TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Govt repatriates victims of forced prostitution from Malaysia
The government on Wednesday repatriated four Indonesians, two of them teenagers, who had fled from a prostitution complex where they had been forcefully employed as sex workers, the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has stated
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
T
he government on Wednesday repatriated four Indonesians, two of them teenagers, who had fled from a prostitution complex where they had been forcefully employed as sex workers, the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has stated.
The four have been returned to their home towns in Central Java, according to the statement.
'The victims were sold by their own relatives to a broker in Jakarta for around Rp 3 million [US$233] per person,' it stated.
They were promised a monthly salary of Rp 5 million as beauticians in Kuala Lumpur, but once they arrived in the Malaysian capital they were forced to work as prostitutes in the Bukit Bintang area, it added.
If they refused, they were instructed to repay their travel costs from Indonesia, around Rp 20 million, the statement said.
'As a result, they had no choice other than to work as sex slaves in debt bondage,' Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Herman Prayitno said in the statement.
The four women, two of whom were aged 13 and 15, managed to flee to the embassy to seek protection.
According to Herman, human traffickers often targeted teenagers from poor or broken homes. 'The Indonesian authorities must strengthen prevention efforts to stop there being more victims,' Herman said, adding that the embassy had coordinated with Malaysian authorities to crackdown on prostitution.
The embassy indicated that there were still many underage Indonesian women forced into prostitution.(+++)
