Baby traffickers ring busted
Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau
Police in Tanjung Pinang have arrested three women who are allegedly involved in a baby trafficking network in the province.
The women, who have been identified as Lina alias Ayong, 43, Ludovika alias Kim Gek alias Agek, 53, and Asiah, 40, were apprehended as they offered a two-month-old baby boy for sale in a house belonging to Lina in the town over the weekend.
The chief of the Tanjung Pinang Police's detectives' unit, Adj. Comr. Susanto, said that the three suspects had offered the baby for sale at a price of Rp 5 million.
"We are still investigating the syndicate and the destination countries where they send the babies to. But we are sure that they have been running this business for quite some time," he said, adding that the investigation had been launched after the police received information on the baby trafficking syndicate from a number of informants in the regency.
Susanto said one of the suspects admitted that she had sold four babies since 1998 at Rp 3.5 million each.
Most of the babies were bought from women working as prostitutes in the Batu-15 brothel complex.
Prostitution is rampant in the province, especially in Tanjung Pinang and Batam. Thousands of women from Java, Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara are employed as sex workers of their own volition, or have been lured into the business under false pretenses.
According to Kim Gek, the demand for babies is high among Chinese women in Singapore and Malaysia, who wish to mother children without getting pregnant.
"They believe that delivering a baby will ruin their figures and make them less attractive. Meanwhile, a baby can be bought cheaply in Riau," she said.
Asyari Abbas, chairman of the Batam chapter of the Indonesian Ulemas' Association (MUI), said the police should investigate not only the baby traffickers but also their mothers.
"The police should demonstrate their fairness. Arrest all the actors in the baby trafficking business as it has damaged the country's image," he said.