Ridwan Max Sijabat, Pematang Siantar, Jakarta – When the recruiter passed through the small village in North Sumatra promising young women good-paying jobs in Malaysia, "Salma" seized what she thought was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve the future she always dreamed of, for herself and her family.
She never imagined this "dream opportunity" would turn into a nightmare that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
Salma is receiving psychotherapy at a special clinic in the North Sumatra town of Pematang Siantar, where she has been cared for since her return from Tanjungpinang in Riau Islands province about nine weeks ago. She is suffering deep depression after being raped during her week-long ordeal.
The 19-year-old high school graduate, along with dozens of other women from the village, were taken to Riau Islands, from where they were told they would continue on to Malaysia and the promised jobs.
However, these supposedly good jobs turned out to be as hostesses in nightspots in Johor Bahru. When the women learned what the recruiters had in mind for them, they made their own way back to the village of Silau Malaha in Simalungun regency.
The head of the village, Hakim Manik, said recently recruiters arrived in the area almost daily looking for people, mostly young women, eager to find work overseas. Unfortunately, many of the promises of these recruiters turn out to be false, and the people who leave their homes with them often find themselves in frightening and dangerous situations.
J. Purba, who heads the manpower and transmigration office in Simalungun, said many residents were eager to secure work on Batam island or in Malaysia, because of the relatively high pay.
Many villagers, holding only their identity cards, are taken to Riau Islands, where they are reportedly given false documents to enter Malaysia or Singapore illegally.
"It is difficult for workers employed in karaoke bars or other entertainment centers to escape because they are usually closely watched while they are at work and in their dormitories," said a woman, Halimah, who recently returned from Selangor, Malaysia, where she worked at a karaoke bar for two years.
A bill on human trafficking is now being discussed at the House of Representatives in Jakarta, and activists and labor exporters say new regulations are desperately needed to repair a labor recruitment system they say is "poor" and contributes to human trafficking.
Wahyu Susilo, coordinator of Migrant Care, which deals with migrant workers, said last week in Jakarta the trafficking of women and children had reached alarming levels because of ineffective security and law enforcement systems.
He said police could rescue thousands of child laborers and prostitutes if they cracked down on entertainment centers in Jakarta, Tanjungpinang and Batam.
"Luck was on the side of police when they nabbed 12 undocumented women during a raid at Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung on Wednesday. Groups of women from Java and West Nusa Tenggara are trafficked to Riau almost every week under the noses of the security authorities," Wahyu said.
He called for the current law on labor recruitment to be revised to fight human trafficking.
Salma "Vivi" Savitri, coordinator of Women's Solidarity for Human Rights, accused labor brokers of exploiting poverty by recruiting job seekers from the least-developed rural areas for employment as "slaves" by rich families or as prostitutes overseas.
"Police have to work harder at home and enhance cooperation with their counterparts abroad to fight human trafficking," she said.
Husein Alaydrus, chairman of the Indonesian Labor Exporters Association, said that even with tough laws, the labor export system, from recruitment to placement overseas, did not protect workers.
"Brokers go about freely in rural areas recruiting job seekers and supplying them to whoever offers the highest price. This makes it difficult for authorities to monitor their employers," he said, saying that many brokers provided tourist visas for job seekers to go to Malaysia and Singapore.
The 2004 Labor Export and Protection Law carries a maximum jail sentence of 20 years and a fine of Rp 5 billion for anyone who supplies workers without documents or is involved in human trafficking. But human trafficking continues unchecked.
According to Husein, the government should establish a more thorough recruitment system, with workers given special passports. Labor brokers should be banned and recruitment should be done directly by labor exporters, in cooperation with local manpower and transmigration offices, he said. "Human trafficking is really another side of labor exports," he said.