Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1700 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2855 (Online) Vol.5, No.25, 2014 91 Halal Sex Tourism in Indonesia:Understanding the Motivation of Young Female Host to Marry with Middle Eastern Male Tourists Usep Suhud * and Noorfie Syahri Sya’bani Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Jakarta *usepsuhud@feunj.ac.id Abstract The objective of this mixed-methods study is to understand motivation of young female host to marry with Middle Eastern male tourists. The tourists, mostly from Middle Eastern countries picked female – prostitutes or ordinary women – host to be their wives for a certain period of time. This contract marriage has increased wealthy for those who are involved and therefore it is supported by community. The study took place in Southern Bogor, West Java Province, Indonesia where many cases of contract marriage found. By using projective data collection techniques the authors were allowed to gather data from the third parties. In the qualitative study, 90 female students were involved in face to face interviews. The results were adapted into a quantitative instrument. In the quantitative study, 199 female students participated in a self-administered survey. As a result, the motivation of young female host to marry with Middle Eastern male tourists includes hedonic, marriage barrier, and altruistic motivations. Keywords: contract marriage, halal sex tourism, motivation, structural equation model, Indonesia 1. Introduction Formerly, Saudi Arabian tourists looked for sex hit Thailand in 80-ies (Cohen & Neal, 2012). In 1989, when the relationship between these two countries were in trouble caused by a case called ‘blue diamond affair’, the Saudi Arabian government banned their citizens to visit Thailand (McClincy, 2012). As a result, the Saudi tourists and were followed by other tourists from the Gulf countries headed down to Indonesia (France TV English, 2011). The tourists, individually or in groups, visited Cisarua sub-district in Bogor, the hilly places southern Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, for holiday. They enjoyed sceneries, interacted with local people, and married with young female host for two days or more before they went back to their countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar (Lestari, 2013) where they came from. The tourists picked desired prostitutes and married them before they obtained a ‘service’. The tourists and the prostitutes were involved in contract marriage or nikah mutah. It was possibly required by neighbourhood as Cisarua and surrounds areas were well-known as religious spots. Marriage in a certain period of time or contract marriage is very common in Muslim communities, for instance in Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, Jordan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Morocco, Tunisia, and of course Indonesia (Haeri, 1992; Moghadam, 1992). However, a marriage contract practice between host and tourists may occur only in fewer places including in Cisarua. Contract marriage between host and tourists can be considered as halal sex tourism (France TV English, 2011) which wraps sex tourism with Islamic processions. This practice happens because some Muslims believe that contract marriage is better than adultery (Shafra, 2010). Phenomenon of practicing contract marriage in Cisarua that involves young female residents from a lower income society can be considered as a Cinderella complex, referring to a desire to obtain a wealthy life instantly (Marudut, 2009). The tourists would spend foreign currencies not just for paying their short term wives for about $400 per week, but also for renting rooms or houses and cars, buying food, and exchanging currencies. Indeed in general, these foreign tourists gave economic benefits all member of society (Lestari, 2013). Moreover, it is allowed by Islam, the religion that followed by predominant people in the areas. After years, when demand increased and tourism became a big business in those areas, the tourists did not just marry the prostitutes, but also ordinary female, especially the young ones. This study is aimed to understand the motivation of young female host to marry with Middle Eastern male tourists. 2. Motivation to marry with foreigners Contract marriages with different settings occur in many places in Indonesia, for example, involving husbands in South Cianjur, West Java, who were abandoned by their wives for years for working overseas (Affandy, 2010); in Bitung, North Sulawesi (Takasihaeng, 1997); between Middle Eastern male tourists and local women in Cibadak Village, Cianjur, West Java (Nugraha, 2013); in Rembang and Pasuruan, East Java (Harsaputra, 2004);