Jakarta – Bunga (not her real name) never imagined the nightmare she would go through on her first night as a prostitute in a Malaysian brothel, when she lost her virginity to the highest-paying customer.

"I tried to resist, but he was stronger than me," she recalled. "My experience that first night taught me to submit myself to that humiliating job. I had no choice but to get used to serving these sex consumers for 14 Malaysian ringgit a month," said the tearful 14-year-old.

Bunga was one of five children speaking at a gathering Friday to mark 20 years since Indonesia's ratification of the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Bunga said she ended up in Malaysia after dropping out of school this May to take up an offer from a fellow villager to work at a restaurant in Kuching. She wanted to help support her impoverished family in the remote village near the West Kalimantan capital Pontianak, she said.

Her acquaintance introduced Bunga to an agent in Pontianak, who then took her to Entikong on the Indonesian border with Malaysia, promising her a RM500-a-month job as a waiter in a Malaysian restaurant.

"The agent then took my photo and put it in someone else's passport, with the help of Indonesian immigration officials," she said. "I didn't object to having a fake passport, I just wanted to get a job in a more prosperous country."

Upon arriving on the outskirts of Kuching, the Indonesian agent took her to a brothel that had many other Indonesian girls inside, Bunga said.

After two months of working at the brothel, Bunga got pregnant and was forced by her boss to abort the fetus. Once again she had no say in the matter, she said. "I was traumatized by the heavy bleeding that lasted a long time," she said.

Bunga added she continued working at the brothel, simply because she had no money or opportunity to do anything else Then one day, she went on, she got the chance to make a phone call to her father.

Backed by the National Commission for Child Protection's Pontianak branch office, Bunga's father sought help from the police and the immigration office in Entikong to bring her back home. Her return was finally secured in October, albeit light of four months' wages.

Just like Bunga, 17-year-old Putri, from Indramayu in West Java, ended up working as a prostitute, this time in Jakarta, after taking up an offer from a local acquaintance to work at a big restaurant in the capital.

"I regretted trusting them when I found myself in a brothel, because I could do this back in my hometown if I wanted," she said.

Indramayu is notorious for its red-light districts.

Putri recalled the time her boss got angry with her when she asked to leave.

"She said I owed her lots of money for the recruitment and living costs of the past six months," she said. "I was very disappointed and sad, because I never had the chance to report it to the police station next door."

She also condemned many policemen who paid to have sex with her and never tried to help her escape. She said she eventually escaped after contacting another hometown acquaintance in October.

Fajar (not his real name), 16, had his own story as a busker in the city. He said he had grown up on the streets since he was a little child.

"I make money on the street to pay for my sister's education," he said. "I also give the money to my parents to buy food."

He added his father frequently beat him for not earning enough.

Like Fajar, economic problems also forced Danang, 16, to take to the streets to beg for a living. He said he dropped out of primary school at age 9 and joined a group of street children.

His most memorable experience of that time, he said, was when he and his gang were once accused of stealing money while begging and busking in a bus serving the Blok M-Tanah Abang route.

"I took the rap for my friend and apologized," he said, explaining the stolen money had been found in his friend's pocket.

Child protection commission secretary-general Arist Merdeka Sirait said that fact that children had been forced to go through such experiences was a stain on the government that belied Indonesia's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child two decades ago.

The commission says 6,295 minors have experienced physical, sexual and mental abuse over the past two years, with most forced to work to support their family. (nia)