RI woman escapes baby trade syndicate in Kuching

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The trading of Indonesian babies in East Malaysia is no mere rumor but is in fact taking place under the noses of both the Indonesian and Malaysian authorities.

Rub, a 20-year-old woman from Darit in the West Kalimantan regency of Pontianak, told how she escaped a Malaysian syndicate in the Malaysian city of Kuching.

The syndicate had already purchased her unborn baby.

She said that while she was pregnant she worked for a Malaysian employer who brokered the sale of her baby to the syndicate. The baby was sold for 5,000 Malaysian ringgit (Rp 12 million). But she declined to explain how she became pregnant or how she became trapped by the baby trade syndicate.

"A few weeks before the baby's birth, I was staying in a workers' dormitory owned by a Malaysian employer called Rob. The dormitory is located on Anc H Street in Kuching," Antara quoted her as saying in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Thursday.

Rub was staying temporarily in Pontianak, the provincial capital, in a shelter belonging to the Legal Aid for Women organization following her arrival from Kuching with 13 other women migrants on Wednesday.

Asked how she had escaped from the workers' dormitory, Rub said she had done so when she was taken to hospital to receive medical attention.

"The baby's position in the womb meant that I couldn't give birth normally... The hospital authorities informed the Indonesian consulate in Kuching about me, which gave me the chance to escape from the clutches of the syndicate," she said.

She added that she had managed to return home with her newborn baby boy with the help of the Indonesian consulate.

She pointed out that she was staying with five other Indonesian women who had recently given birth in the dormitory but whose babies had been taken away.

The Kuching authorities had raided a workers' dormitory on Lebuh Sekama Street, which was believed to be part of the network trading in Indonesian babies, "and they have forced the brokers and traders to hide the pregnant Indonesian women in their own homes."

According to sources in Pontianak, the baby trade has long been in existence but the authorities in the two countries have not been able to deal with it.

The sources, who asked for anonymity, said the baby trade was organized by Malaysian traders working with local accomplices who recruited pregnant women to work in East Malaysia. The babies, which were purchased at prices ranging between 5,000 ringgit and 10,000 ringgit, were later sold to childless Malaysian couples at higher prices.

The 13 women workers with whom Rub came back home said they had left their workplaces because they had been abused and not paid.

"I was beaten several times, barred from going out of my employer's house and given very little to eat," 40-year-old DW said after submitting her complaints to Legal Aid for Women.

She said she would return home to East Java and would not go back to Malaysia as she had none of the skills that were needed to work in that country.

She went to Malaysia for the first time six months ago.

The others also said they had decided to go back home as they had been mistreated by their employers.