Inter Press Service - Tuesday, December 1, 1998
Kafil Yamin

For the residents of Malvinas, an enclave of some 12 hectares in the industrial part of Greater Jakarta, the hot topic is often AIDS and how not to get it. With big factories located there, Malvinas is a magnet for jobseekers from other areas of Java island. Indeed, tens of thousands of workers from elsewhere have been lured there, many leaving their families behind in their hometowns and living alone in Malvinas.

Most of these migrant workers are men, who eventually begin to seek companionship after spending too many nights alone. This is why Malvinas has a sizeable population of sex workers -- estimated to be at least 1,000 -- themselves migrants from the poorer areas of Java.

Government health officials had tried to talk to the Malvinas factory and sex workers about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and AIDS, but had little success in getting them to take steps to stop these illnesses from spreading. It was no secret that every year, a few sex workers tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

But even just one case was more than enough to disturb the Malvinas factory executives, and prod them to seek ways in which STD and AIDS awareness in the workplace and community could be intensified.

In part, the bosses' action was a business decision. Admits Sukarma, executive director of the American Ceramic Ltd: "Once one of our employees is affected, the entire business is in danger. It's not merely a matter of health. It's now a business and economic problem."

Two years ago, the companies teamed up with Yayasan Kusuma Buama (YKB), a Jakarta-based non-government organisation that provided reproductive health services to middle-and lower-income communities.

YKB provided all the training and materials while the companies became sources for volunteers in the AIDS prevention campaign.

Today, the programme has hundreds of factory workers who make up 80 AIDS squads that disseminate information on HIV and AIDS by handing out flyers and brochures on the subject. The squads also hold regular courses on safe sex for fellow factory workers, as well as have consultations with the public.

Himself part of an AIDS squad, Sukarma says that in talks to factory workers, they sometimes argue that premarital sex is against "the religious law" to discourage them from indulging in casual sex. But, he says, "some of them are not good religious people. So we promote the use of condom, too".

YKB director Adi Sasongko says he cannot proclaim the programme in Malvinas as a success just yet. But he allows: "It's encouraging to notice (brothel) visitors are more cautious and the sex workers (are beginning) to practice safe sex." For her part, 23-year-old sex worker Sumarni says she has adopted a "new attitude" because of the AIDS squads' efforts.

"Before I regularly attended the safe sex consultation by the NGO people, I (slept) with anyone who paid me good, did anything they wanted me to do," she says. But now Sumarni says she knows she has to watch over her own health. According to Sumarni, she and her friends had not paid attention to similar talks given them by government health workers. "We did not believe they really cared about us," she says. "The NGO people are different. We feel their sincere concern for us."

Her earnings have dropped since she began to be "selective", says Sumarni. But she now thinks she sees "something valuable across the abyss" and is considering leaving the sex trade.

Sukarma says, though, that the squads have never tried encouraging the sex workers to leave their profession. "We are not in a position (to do that)," he says. "We are not religious authorities. We cannot offer them other alternative livelihoods. What we tell them is how to practice safe sex."

According to official statistics, Indonesia has 774 recorded AIDS cases as of October. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates HIV prevalence in adults aged 15 to 49 at .088 percent or some 95,000 individuals in a population of more than 200 million.

But Sukarma relates that doing AIDS work in Malvinas can be hazardous, since the area is replete with thugs and hoodlums who profit from the sex trade. As Sukarma puts it, the more the AIDS squads succeed, the fewer the customers. Encouraged by the Malvinas AIDS campaign, YKB has begun presenting AIDS Awards to companies that have shown strong support for AIDS awareness among their workers.

These days, factories in Malvinas are not the only business concerns in Greater Jakarta that are into AIDS prevention efforts. Other companies are launching similar programmes too.

Some are even going beyond AIDS. In two factories of the U.S. footwear giant Nike, for example, a comprehensive health information programme is being implemented.

Outreach workers are assigned to the Nike factories for a period of eight months. They team up with factory workers who have trained as peer educators and provide general health information, aside from data on STDs and AIDS. (END/IPS/ap-he/ky/cb/js/98)
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