Sex-workers in a Country of Largest Muslim Population

Indonesia is the largest Islam country in the world that has the biggest number of Muslims among other countries in the world. Hence this is the reason of the local governments, the governor of East Java Province and the mayor of Surabaya, to close the red-light areas. The purpose of this research is to know how the women became sex-workers in the biggest number of Muslims in the world. We observed and interviewed 20 informants of sex workers and former sex-workers; the Head of Local Health Center, NGO in those areas, and midwives. The data that had been collected were classified into themes. While being analyzed, the report was written and being classified. The results show that although the nation vows that every individual in this country has a religion, and mostly are Muslims, but prostitution is difficult to inhibit. We found many reasons that have made the women fell into the world of prostitution in this area of East Java. After the closing of the red-areas we found that they have secretly continue doing their job because they do not have other skills that can make as much as money that they earned as sex-workers. We conclude that the purpose to preserve a good religious environment by closing the red-areas cannot be realized. The closing of the red-areas has brought new problems because the spread of HIV/AID and sexually transmitted disease are more difficult to control.