T

he Batam Legislative Council (DPRD) passed a regional bill (Perda) on Monday to eliminate human trafficking in the city’s entertainment industry. Under the new regulation, all business players within the Batam entertainment industry and/or agencies that recruit workers for the industry must provide a letter stating the origins of a worker.

The DPRD and Batam administration said that the Perda aimed at eliminating human trafficking within the entertainment business in the city, such as at massage parlors, karaoke halls and pubs.

The head of the council’s special committee (Pansus) debating the bill, Ruslan Ali Wasyim, said the council was concerned that human trafficking continued to increase and that Batam was affected by human trafficking as it was one of the places of transit or destination for victims.

“Trafficking is very troubling. Many parents worry about such practices conducted by dirty business players. Human traffickers bring the victims from their areas of origin and transit in Batam before smuggling them to the destination countries,” Ruslan said.

In many cases, the Batam administration bears the responsibility of returning victims of trafficking home. “So, we consider that this regulation will be effective in preventing such practices,” said Ruslan, a council member from the Golkar Party.

The Perda consists of 15 chapters and 24 articles. One article stipulates that business players within the entertainment industry and/or agencies that recruit entertainment industry workers from other areas or those who are domiciled in Batam must submit a report on the status of their workers to the Batam tourism office.

Ruslan said the council would also encourage the Batam administration to improve the ability of public order officers (Satpol PP) in the implementation of the Perda. He said Satpol PP would be charged with implementing the regulation in the field.

Meanwhile, Batam Deputy Major Rudi said human trafficking prevention should be a concerted effort between state agencies. He said the Perda was an effective prevention tool for the Batam administration to eliminate human trafficking in the city’s entertainment industry.

“Trafficking is a crime with an international network; so any prevention effort should be conducted systematically from upstream to downstream,” said Rudi.

Meanwhile, Saud Situmorang, a spa and massage center manager, said the policy merely increased
bureaucratic red tape.

“We have yet to learn which entertainment businesses they consider to be ‘dirty entertainment’. Do they think that all tourist services in the city are dirty entertainment businesses with the potential to trigger human trafficking? I think it’s just a tactic to complicate licensing procedures so that it will cost us more money.”