THE LUST RESORT : SEX TOURISM IN INDONESIA

Abstract

This is a micro-scopic study of sex tourism in Tanjung Balai Karimun, Riau, Indonesia. The objective of this thesis is to make sense of this industry in Southeast Asia, how it is able to flourish, and lay out its dynamics with the help of the political economy framework. It is hoped that such a research will eliminate our prejudices against sexual workers in the sex tourist industry as lowly people. Instead, we should look at them as victims of circumstances. People from wealthier states should also check their own behaviour and see how people of their own kind are perpetuating the miseries of others. My connection with TBK goes way back to the days of World War II. My grandfather who was an employee of the Chinese government, had to escape from Japanese persecution. He brought his family to hide on the island for three years before returning to Singapore. Friends made during those days were kept and new relations are established when I visited the island fifty years later. The locals' reaction toward sex tourism is ambivalent. They welcomed the foreign revenue it brought in but are also ashamed of the seedy image it reflected of their hornet own. Due to the sub-illicit nature of the sex tourism industry, the names of the informants are changed in order to maintain their confidentiality.