RI woman escapes baby trade syndicate in Kuching

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.