Children for
sale in Java
By
Step Vaessen in Bongas, West Java
The
Indonesian village of Bongas looks like any other on the island of Java.
But behind the welcoming smiles, its people are hiding a dark story.
One
resident, Sanni, used to work in the rice fields. Now she can stay at home and
has enough money to finally build a bigger house.
The
reason? Because she and her husband decided to take their 15 year old daughter
from school and send her to work in Jakarta as a prositute.
Sanni
said: "We were in a very miserable situation. There is no work here. So we
had no choice but to send her to Jakarta."
Jakarta brothels
Sanni's
daughter works in a brothel in North Jakarta
Like the other girls there, she is locked up most of the time.
She is allowed to take money to her parents every
two months.
The girl refused to talk to Al Jazeera but another
girl from the same village did want to talk, as long as we protected her
identity.
She said she sometimes feels angry that her
parents have done this to her but that she needs to help them because they have
many debts.
She doesn't dare tell her parents that working as
a prostitute makes her very sad.
Parents in Bongas started selling their daughters
around ten years ago when Indonesia was hita by an economic crisis.
The
poor farmers learned that they could quickly get a lot of money for their
children and some have done very
well.
Most girls left the village straight after
elementary school when they were 13 or 14 years old.
Sukim, a project leader for an anti-trafficking
organisation, said parents used to received between $200 and $300 from an agent
for their children. The price has now gone up to $1000.
Sukim said: "Then the child is taken to Jakarta. Because the
parents have a debt with the agent, they allow him to take the child to work in
a brothel."
Free
education
To prevent the girls from dropping out of school,
Sukim's organisation gives them free education in the village. They're also
taught skills like cooking so they can find better jobs.
But still it's hard to convince parents to stop
selling their children when the authorities don't do anything to stop them.
Sukara, the village chief, said: "If these
parents see that their neighbours are successful and happy and when they see
their child is beautiful they will still sell her."
The village chief says he gives parents a strong
warning when they sell their children to become prostitutes. But he has never
asked for their arrest, although they violate anti-trafficking laws.
Police usually only arrest the girls during raids
on brothels, but their parents get off the hook.
Sanni, for one, feels that she hasn't done
anything wrong.
She said: "My daughter wanted this herself. I
don't mind if she does this work because at least we can get a lot of
money."
In the small village of Bonggas alone, five girls have died of Aids over the last couple of months. Because of
that, some parents are now a little more hesitant to sell their daughters as
prostitutes. Source: Al
Jazeera
*************************************************************************
Ini versi on air-nya, Senin, 26 Maret lalu.
Liputan yang seru, pake nyaru nyaru segala, keabisan suara, ditawar para jahanam, kesal dengan ulah salah satu PSK remaja sepa' yang berkilau uang, dan mengorbankan malam minggu gw di bar saru itu. HUH !
Kesal juga dengan seorang fixer yang dibayar cukup mahal dan TIDAK menghasilkan outcome yang memuaskan. HUH !!
Well anyway..this story is not the way like it appears on tv if u had chance to watched it. Mneurut gw sih banyak opini. Tapi bisa gw sebut opini yang bisa dipertangggungjawabkan.
Yang pasti gw tau..desa Bongas Pentil ini memang luar biasa edun. Menawarkan anak gadis mereka yang masih picisan sudah jadi semacam budaya. Ada prestise lebih ketika mereka punya anak perempuan. Bisa dijual kasarnya.
Harapannya picik. Duit banyak. Rumah bagus.
Tidak peduli dengan pilihan pekerjaan yang terpaksa ataupun sengaja dipilih oleh anak perempuan mereka di Jakarta, Batam, Jepang atau Taiwan.
Yang mereka pentingkan, rumah kami tak boleh kalah megah dengan rumah tetangga dimana anak perempuannya kerja di luar kota atau luar negeri.
Ynag mereka lakukan, dengan seenaknya menelpon anaknya minta kiriman uang yang rutin biasa dikirimkan. Jumlahnya buat gw luar biasa. jauh lebih besar dari jumlah yang bisa gw kasih buat orang rumah. 5 juta rupiah per bulan !
Menariknya jumlah itu, ternyata menurut pengakuan salah satu psk yang berhasil gw ajak ngobrol, cuma setengah dari dari gaji mereka. Setengahnya lagi mereka simpen untuk biaya hidup, bayar uang sewa kost 1 juta rupiah per bulan, gaya hidup dan kecantikan.
Dalam kesehariannya, mereka tampil seperti layaknya anak ABG pada umumnya. Mengikuti trend fashion yang dipajang di toko-toko di seluruh Jakarta. Agak sedikit berani dengan celana pendek meski tak beralas make up. Handphone harga mahal saja yang sedikit jadi petunjuk. Suatu hal yang janggal buat anak seumuran mereka, anak 13-16 tahun dari kampung terpencil di jawa Barat. Kampung yang ditempuh dengan waktu 2,5 jam dengan mobil dari Jakarta dengan catatan TIDAK MACET !
Mereka sedih ketika orangtua mereka seenaknya menelpon meminta uang. Jadi beban dan kesal. Tapi mereka cuma bisa bilang IYA. tak berani menolak.
Mereka mengaku ingin memperbaiki diri. Berharap diperistri dan hidup berkecukupan. Hoalah...harapan yang mungkin juga banyak orang punya. simpel :-(
Di titik ini, gw marah. Merasa ada politik balas budi yang harus dijalankan anak-anak ini buat orang tua mereka yang notabene melahirkan dan membesarkan dan keluar biaya untuk mereka. Dan kini giliran anak-anak ini yang harus membayar semacam hutang mereka.
UGH SHIT ! I HATE THAT !
Menurut gw disadari atau tidak, orangtua macam ini, sangat jahat!
Kenapa anak jadi punya kewajiban yang akhirnya membuatnya terjebak ada satu pilihan yang SAKIT ? pilihan yang TIDAK ADIL ? pilihan GILA ?
Anak tak pernah minta dilahirkan tokh ?
Orangtua yang sangat-sangat jelas sangat punya tanggung jawab ketika mereka berhubungan seks dan bermuara dengan kehamilan sengaja atau tidak sengaja bukan ?
Tanggung jawab untuk membuat hasil pertemuan sperma dan sel telur itu jadi individu yang kuat dan mandiri. Bukan kepentingan egois meneruskan trah apalagi balas budi untuk semua perawatan yang sudah mereka berikan untuk sang anak.
SHIT ! SHIT !
Di titik ini, lagi-lagi gw mengutuk.
Gw cuma bisa mengutuk.
Berkasihan.
Dan cuma bisa meninggalkan pesan untuk anak-anak ini
Hati-hati ya !