Two held for duping girls into prostitution

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The owner of a labor recruitment agency and its president director were arrested over the weekend for allegedly duping at least 58 Indonesian girls into prostitution in Japan.

Jakarta Police said on Monday that the two, identified as AJP and BN, recruited the girls, mostly in their early 20s, to work as "arts and cultural representatives" in Japan for a monthly salary of Rp 5 million (US$500).

The girls, however, were allegedly forced to work as prostitutes in Tokyo and other big cities in Japan.

"Two of the girls escaped late September. They reported their case to a non-government organization on women's solidarity in Tokyo, which submitted the case to (Indonesia's) state ministry of women's empowerment," general crimes unit chief at City police Sr. Comr. Moh. Jaelani told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Jaelani said 16 more girls had been picked up from nightclubs in Tokyo and returned to Indonesia in early October, while the fate of 40 others remains unknown.

AJP, the owner of PT Mediaseni Indonesia, and BN were arrested at their office in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta on Saturday.

The total number of girls sent to Japan by PT Mediaseni Indonesia remains unknown. Jaelani said that the two had been operating for over a year, and in September alone had sent 58 girls to Japan.

"Each girl was charged Rp 2.5 million and required to leave their diplomas with the company as security. The girls were willing to pay and leave their diplomas because they were promised Rp 5 million per month," Jaelani said.

To convince the girls, PT Mediaseni trained them in Japanese language, Indonesian traditional dances and traditional songs.

However, after arriving in Japan, the girls were allegedly forced to work as prostitutes, serving guests in several nightclubs in Tokyo and other big cities in Japan.

"The girls told police that they were even forced to have sex with the bosses of the nightclubs right after they arrived in Japan. If they refused to do that, they would get no contract, and would have to pay Rp 18 million compensation," Jaelani said.

With their passports being held by their Japanese bosses, the girls claim they could do nothing but obey them.

Jaelani said that both AJP and BN would be charged under Articles 297 of Criminal Code on female trafficking, Article 378 on document forgery and Article 102 of Law No. 39/2004 on migrant workers.

"They could get 15 years imprisonment and a Rp 15 billion fine if found guilty. We will expand our investigation to other labor agencies as we are suspicious that several other companies are engaged in similar crimes," Jaelani said.