T

he discovery of an online prostitution ring involving nearly 150 boys in Bogor, West Java, has raised concerns over the growing threat facing Indonesian children in the age of social media.

The case shows that suspected predators are aggressively recruiting children — by direct coaxing or through social media — to be prostitutes and sold online to pedophiles, some of whom are foreigners.

The number of victims is expected to increase, National Police spokesman Sr. Com. Martinus Sitompul told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The police previously reported that the number of children pimped by the suspect, identified as AR, through a Facebook page called “Berondong Bogor” had reached 148.

As of today, the police have arrested three suspects in the case. AR, the pimp, was busted during a police raid at a Bogor hotel in West Java. He was found with seven boys below 16-years-old. The other suspects are U, who also acted as a pimp, and E, who helped AR recruit children and prepare accounts to receive client payments.

The police had handed over the seven victims to the Social Affairs Ministry, which placed them at the Bambu Apus safe house in East Jakarta.

Edi Suharto, head of education and research and social extension at the Social Affairs Ministry, said the ministry had met with all of the seven victims and also their parents to dig deeper into the case.

The ministry found that some of the children were living in boarding houses, without direct supervision from their parents. They were also from low-income families.

“Five of the seven children dropped out of school. Only two are still going to school,” he said.

To lure the boys, the suspects allegedly approached each boy and introduced them to a materialistic world. The suspects invited the kids to go around in cars, bought them new shoes and other things, he said.

After they became close with each other, the suspects allegedly sold the boys for sex to men for between
Rp 1.2 million (US$91.3) to Rp 1.5 million each, compensating each of the victims between Rp 100,000 to 150,000, he said.

One of the victims claimed that in addition to the small compensation received, sometimes their customers gave them tips for about Rp 8 million to Rp 10 million. Some of the customers were foreigners, he said.

The ministry interviewed some of the victims’ parents and found that they had no clue their children were involved in an online prostitution ring.

The National Child Protection Commission (KPAI) chairman, Asrorun Niam Sholeh, said the online prostitution case should be a wake-up call for the nation, as methods of carrying out sexual abuse is becoming more varied.

“This should become the momentum to fight the sexual abuse of children and also our concrete support for the President’s stance of categorizing it as an extraordinary crime by issuing a regulation in lieu of law [Perppu],” he said.

About four months ago, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo issued a Perppu on sexual violence against children that will serve as a new legal basis to protect Indonesian children from abuse and exploitation. It stipulates that pedophiles and child rapists may be subjected to chemical castration and even the death penalty.

The Perppu is currently under the deliberation process at the House of Representatives. Almost all factions in the House Commission VIII overseeing religious and social affairs have agreed with the Perppu, except the Gerindra Party. (win)