03/04/2008
Batam,A 16-year-old girl, since Feb. 29, has been in the safe custody of the Sekupang Women's Empowerment Office shelter in Batam, while the Batam Police remain in the dark over the sex trafficking case which befell her.
Originally from Indramayu, West Java, ninth grader Kiki Amalia fled from the confinement of a Batam recruiting agent, who turned out to be a sex trafficking agent.
She was initially lured by a woman in Indramayu to visit Batam. The woman, however, sold her to a trafficking ring which reportedly sent women to Malaysia to become sex workers.
"My parents are unaware of my whereabouts. I have not been able to contact them or my friends because there is no telephone or cell phone here," Kiki told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
She said the woman, who had lived in the same neighborhood, was called Neneng and had invited her to go to Batam with her. Neneng had allegedly promised to "buy her some nice clothes", but on their arrival in Batam on Feb. 25, the woman handed Kiki over to a man named Zainal Botak.
"There were at least 10 girls my age there, but I don't know where it was exactly because I just arrived here," Kiki said.
Aware she had been sold to Zainal, Kiki fled the place. She went to the nearest police office and was later placed in the custody of the shelter.
"I've been asked to wait here until those who bought and sold me have been found," Kiki said.
"I want to go home soon because my parents in Indramayu don't know where I am. I didn't ask for their permission to leave," she added.
Shelter caretaker Normadiyah said Kiki was just one of the victims of the sex trafficking syndicate at the shelter.
"We don't know her legal status, or whether police have caught the offenders. Our job is to accommodate Kiki and we'll return her home as soon as we can," Normadiyah said.
The shelter accommodated at least 50 sex trafficking victims and around 200 troubled migrant workers from Malaysia last year, she said.
Between January and February this year, her shelter has provided help for some 27 troubled migrant workers and human trafficking victims.
"We usually shelter them for at least seven days before we return them to their hometowns, but sometimes they stay two weeks, depending on instructions from the relevant agency," she said.
Normadiyah said police should thoroughly investigate human trafficking cases in order to prevent more victims, adding that law enforcement needed to be tougher to bring offenders to justice.
"They (criminals) have destroyed the future of (many) girls. Economic hardship is always blamed on the victims. We are concerned for people like Kiki," Normadiyah said.
She said the shelter could only provide counseling and three daily meals to those who stayed there.
The shelter is jointly funded by the International Organization of Migration, she said.
Many Indonesian migrant workers still use illegal means to seek work overseas, especially in Malaysia. (Fadli)
