MILITARY BROTHELS (IANJO) IN DUTCH EAST INDIES (DEI) UNDER JAPANESE OCCUPATION 1942 - 1945

Abstract

Jugun ianfu or military comfort women is a euphemism term offered by the Japanese to name a military sex slave system during the Japanese involvement in Asia Pasific War 1930’s – 1940’s. The system was built inside the so-called ianjo or military brothels to provide sexual gratification for the Japanese soldiers. In Southeast Asia, particularly in Dutch East Indies (called Indonesia in the modern day), the system was applied during the Japanese annexation on this region in 1942-1945. This research particularly aims to explain the backgrounds for the Japanese military personnel in establishing ianjo in DEI during 1942-1945 and also to describe the operation of the Japanese’s ianjo in DEI during that period of time. The research has found that the ianjo or comfort stations were first established in DEI at the request of the Japanese military authorities due to various reasons. In DEI, the location of ianjo was scattered in islands that the Japanese army invaded to, however, most of ianjo was found in Java and Borneo Island as the two islands provided natural resources and human mobilization that the Japanese needed to support their war efforts. Most girls were recruited with both soft and hard coercion. In Indonesia, the ianjo survivors were rejected by the local communities and thus their rights were violated in many sectors, like in education, social relationship, as well as employment. In the government level, the survivors of jugun ianfu in Indonesia even had never been compensated or even considered as war victims. The Japanese government, under international court, established Asian Women’s Fund to re-dress the issue, but has never publicly admitted and apologized for the presence of jugun ianfu. The money was delivered to the Indonesian government as a form of political bilateral cooperation between two governments and the money, managed by the Asian Women’s Funds, was spent in constructing and rehabilitating social service houses for elderly in Indonesia.