are based in Nagoya, the principal town. It has a wide range of hotels. The Batam cheap hotels need to be selected carefully. It's all about location. Batam has a large entertainment district which is awake all night but as usual, tourists have to be careful before they go back to revive in the safety of their hotels in Batam.

Most expensive hotels in Batam outside of Nagoya are based in Nongsa. This is known as the resort area and has some very nice resorts. It is modeled on a similar concept of a secluded resort area in neighboring Bintan. Like Bintan, it has several world class Golf courses and of course the ubiquitous sugar-fine sandy beaches found across Indonesia.

Places to See and Be In

Waterfront City in Batam offers a host of water sports. If you're looking for a quiet and affordable stay and want to avoid Batam cheap Hotels, this is ideal. Most people go to Batam actively seeking the nightlife and entertainment on offer in Nagoya. It is worth taking basic precautions in the entertainment district. Keep your belongings close. Don't travel alone at night and even when in a group avoid talking to strangers.

That said, there has been a concerted effort on part of the government to curb the seamier aspects of Batam and promote tourism. Nongsa is a result of this effort. Hotels in Batam tend to be quite expensive and you might find that even Batam cheap hotels don't offer fair value. The pricier resorts tend to offer better value for money. Look for the all inclusive offers on the internet. These resorts are ideal for family holidays since they provide childcare, activities for children as well as adults and excellent spa facilities.

If you are at a loose end, head for the shopping in Nagoya. They have a very large mall with smaller shops near by. The shops sell everything from garments to antiques. With a bit of clever bargaining, it's possible to get a steal. The mall also has a great food court with reasonably priced and hygienic food. It's got a good variety so there's something for everyone.

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Poverty at Root of Commercial Sex Work

A district of the northeastern part of West Java, commercial sex workers are touting for business right outside the mosque. Bandungwangi, a local NGO working against trafficking, says half the women and children it rescues from prostitution in Jakarta come from this district.

The root of the problem is poverty, but in some areas - like that district [child protection agencies have asked that its name not be revealed] in West Java - prostitution is accepted. It's the culture," explains Arum Ratnawati of the International Labour Organization's (ILO) International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, with people so poor they are forced to sell or send their children into commercial sex work to earn income for the family.

In a country with high unemployment and over 4 million school-age children unable to go to school, it is not difficult to understand how trafficking can thrive. The latest government estimates in 2004 put the number of children trafficked for prostitution at 21,000 for Java and
70,000 for the whole of Indonesia. But the ILO says this is just the tip of the iceberg as trafficking is notoriously difficult to track.

In seedy parts of Jakarta, these girls can be found in cafes offering customers off-menu items or trawling the streets to find men willing to buy Teh Botol (bottled tea) which they sell for around triple its actual price – IDR 50,000 (about US$5.50) - and in return the men fondle the girls from the waist up.

In the Batam Islands, 45 minutes by ferry from Singapore, and on the beaches of Bali, ILO says
thousands of girls have been trafficked to service foreigners. Elsewhere, locals are the customers. Dolly and Jarak in Surabaya, the main seaport city in eastern Java, are now considered the biggest red-light districts in Southeast Asia, Ratnawati told IRIN.

The stories are usually the same: poor, uneducated girls who do not know how to protect themselves are preyed upon by people they trust, including relatives or neighbours, who promise to give them jobs in the city or abroad. They end up working in brothels, forced to pay off the IDR500,000 or IDR1 million ($55 or $110) the trafficker paid their parents.

NGOs such as Bandungwangi, however, struggle to prevent more trafficking and to rescue victims. It is very, very difficult to get women out of prostitution, executive director Anna Sulikhah told IRIN. While they conduct awareness-raising activities and provide skills training, these NGOs find that many prostitutes do not want to be rescued. Out of 500 children we tried to rescue over the past four years, only around 150 really want to quit prostitution, says Ratnawati. They give up their rights because of their economic situation. They need the
money.

Exacerbating the problem is that a third of children in rural areas have no birth certificate, and passports are easily forged in Indonesia. They can just go to the village leader to ask for a letter that says they are 21 years old, adds Ratnawati. This allows children to cross borders for work.

In the northeastern district of West Java, the problem goes even deeper than poverty and inefficiencies in the system. In this district, girls are treated like 'assets' because they can marry several times or become prostitutes, explains Sulikhah.It is the culture of the area. Sheer poverty and the lack of income-generating opportunities have made commercial sex work a norm in this district. In fact, some of the girls they rescued and returned home were sent back to Jakarta by their families.

The local government tries to stem the tide of girls leaving their district by refusing to issue letters that guarantee they are of working age, knowing they will end up in brothels around Indonesia or abroad. But the families tell them: Who is going to feed us then?

The Indonesian government last year passed an anti-trafficking law and appointed as focal point the Ministry of Women's Empowerment. It remains to be seen if this is enough to address the culture of prostitution, however, according to analysts.

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