Laila's nightmare over, all she wants is peace<\/p>\n
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Laila Nazmi had no idea that her efforts to escape poverty
\nwould one day lead her into forced prostitution. Last week she
\nmade headlines after the police, based on her account, raided
\nthe bar where she worked.<\/p>\n
Upon taking the report from Laila, who escaped from Cempaka
\nbar in the Kalijodo red-light district in North Jakarta, police
\nraided the bar, freed 16 other young women who were also forced
\ninto the practice, and charged three people as suspects.<\/p>\n
Pale and thin, Laila said on Saturday that all she wanted when
\nshe decided to head for Jakarta early in July was to find a job
\nand send money back to her family in the village of Leduk Kulon,
\nCileduk district in Cirebon, West Java.<\/p>\n
She refused to divulge anything about her family, saying that
\n"it's not their fault, they don't know anything about this. I am
\nso ashamed".<\/p>\n
Laila, a high school graduate majoring in economics and
\nadministration (SMEA), came to Jakarta after a successful friend
\ntold her to come to the city and promised her a job.<\/p>\n
"I couldn't find her address and I've lost her note now," the
\n22-year-old Laila said, adding that she began hanging around the
\nSenen bus terminal as she had nowhere to go.<\/p>\n
Heri, a man she met at the busy terminal, offered her a job as
\na housemaid and took her to a recruitment agency, Yayasan Setia
\nKawan, on Jl. Mangga Besar in West Jakarta.<\/p>\n
"What else could I do as I didn't have any money at all at the
\ntime," she said.<\/p>\n
She was picked up a day later by another man and taken to
\nCempaka bar after the establishment's owner paid Rp 350,000 to
\nthe man.<\/p>\n
For almost two months, she had to serve about four or five
\nguests a night. They gave her an average of between Rp 10,000 and
\nRp 20,000. She received no salary.<\/p>\n
All she wishes now is to recover from her illness and then
\nreturn to her village to the life she once knew.<\/p>\n
She reportedly has a sexually transmitted disease (STD), but
\nthe police sent her to Budi Asih Hospital in East Jakarta on
\nSaturday to be treated for high blood pressure.<\/p>\n
The other 16 mostly underaged women have all returned to their
\nhometowns.<\/p>\n
All have claimed they were cheated by men that they had met at
\nbus terminals and who offered them jobs.<\/p>\n
Chief of Penjaringan Police Adj. Comr. Krishna Murti said
\nthere were still many other victims of women trafficking, but he
\nsaid it was hard for the police alone to combat the crime.<\/p>\n
"We should work with other related agencies as this is a real
\ncomplicated social problem."<\/p>\n
He told The Jakarta Post the police could not simply raid
\nnightclubs as he worried that some voluntary prostitutes would go
\nout on the streets.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/lailas-nightmare-over-all-she-wants-is-peace-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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