Malaysian syndicate uses new strategy to buy Indonesian babies
Bambang Bider, The Jakarta Post, Pontianak
Pregnant Indonesian women are being lured to Malaysia with promises of high-paying jobs, only to be kidnapped and their babies sold for adoption or worse.
The women are even prevented from breast feeding so they do not become too attached to their new-born babies.
This horrifying practice was revealed only after three women and their new-born babies escaped from a dormitory housing a number of Indonesian women in East Malaysia and made it back to their villages in Kalimantan and told the Legal Aid Institute of their ordeal.
The institute contacted the Indonesian consulate in Sarawak who informed police who then raided the dormitory in Sekama district in Kuching, some 400 kilometers north of the West Kalimantan provincial capital of Pontianak, last week.
The three women, identified as Mia, 21, Siti, 28 and Ati, 21 were recruited to be employed in Malaysia in high-paid jobs. The women, all pregnant at the time, were either abandoned by their husbands or had became pregnant through casual sex.
Unlike the previous cases, the pregnant women were recruited to be employed in Malaysia.
"We were promised jobs as domestic servants or factory workers in Sarawak, while they turned out to be eying our babies for sale," Mia, from Ketapang, West Kalimantan, said.
In the past, Malaysian and Kalimantan brokers have purchased unwanted babies from sex workers. The babies, bought for between 5,000 Malaysian ringgit (about Rp 11.5 million) and 20,000 ringgit, were trafficked by their mothers until they reached the border in Entikong in West Kalimantan or Nunukan in East Kalimantan.
The three said they fled the dormitory several days after giving birth. They cooperated with each another to improve their chances of escaping the syndicate.
"We could only pray for our safe passage. We risked everything just so we and our babies could get away safely. Praise the Lord, we had the strength to survive. Imagine how we managed to return home after just having given birth," Mia sobbed.
The three women are still staying at the shelter of the Legal Aid Institute in Pontianak.
"They will testify following the capture of a married coupled believed to be involved in the trafficking in Sekama. I will accompany them," said the women's lawyer Hayriah.
According to Mia, a Ketapang High School graduate, expectant mothers at the dormitory were well cared for because the agent wanted the babies to be born in a good condition so they sold for high prices.
The women were not allowed to breast feed the children so they did not form emotional ties.
Malaysian buyers were mainly interested in clean-skinned infants with almond-shaped eyes.
Since the majority of buyers are of Chinese descent, babies with Malay features are less attractive. They are sold for only 5000 ringgit per baby, compared to between 10,000 ringgit and 15,000 ringgit for a Chinese baby girl and 18,000 ringgit for a Chinese baby boy. Unattractive babies will be offered at very low prices or even door to door.
During the raid a young Malaysian couple allegedly involved in the infant trade were arrested on June 21. Six women from West Kalimantan who were found in the building are being housed at the Sarawak police station. Seven babies were taken to hospital.
Along with the successful raid in Kuching, Sarawak police uncovered another baby trafficking syndicate in Sibu on June 25, arresting two men and two women during raids on three houses.
According to the Borneo Post, police rescued nine babies aged between one month and four months.