Two victims of human trafficking made their way back home to South Sumatra and East Java on Thursday after working as sex workers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The two, identified as Sherly, 19, from Jember, and Nina, 27, from Palembang, arrived in Batam from Malaysia accompanied by police.
They were freed after the Malaysian police cracked down on a syndicate that had "bought" them, along with eight more Indonesian women, as sex workers in the Malaysian capital early this month.
Detectives chief at the Riau Islands Police, Sr. Comr. Muhammad Djufri, said the two were repatriated because they wanted to go home.
The other eight resisted repatriation and opted to go to jail.
"The two departed for Malaysia in early March after being told they would be employed in a restaurant with high pay. We have detained a member of the syndicate who is expected to reveal his network," he said.
The two women were repatriated with the help of the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, he said.
Djufri said human trafficking of Indonesian women and children through the island was common because of Malaysia's high employment rate, lax supervision on the country's borders and relaxed laws.
"The police cannot halt the trafficking due to financial problems. Demand in Malaysia and Singapore is constantly high," he said.
In a related development, West Java, from where many women and children are trafficked, will go ahead with plans to pass a strict bylaw on handling and preventing human trafficking.
The provincial legislative council said it would use its right to prepare a draft bylaw to be brought to a plenary session for endorsement.
Chairman of the manpower, education and social affairs commission at the provincial legislature, Nur Supriyanto, said the bylaw would fight the high level of trafficking in the province.
"Nationally, West Java is the biggest supplier of women and children in human trafficking because many people in the province are still living in poverty and unemployment," he said.
Of the 42 million residents in West Java, more than 10 million live in poverty while 2 million are unemployed, according to Nur.
Thousands of women and children from the province are stranded in other provinces and countries after being trapped by national and international human trafficking syndicates.
"The bylaw is urgently needed to allow all members of society to help fight human trafficking," Nur said, adding the bylaw would require those wanting to work in other provinces and countries to obtain a working license from their village head and subdistrict head.
Councilor Diah Nurwitasari said the draft bylaw was in response to a special delegation from Riau Islands that requested the provincial government provide financial aid to help 2,000 West Java residents stranded in Batam and Tanjungpinang after being deported from Malaysia for having no documents.
West Java Deputy Governor Nu'man Abdul Hakim criticized the draft bylaw saying it did not impose harsh penalties against anyone or any group involved in human trafficking.
"Village heads, subdistrict heads and labor brokers involved in the illegal supply of women and children to other provinces and countries must face harsh punishment," he said.
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