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INFO RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI 0220
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 2191
RUEHKU/AMEMBASSY KUWAIT 0310
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 0445
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RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 5738
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0269
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 3858
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0414
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 2227
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 1871
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS JAKARTA 000590 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, EAP/RSP 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB
SUBJECT:  INDONESIA ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) 
REPORT, March 2005 to March 2006 
 
REF: A. STATE 17811 
     ¶B. 06 JAKARTA 13324 
     ¶C. 06 JAKARTA 2849 
     ¶D. 05 JAKARTA 12001 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Indonesia remained a major sending country for 
international trafficking in persons (TIP) and faced a 
very significant internal trafficking problem.  Indonesia 
was also a receiving country for trafficked prostitutes, 
though their numbers were very small relative to 
Indonesian victims.  The Government of Indonesia (GOI) 
recognized trafficking as a crime and a serious national 
issue, and took significant strides this year in law 
enforcement, against corruption-related complicity, and 
by completing a final draft in February 2007 of a strong, 
comprehensive anti-trafficking bill. Indonesia has not, 
however, met minimal TIP standards under U.S. law. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Indonesia achieved modest to significant 
progress in combating trafficking in specific areas over 
the past year, with strong political will evident at top 
levels of government and at many local levels.  The House 
of Representatives (DPR) completed the final draft in 
February 2007 on a strong comprehensive anti-trafficking 
bill, which is scheduled for consideration by the full 
House and likely passage on March 20, 2007.  This bill is 
expected to give law enforcement the clear mandate needed 
to go after all forms of trafficking, including debt 
bondage and sexual exploitation.  The Yudhoyono 
administration's political will to eliminate trafficking 
was demonstrated in the past year.  In August 2006, 
President Yudhoyono issued a presidential decree on 
reform policy on placement and protection system of 
Indonesian migrant workers to provide more comprehensive 
protection of migrant workers and better coordination 
among agencies.  The President furthermore has appointed 
senior level officials in key positions with clear 
instructions to eliminate trafficking, resulting in 
noticeable progress. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Law enforcement against traffickers increased in 
2006 over 2005, with arrests up 29 percent from 110 to 
142, prosecutions up 87 percent from 30 to 56, and 
convictions up 112 percent from 17 to 36.  The average 
sentence in these cases was 54 months in prison compared 
to 30 months in 2005, a 55 percent increase. The 
government trained over a thousand law enforcement 
officials on fighting trafficking, oftentimes in inter- 
agency courses also attended by NGOs. The numbers of 
special anti-trafficking police and prosecutors 
increased.  The National Plan of Action (NPA) bore fruit 
in more effective national coordination. As President 
Yudhoyono's clear stance on clean government filtered 
down this year through the ranks, corrupt officials 
complicit in trafficking have been fired, prosecuted or 
transferred, an opening salvo against official impunity. 
Cooperation among various government offices and 
international NGOs at Indonesian diplomatic missions in 
key sending areas resulted in an increase of rescued 
victims, and more humane repatriation. Ministry of 
Manpower and national police took initial steps to 
cooperate in providing protection of trafficked migrant 
workers by signing a February 2007 MOU which provides for 
joint enforcement at all transit airports and ports. 
Under the 2006 Presidential migrant worker protection 
decree, an agency to place and protect Indonesian migrant 
workers began operating in early 2007 with an initial 
inter-agency meeting and public policy statements 
promising to protect workers from exploitation.  Under 
 
MOUs with international donors, the GOI began funding 
this year the psychological rehabilitation of trafficking 
victims, a third or more of the cost of their medical 
treatment, and health services in Malaysia, in addition 
to the law enforcement costs of dozens of police 
investigators and prosecutors dedicated to trafficking at 
the national level, as well as a significant increase in 
local anti-trafficking police units across the country. 
The number of women's police desks helping victims 
skyrocketed to 280 in 2006, while national trafficking 
police investigators nearly doubled to 20. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Significant progress in a comprehensive and 
coordinated attack on trafficking took place at the 
provincial and local levels as NPA local task forces took 
root in communities across the country, 17 at last count. 
Local task forces resulted in good cooperation among law 
enforcement agencies, social service providers and NGOs 
in many communities as these task forces met frequently. 
Some provincial governments contributed funding to anti- 
trafficking efforts and also passed local laws to protect 
citizens from trafficking, not waiting for the passage of 
national legislation.  These efforts took place both 
under the leadership of the national Ministry of Women's 
Empowerment and spontaneously at the local levels due to 
grassroots civil society campaigns.  Brisk media coverage 
of trafficking continued, led by both government and NGO 
campaigns.  The GOI made good progress in sheltering 
victims abroad, repatriating victims and expanding victim 
services for both externally and internally trafficked 
persons.  A fourth integrated medical recovery center 
opened to treat victims. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Indonesia made limited or no headway on other 
difficult anti-trafficking steps. Illegal involvement of 
individual security force members and corrupt officials 
in prostitution linked to trafficking remained unchecked. 
Progress is just beginning to curb corruption that allows 
Indonesians to be easily trafficked abroad, last year's 
efforts focusing on children and to a lesser extent on 
women.  While the Ministry of Manpower continued 
crackdowns on illegal activities of migrant manpower 
agencies, there was no official recognition of the 
reality that Indonesia's migrant worker system does not 
protect workers from exploitation, debt bondage and other 
abuses.  The numbers of cases of severe abuse of 
trafficked victims overseas, particularly those in 
Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, remained alarming.  An MOU 
with Malaysia signed in May 2006 ceded some basic 
workers' rights to employers making it easier for 
Indonesians to be trapped in human bondage. Government 
spending on trafficking is far from covering minimal 
needs, and there is an urgent need for the government to 
take over services now being funded by foreign 
governments and international NGOs. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Within the context of the country's emerging 
democracy, Indonesia's anti-trafficking commitment faced 
the same serious constraints affecting other issues of 
national importance:  endemic corruption, the weakness of 
government structures and law enforcement at all levels, 
limited public budgets, poverty, a weak public education 
system, and competing priorities from other urgent 
issues.  Nevertheless, Indonesia made some significant 
gains in the fight against trafficking in persons. 
Indonesia continued to welcome and cooperate with 
international anti-Trafficking assistance, and anti- 
trafficking partnership with the U.S. Mission and U.S. 
grantees remained strong. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Indonesia has made important strides in 
trafficking, all the more so if the anti-trafficking bill 
passes in March 2007, but will still need to address some 
 
major hurdles: 
 
--Implementation of the anti-trafficking law, which will 
require both continued political will and socializing the 
law among law enforcement officials and civil society. 
Indonesia will need continued international support in 
this effort. 
--Greatly accelerated efforts to combat the corruption 
that feeds trafficking, particularly among law 
enforcement officials, including the military and 
ministry of manpower officials. 
--Increased GOI funding for law enforcement against 
traffickers and for rescue, recovery and reintegration of 
victims. At the same time, this is a great financial 
burden for a country struggling with so many other 
pressing issues.  International support will be required 
for the next few years to allow the GOI time to budget 
for these needs. 
--A migrant manpower recruitment and placement system 
that protects and benefits the workers rather than 
exploiting them to the benefit of the manpower agencies 
and employers. 
--Much greater awareness of the trafficking problem and 
cooperation in combating it by a few receiving countries 
which account for the vast majority of human bondage of 
Indonesians. 
--More exploration of the issue of debt bondage by 
domestic workers within Indonesia, particularly children, 
and enforcement of existing laws to protect those 
workers. End Summary. 
 
------- 
SOURCES 
------- 
 
¶8.  (U) The U.S. Mission in Indonesia contacted and 
received information from many GOI sources specifically 
for the preparation of this report, including:  the 
People's Welfare Coordinating Ministry, the Women's 
Empowerment Ministry (hereinafter the Women's Ministry), 
the National Police (POLRI), the Attorney General's 
Office (AGO), the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry 
(the Manpower Ministry), and a number of local government 
offices, including in East Java and North Sumatra. 
Valuable information came from international and domestic 
NGOs, including the International Catholic Migration 
Commission (ICMC), the American Center for International 
Labor Solidarity (ACILS), Save the Children-USA, and The 
Asia Foundation. Mission research also included valuable 
input from international organizations such as the 
International Labor Organization (ILO), UNICEF, and the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM), the 
latter of which was particularly helpful in providing law 
enforcement statistics. A breakdown of Mission hours 
spent in preparation of the report will follow 
separately. 
 
¶9.  (U) The report text follows the general outline of 
themes and questions provided in ref A instructions. Each 
section begins with a capsule "update" that briefly 
summarizes the most important new information included in 
the text. 
 
¶10.  (U) The Jakarta Mission point of contact on the TIP 
issue is Political Officer Stanley Harsha, tel. (62) 21- 
3435-9146, fax (62) 21-3435-9116. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Report text: 
 
----------------------------------------- 
¶I.  OVERVIEW OF INDONESIA'S ACTIVITIES TO 
    ELIMINATE TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
----------------------------------------- 
 
 
UPDATE 
------ 
 
The past year did not witness significant change in 
overall trafficking patterns in Indonesia.  There is a 
continuous trend of Indonesians seeking work abroad as 
high unemployment and poverty pushes workers overseas. 
The GOI curtailed the practice of allowing young women to 
travel to Japan under the guise of "cultural performers," 
according to immigration and Women's Empowerment Ministry 
officials, resulting in a decrease in reported trafficked 
women in Japan.  Anti-trafficking police complained 
during a February 2007 meeting that the problem persists 
of West Kalimantan women being trafficked to Taiwan as 
contract brides who end up either being forced into 
prostitution or used by their spouses for a couple of 
years and then sent home; a November 2006 ACILS/ICMC 
report "When They Were Sold" confirms this. According to 
NGOs, export of "cultural performers" to Japan, who 
oftentimes end up being trafficked into prostitution, 
persisted despite official claims that this type of 
practice was stopped in 2006. Ministry of Manpower 
statistics on problems with workers returning from Taiwan 
and Singapore document a high number of cases of sexually 
transmitted diseases.  Reports have begun trickling into 
NGOs of women displaced by a mudflow disaster near 
Surabaya being forced into prostitution because of 
economic hardship, but it was too early to document this. 
Domestic trafficking continued to be concentrated in 
prostitution, with rampant complicity by security 
officials. An Atma Jaya University study in late 2006 
documented illegal methods used by manpower agencies to 
keep workers in debt bondage from the time they are 
recruited, also documented by ACILS/ICMC.  The Ministry 
of Manpower remained passive this year in stopping these 
and other abuses, its raids on manpower agencies having 
no effect on trafficking. Cases of severe abuse of 
Indonesians trafficked abroad, particularly to Malaysia 
and Saudi Arabia, continued unabated.  The GOI made 
significant progress in efforts by its Mission in 
Malaysia to protect, treat and repatriate victims. 
 
A new witness protection law enacted in August, 2006 
should give prosecutors more leeway in providing 
testimony against traffickers while protecting victims by 
such means as allowing use of videotaped testimony.  Many 
local governments and communities became galvanized to 
stop trafficking in 2006 as public consciousness grew 
perceptibly. A number of provincial and local governments 
passed anti-trafficking or women and child protection 
laws.  Local governments also increased funding for 
prevention and treatment, and are carrying out 
coordinated efforts between civil society and government. 
Civil society across Indonesia kept the media spotlight 
on trafficking, resulting in many in-depth reports on 
television and in print.  The visits to Indonesia by TIP 
envoy Ambassador John Miller and a UN special envoy 
brought attention to crucial trafficking issues to 
officials and the public, while U.S. Ambassador to 
Indonesia Lynn Pascoe raised the trafficking problem and 
the urgent need to pass the anti-trafficking bill during 
numerous meetings with several ministers.  The message 
that trafficking is a top bilateral issue and 
multilateral issue for the U.S. was clearly appreciated 
by all relevant senior government officials. 
 
President Yudhoyono took action to protect migrant 
workers through an August 2006 decree to provide them 
more comprehensive protection and by giving strong 
messages to senior officials to eliminate trafficking. 
Honest, conscientious officials were appointed at senior 
levels with the political will to carry through.  For the 
 
first time this year, significant numbers of police, 
prosecutors and immigration officials understood the 
wider meaning of human trafficking and began working 
together, and this education process began reaching 
hundreds of judges.  Under the leadership of the Ministry 
of Women's Empowerment and a Parliamentary special 
committee on anti-trafficking, work on the comprehensive 
anti-trafficking bill proceeded at a feverish pace from 
October to date, fully taking on board civil society's 
suggestions to strengthen the legislation.  The bill was 
delayed only by final efforts to ensure the bill's 
language would cover all the crucial elements and could 
be clearly understood by law enforcers. Indonesian and 
international NGOs deemed the bill to be strong in all 
major aspects.  The bill is now scheduled for final 
debate and possible passage on March 20. 
 
For the third year in a row, the Ministry of Women's 
Empowerment published a report in 2006 on efforts to 
fight trafficking covering the period of April 2005 to 
March 2006.  The GOI reported for the first time this 
year the anti-trafficking budget for the Ministries of 
Women's Empowerment and the Coordinating Ministry for 
Social Welfare, totaling $4.8 million for 2007. End 
update. 
 
INDONESIA FACES SIGNIFICANT TRAFFICKING CRIMES 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
Indonesia, a developing country and emerging democracy 
with the world's fourth largest population, is a place of 
origin for a significant number of internationally 
trafficked women and children, and to a lesser extent 
men. Indonesia is also a transit and destination country 
for international trafficking, although foreign victims 
are very small in number relative to Indonesian victims. 
Very significant incidents of trafficking occur within 
Indonesia's borders, including for prostitution. 
Different regions of the country are identifiable as 
sending, transit and/or receiving areas for internal as 
well as international trafficking.  There were no reports 
during this period of trafficking in territory outside of 
GOI control. 
 
Source region, transit region and receiving region 
of trafficking in persons in Indonesia 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
Update 
------- 
 
Source regions:  Various official data and observations 
by ACILS/ICMC (November 2006, When They Were Sold) 
indicate that all provinces of Indonesia are both sources 
and destinations. An ACILS analysis of Department of 
Social Affairs data on women and girls entering 
prostitution in 1994-95 and 2004 found it difficult to 
draw any firm conclusions.  The biggest increase in 
prostitution in recent years has been into South Sumatra 
and Bangka Belitung, followed by Jakarta, Riau and Riau 
Islands.  However, places which traditionally have had 
high levels of prostitution such as East Java and West 
Kalimantan continue to be destinations for traffickers 
even if the absolute numbers of prostitutes is not 
increasing because of the high replacement rate of 
prostitutes in such places. On the other hand, in more 
isolated places such as Bangka Belitung, Riau Islands, 
Halmahera, Moluccas and Papua, traffickers find it easier 
to isolate and hold women and girls in captivity, the 
ACILS study points out. 
 
Eastern Indonesia continues to be a source area, transit 
point and destination for victims of human trafficking. 
 
East and Central Java, North Sulawesi, Bali and Nusa 
Tenggaram, East Kalimantan and West Kalimantan provinces 
are among the source areas for both domestic and 
international human trafficking.  East Java and Central 
Sulawesi are transit points and used for "socialization" 
of women being trafficked for commercial sex work 
domestically and around Southeast Asia.  Surabaya and 
Bali remain destinations for domestic trafficking victims 
for both commercial sex work and child labor. 
 
Transit regions: A November 2006 ACILS report concludes 
that most trafficking to Malaysia and Singapore follows 
two major routes, known as the eastern and western 
corridors. The western corridor is composed of two 
departure points:  Batam Island, Riau and Entikong, West 
Kalimantan for travel by air from Kuching to Kuala 
Lumpur.  Nunukan, East Kalimantan is the eastern corridor 
departure point to Malaysia and Brunei.  There are 
various air, sea and land routes from other points in 
Indonesia to these departure points. 
 
Domestic trafficking routes are varied and not well 
defined. 
 
Receiving regions: According to latest available IOM 
statistics covering March 2005 to October 2006 of 1,650 
victims it has assisted, the destinations were as 
follows: 
 
-------------------------------------- 
DestinationQQFreqQPercent 
-------------------------------------- 
MalaysiaQQ856Q63 
IndonesiaQQ432Q32 
Saudi ArabiaQQ41Q3 
JapanQQQ15Q1 
SyriaQQQ 8Q1 
KuwaitQQQ 4Q0 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Types of ProblemsQQSaudiQKuwait UEAQTaiwan 
MalaysiaQSingapore 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Salaries not paidQQ895Q208Q 156Q30Q 47QQ34 
 
Sexually abused QQ707Q47Q 62Q43Q 17QQ18 
AbusedQQQ     668Q93Q 91Q61Q 47QQ36 
Work not in accordance 
with training/promisesQ625Q92Q 80Q283Q 91QQ108 
injured at workQQ769Q73Q 72Q103Q 110QQ64 
--------------------------------------------- - 
End update. 
 
RELIABLE STATISTICS UNAVAILABLE 
------------------------------- 
 
Reliable statistics or estimates of the overall number of 
victims remain unavailable, in large part because of the 
illegal and informal nature of trafficking, the lack of 
systematic research, and frequent definitional problems. 
The sources available for information on the prevalence 
of TIP include GOI agencies (particularly the Women's 
Ministry and the People's Welfare Coordinating Ministry), 
domestic and 
international NGOs and international organizations, 
including UNICEF, IOM and ILO.  Most organizations' 
estimates rely upon a combination of extrapolation, field 
experience, press reports and anecdotal evidence.  Some 
of these organizations will not provide estimates due to 
the uncertainty of their information.  Definitional 
problems, often including a lack of distinction between 
human trafficking, lesser abuses of workers, and illegal 
migration make some estimates very 
 
unreliable. 
 
Crude estimates of the prevalence of TIP vary 
tremendously, but most indicate the number of victims in 
the upper tens of thousands or higher.  In past years, 
GOI documents referenced various estimates of the total 
number of victims, usually in the hundreds of thousands, 
without providing details for these figures.  The GOI's 
2005-2006 TIP report did not offer an estimate of 
victims.  GOI officials charged with the issue state that 
they do not have reliable, overall estimates of the 
number of victims. 
 
Other non-governmental estimates of the overall number of 
TIP victims exist, but do not have a strong basis in 
systematic research.  Migrant worker advocacy groups 
occasionally cited very high and seemingly inaccurate 
numbers.  To the extent that such organizations do not 
differentiate between trafficking and lesser abuses of 
migrant workers, their figures represent gross 
overestimates. 
 
INTERNAL TRAFFICKING MOST SIGNIFICANT 
------------------------------------- 
 
Update 
------ 
 
While reliable figures do not exist, many anti- 
trafficking organizations believe the number of victims 
of internal trafficking exceeds the number of Indonesians 
trafficked overseas.  The U.S. Mission's observations 
support this conclusion. Internal trafficking is largely 
in prostitution. Exploitation and abuse of children in 
the fishing industry and of women and girls in domestic 
servitude are serious abuses as reported in a June 2003 
Human Rights Watch report and a February 2007 Amnesty 
International report, but links to trafficking are not 
extensive. As ACILS reports (November 2006 "When They 
Were Sold"), the movement of women and girls is more 
aided by friends and relatives than by professional 
recruiters, and the lack of an elaborate recruiting 
process and fees paid by employers prohibits large 
profits by would be traffickers.  Forced labor and worst 
forms of child labor better describes the situation in 
the fishing industry and domestic servitude than does 
trafficking. End update. 
 
BOUNDARY ESTIMATES 
------------------ 
 
Some groupQR- S)P victims: female migrant workers, 
prostitutes and child domestic workers.  (There are other 
categories that also generate TIP victims, but not are 
included in these ICMC/ACILS boundary ecqqcW^kre not estimates of the 
number of victims (for example, most female migraB!@`D`Q}-------------------------------- ----------------- 
TABLE 1:  WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN SECTORS 
          VULNERABLE TO TRAFFICKING 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
SECTOR                  Women Children   Children 
------                  --------------   -------- 
In-country Sex 
   Workers          130k - 240k      39k - 72k 
Female Migrant 
   Workers          1.4 - 2.1 mil.     n/a 
In-country domestic 
  workers           860k - 1.4 mil.  215k - 350k 
                    ---------------  ----------- 
                    2.4 - 3.7 mil.   254k - 422k 
 
SOURCE:  ICMC/ACILS, 2003 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
DATA ON PROSTITUTION 
-------------------- 
 
Prostitution constitutes a major source of concern for 
TIP in Indonesia due to the number of women and children 
involved; the clandestine, abusive and often forced 
nature of this work; the prevalence of organized crime; 
and the frequent awareness and/or complicity of officials 
and security forces (police and military) in 
prostitution.  The boundary estimates for domestic sex 
workers are somewhat more precise than for other areas. 
ICMC/ACILS in 2003 estimated between 130,000 to 240,000 
in-country prostitutes.  A number of studies have 
consistently found that on average children make up some 
25 to 30 percent of persons working as prostitutes. Using 
30 percent, ICMC/ACILS arrives at boundary estimates of 
some 39,000 to 72,000 child prostitutes.  This range also 
corresponds generally with a UNICEF  estimate.  Underage 
prostitutes (those under 18 years of age) are by 
definition TIP victims under the Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act of 
¶2000. 
 
The ILO generated data on the incidence of the worst 
forms of child labor, including child trafficking for 
prostitution, through a series of "rapid assessments" 
conducted in 2003. The ILO carried out the assessments in 
limited geographic areas of concern for specific types of 
child labor.  For child trafficking into prostitution, 
the ILO assessment focused on Java, home to 60 percent of 
Indonesia's population.  The ILO field research generated 
"best guess" estimates for child prostitutes in these 
provinces, noted in Table 2. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
TABLE 2:  ESTIMATES OF TOTAL NUMBER OF PROSTITUTES 
          AND CHILD PROSTITUTES ON JAVA 
 
LOCATION      TOTAL         TOTAL     PERCENT 
              PROSTITUTES   UNDERAGE  UNDERAGE 
--------      -----------   --------  -------- 
West Java:    31,380         9,000       29 
Jakarta:        28,620         5,100       18 
East Java:    14,279         4,081       29 
Central Java:  8,495         3,177       37 
Yogyakarta     1,106           194       18 
              -----------   --------  -------- 
              83,880        21,552        26 
 
SOURCE:  ILO RAPID ASSESSMENTS, 2003 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
STUDY ON PAPUA 
-------------- 
 
In remote Papua, a 2005 ICMC field study estimated that 
there were over 3,000 internally trafficked women and 
girls in the sex trade, including some 1,000 child 
 
prostitutes, in the area's seven largest population 
centers.  Almost all child street prostitutes were of 
Papuan origin.  In contrast, most victims in karaoke bars 
and brothels originated from Indonesian areas outside 
Papua, with the greatest number coming from North 
Sulawesi.  The victims normally arrived by ship, often 
with false promises of employment.  Internal migrant 
workers generated much of the demand for prostitution. 
Geographic isolation, economic underdevelopment, and lack 
of civil society concern increased the severity of 
trafficking conditions in Papua. 
 
Update 
------ 
 
Riau Progress Limited 
--------------------- 
 
The Riau islands including Batam, Tanjung Pinang, Bintan 
and Karimun, a transit and destination area, did not make 
substantial progress in 2006.  In Batam, the results of 
anti-trafficking activities have been mixed.  NGOs report 
that the police chief has increasingly focused his 
efforts on trafficking but that the results are not yet 
clear. The Head of Batam's office for Women's Empowerment 
reported that her office handled 226 cases for Batam city 
in 2006.  Most of these cases involved returning 
trafficking victims to their home provinces. YMKK, a 
foundation dealing with health issues for trafficking 
victims report that they handled 35 cases in 2006.  They, 
too, report that most of their activities involve 
repatriation of victims.  Only three of these cases, they 
report, were extensively investigated by the police; none 
went to trial.  According to NGO representatives, plans 
have been made for them to work more closely with the 
provincial government, the police, hospitals and 
prosecutors in 2007. 
 
Trafficking of women and girls to Riau Islands takes 
place primarily for sexual exploitation in the large 
numbers of entertainment establishments in Batam, Tanjung 
Pinang and Balai Karimun.  Riau Islands are also a 
transit area, to Malaysia in particular.  Local NGOS also 
report many girls being trafficked by pimps overnight to 
Singapore as prostitutes, using false documents.  This 
practice is difficult to control as many Indonesian women 
also travel to Singapore to shop.  In addition, there are 
reported incidences of selling babies born to women in 
prostitution and in labor export holding centers; it can 
be inferred that some babies sold are from trafficked 
women and girls with unwanted pregnancies, but it cannot 
be stated conclusively that this form of baby selling is 
a form of trafficking.  The ACILS November 2006 report 
concluded that this issue warrants further exploration. 
YMKK estimates there are 5,000 sex workers in Batam 
alone, five percent under 18 years of age. ICMC estimates 
that 25 percent of the women and girls working as 
prostitutes in massage parlors and bars are under age 18. 
While there is some freedom of movement for prostitutes 
working in red light districts to leave the enclosures of 
these "lokalisasis," there are many reports that they 
cannot leave unescorted. According to Indonesian media, 
NGOs, and ILO research, Malaysians and Singaporeans 
constitute the largest number of sex tourists in Batam 
and the surrounding areas like Balai Karimun and Tanjung 
Pinang.  The area's sex industry is also heavily 
dependent on Indonesian clients, drawn in part from the 
population of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in 
Batam.  ILO research described Tanjung Balai Karimun, 
near Batam, as operating a "prostitution economy." 
 
INDONESIAN VICTIMS IN MALAYSIA 
------------------------------ 
 
 
Update 
------ 
 
Malaysia is commonly identified as the country receiving 
the greatest number of Indonesian trafficking victims. 
According to ACILS, in Malaysia the risks of being 
trafficked are compounded by the fact that probably more 
women and girls enter Malaysia illegally than legally to 
seek employment. ACILS has accounts that an over-supply 
of Indonesian women and girls in Malaysia results in 
placement agencies in Malaysia offering incentives to 
hire more foreign maids including offering the recovery 
of employment fees from the employee through wage 
reductions. Various sources report that the first five 
months of wages are commonly deducted. IOM reported that 
from March 2005 to October 2006, 72 percent of female 
victims recovered from various countries had chlamydia, 
and a significant proportion had other STDs, including 
1.7 percent who were HIV positive. Of these victims, 63 
percent were recovered from Malaysia. 
 
A 2006 bilateral MOU between Indonesia and Malaysia 
failed to give adequate protection to Indonesian migrant 
workers, opening the door to abuse. The agreement allows 
employers to hold workers' passports, restricting their 
freedom to return home, allows monthly deductions of up 
to 50 percent of negotiated wages to repay loans and 
advances, and does not specify time off. 
 
Past NGO and GOI estimates of Indonesian prostitutes 
(whether trafficked or not) and child prostitutes in 
Malaysia have ranged in the thousands, but such estimates 
do not have a strong basis in substantive research. 
Officials at the Women's Ministry reported that during 
2004 the GOI repatriated from Malaysia 1,047 allegedly 
trafficked prostitutes, the latest data available.  IOM 
recorded 470 Indonesian trafficking victims, including 
110 children, repatriated from Malaysia from March 2005 
to February 2006. Of these, 81 were trafficked into 
prostitution, representing 62 adults and 19 children. 
Domestic workers constituted the largest number of 
victims, 267, repatriated with IOM assistance. 
 
The ILO, IOM, NGOs and Indonesian diplomats in Malaysia 
have noted reports of illegal Indonesian migrant workers 
trafficked to isolated plantations and plywood factories 
in Malaysia.  It was not clear in all instances whether 
such reports met the definition of trafficking or 
represented other types of labor abuse.  In July 2006, 
IOM reported that 10 out of the 78 plantations workers 
rescued from Malaysia, 13 percent, were children. 
 
"CULTURAL PERFORMERS" IN JAPAN 
------------------------------ 
 
GOI stopped permitting Indonesian women to travel to 
Japan and South Korea as "cultural performers" in June 
2006, according to the Ministry of Women's Empowerment, 
thus curtailing a practice that lead to being trafficked 
into prostitution. The Indonesian migrant workers 
protection NGO Kopbumi, however, could not confirm 
whether the number of victims has reduced or not. 
Kopbumi reported that even though the government had 
banned women to travel to Japan as "cultural performers", 
the practice still exists.  Kopbumi estimated that about 
100 women go to Japan as "cultural performers" or 
"apprenticeship" per month, but they have no written data 
to back this up. For 2005, the National Police Agency of 
Japan in February 2006 reported that 117 foreign women 
were recovered with Indonesians comprising the largest 
group of victims, totaling 44 women (source: The Jakarta 
Post, February 10, 2006.)  End update.  Prior to