Counter sex `slavery' with cultural change, priest says - World - Jesuit Fr. Petrus Stefanus Hary Susanto lectures on Indonesia's 'sex tourism' - Brief Article

National Catholic Reporter, May 3, 2002 by Gill Donovan

INDONESIA: A Catholic moral theologian in Indonesia has called for a cultural movement to counter sex tourism, which he described as slavery that reduces human value and dignity.

Jesuit Fr. Petrus Stefanus Hary Susanto told some 100 seminar participants that for commercial sex workers as well as tourists, sex tourism is a form of "slavery" that reduces human values, dignity and self-respect.

Speaking at the April 2 seminar, he called on students who study tourism and its effects on the country, tourism workers, religious and nongovernmental organization volunteers to help sex workers find a way out of their condition.

"Together, we have to uphold human values and find a way out to liberate people trapped in that kind of slavery," said the lecturer on morality at Sanata Dharma Catholic University in Yogyakarta, east of Jakarta.

Education and building awareness of human dignity is of great importance, he said. He called for the creation of a new cultural movement "that upholds the importance of human values and a sexual maturity that is not reduced to bio-psychical instinct, but emphasizes personal affection and commitment."

As a concrete step, Susanto suggested a "macro-network" to counter existing sex tourism networks. "Cooperation is what we need at the global, regional and local levels," the priest added.