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RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 1951
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS JAKARTA 000700 
 
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 (PART 3 OF 4) 
 
 
GOI AGENCIES INVOLVED IN ANTI-TIP EFFORTS 
----------------------------------------- 
 
Update 
------ 
 
In January 2007, the National Agency for the Placement and 
Protection of Overseas Workers (BNP2TKI) was established. 
The agency tools over the Ministry of Manpower and 
TransmigrationQs responsibilities to protect migrant 
workers, such as facilitating labor export and providing 
legal protection.  The agency was established under the 
2004 Overseas Labor Placement and Protection Law and was 
placed directly under the PresidentQs jurisdiction.  The 
law also requires the government and the new agency to 
supply workers only to countries that have labor agreements 
with Indonesia.  With this new body, the directorate 
general for placement and protection of Indonesian migrant 
workers will be abolished.  Through this same decree, GOI 
will decentralize Migrant Holding Centers to the district 
level which will benefit migrant workers because it will 
reduce the cost of travel to the centers, facilitate 
monitoring of the centers and reduce the potential for 
manipulation of the documents.  Social controls of abuses 
at the local levels are believed to be stronger.  The new 
body will not start operating until later in 2007, but 
coordination meetings between police, immigration, manpower 
and other agencies that will assign special personnel to 
the agency have begun. 
 
In late 2006 the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, 
Malaysia established a medical clinic in its shelter.  The 
Embassy now has two doctors on call to provide basic 
medical services to stranded migrants there, regardless of 
whether they are victims of trafficking.  Now, each 
stranded migrant worker at the embassy is entitled to a 
free medical check up and treatment which the embassy pays 
for in full.  Apart from that, exit documents needed for 
victims of trafficking to leave Kuala Lumpur are obtained 
more quickly than in the past.  Previous victims would be 
at the shelter for well over year and this has been cut 
back to a few months.  The Indonesian consulates (Penang, 
Johor Baru, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu) and the Embassy are 
actively screening all migrants for victims of trafficking. 
The staff is using the IOMQs screening form (based on UN 
definition of trafficking).  Once migrants are identified 
as victims of trafficking, they are immediately referred to 
IOM for assistance. 
 
The Ministry began drawing up a plan to revise its Standard 
Operating Procedures (SOP) for the return and the 
reintegration of trafficked persons for the next five-year 
period, beginning in 2008. 
 
The Witness Protection Bill was enacted in August, 2006, a 
measure that will allow victims to testify through 
videotape and other means, which once implemented should 
increase prosecutorsQ ability to obtain convictions. 
 
Local government agencies, for the most part operating 
autonomously from central ministries, also played roles in 
anti-trafficking.  The number of provinces with established 
anti-trafficking committees or task forces increased from 
12 in 2005 to 17 in 2006 (out of 33 provinces), as follows: 
Bali, Central Java, East Java, East Kalimantan, East Nusa 
Tenggara, Jakarta, North Sulawesi, North Sumatra, West 
Java, West Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, Riau and 
Yogyakarta.  At least 14 district-level task forces also 
operated within 8 provinces:  Bali (Buleleng), Central Java 
(Cilicap), East Java (Tulungagung, Malang, Ponorogo, 
Blitar, Banyuwangi), Riau (Dumai), Riau Island (Tanjung 
Balai Karimun), West Java (Indramayu, Bandung, Bekasi), 
West Kalimantan (Sambas), and West Nusa Tenggara (Sumbawa). 
 
The effectiveness of the various committees and task forces 
varied considerably, and some failed to function 
adequately.  End update. 
 
Many government agencies at national and sub-national 
levels carried out anti-trafficking efforts, some in a 
substantive way and others only superficially.  The 
People's Welfare Coordinating Ministry is the senior most 
executive body responsible for TIP.  In 2002, the President 
identified the Women's Ministry as the focal point for 
anti-trafficking efforts, particularly those concerning 
women and children.  Both the Coordinating Ministry and the 
Women's Ministry actively engaged on TIP throughout the 
year.  Several deputy ministers from both ministries 
devoted themselves on an almost full-time basis to anti- 
trafficking activities. 
 
The People's Welfare Coordinating Ministry and the Women's 
Ministry lead the GOI's National Anti-Trafficking Task 
Force, which has formal responsibility for the National 
Action Plan to Eliminate Trafficking in Persons.  This body 
includes 12 other GOI agencies (as well as NGOs and civil 
society representatives): 
 
-- Home Affairs Ministry 
-- Foreign Affairs Ministry 
-- Religious Affairs Ministry 
-- Law and Human Rights Ministry 
-- Manpower and Transmigration Ministry 
-- Social Affairs Ministry 
-- Health Ministry 
-- Education Ministry 
-- Tourism and Culture Ministry 
-- Communications Ministry 
-- The National Police (POLRI) 
-- The National Statistics Bureau 
 
The National Task Force has met four times and has had 
limited success as a coordinating body, and less success in 
generating concrete actions.  In part, this reflects the 
relative powerlessness of the Women's Ministry within the 
national government, and the fact that neither the People's 
Welfare Coordinating Ministry nor the Women's Ministry has 
much operational authority.  However, interagency 
coordination generally is weak or nonexistent everywhere in 
the government on almost all issues. 
 
GOI ANTI-TIP CAMPAIGNS 
---------------------- 
 
Update 
------ 
 
The Ministry of WomenQs Empowerment signed an MOU with 
Media Net for an anti-trafficking campaign through radio 
community in West Java.  The campaign was broadcast through 
Farmers Voice Radio Network.  GOI also broadcast a national 
PSA on television and radio, and distributed anti-TIP 
educational materials.  End update. 
 
During this period, the GOI and NGOs continued anti- 
trafficking information and education initiatives, which 
were limited in scope and budget, but did raise awareness 
among the Indonesian public.  GOI-sponsored public 
awareness campaigns included television, radio and print 
media, and commonly featured senior officials.  Indonesia's 
National Spokesperson on Trafficking, television 
personality Dewi Hughes, continued public awareness 
engagements in numerous media events that highlighted the 
human cost of trafficking, sought to warn potential 
victims, and lobbied for the passage of the anti- 
trafficking bill. 
 
In 2005-2006, the Women's Ministry conducted awareness- 
raising efforts in 16 provinces.  In late 2005, the Women's 
Ministry sponsored a televised PSA on private national 
television stations, with viewing audiences in the millions 
of viewers.  The television PSA, the first-ever related to 
trafficking, ran for approximately one month.  The PSA 
depicted a rural girl who, with the promise of a lucrative 
job, is trafficked into prostitution in a big Indonesian 
city.  Manpower Ministry included information on the risk 
of trafficking, and other abuses, during mandatory training 
of out-going migrant workers.  The Manpower Ministry also 
launched pilot projects in four sub-districts (two in West 
Java, one in Central Java, one in West Nusa Tenggara) 
involving activists who reach out to their communities to 
raise awareness about trafficking and safe migration. 
 
Some local governments, such as in North Sulawesi, East 
Java, and Batam, also conducted education campaigns.  The 
National Education Ministry incorporated anti-trafficking 
materials in some of its training activities.  The Ministry 
distributed anti-trafficking education kits to 150 
administrators responsible for the country's out of school 
education services.  The National Education Ministry also 
funded a local NGO project to assist radio stations in West 
Java with the creation and airing of anti-trafficking PSAs. 
 
NGOs remained the most active groups conducting anti- 
trafficking campaigns in some areas.  For example, in 
Surabaya, East Java, NGOs held discussions in prostitution 
complexes, sponsored university workshops, conducted 
campaigns in bus and railway stations, and distributed 
brochures and posters. 
 
There were few efforts that focused on reducing demand for 
trafficking.  Limited public education material in Bali and 
Batam, aimed at stopping child sex tourism, contained 
messages for potential clients of prostitutes. 
 
The GOI efforts contributed to increasing public 
understanding of the seriousness of the trafficking 
problem, but GOI agencies responsible for combating 
trafficking did not have funds to conduct extensive, 
national education efforts.  The national TIP Task Force 
called for expanded awareness-raising campaigns. 
 
Media coverage of trafficking, both domestic and 
international, expanded over recent years.  National 
television, radio and print media, and local newspapers 
routinely covered TIP issues.  Investigative journalism 
shows highlighted the crime.  Migrant workers who had 
become trafficking victims, Indonesian prostitutes in 
Malaysia and the Middle East, domestic servants in Saudi 
Arabia, and child prostitutes were among topics that 
received significant coverage. 
 
Indonesia's national Scouts organization, which has near 
universal representation in public schools, continued and 
expanded its anti-trafficking education campaign in West 
Java.  The on-going campaign targets 25,000 students in 116 
schools in 2006.  Some Islamic organizations, including 
Muslim boarding schools (pesantren) began to take a more 
active role in anti-trafficking awareness-raising in parts 
of West Java, East Java, and Aceh.  In West Java, the 
Fahmina Institute and the pesantren of Kyai Husein Muhammad 
engaged in active anti-trafficking efforts focused on the 
Muslim community. 
 
GOI SUPPORT TO OTHER PREVENTION PROGRAMS 
---------------------------------------- 
 
The GOI supported and administered other national programs 
related to the prevention of trafficking, but not designed 
specifically as anti-trafficking efforts.  These programs 
 
commonly faced serious constraints in terms of GOI limited 
funds, institutional capacity, and corruption.  Some of the 
more relevant programs were: 
 
-- A program to encourage free basic public education 
through the first nine years of schooling, including 
subsidies for students from poor families.  A number of 
districts announced their achievement of free public 
schooling. 
 
-- School Subsidy Operation providing a subsidy to poor 
people who were directly affected by the policy to increase 
the price of oil. 
 
-- A program to encourage birth registrations, coupled with 
a law that mandates government offices to provide birth 
certificates free of charge.  At least 21 local governments 
began free provision of birth certificates. 
 
-- A national program to eliminate gender inequality in 
education. 
 
-- Programs to train female migrant workers. 
 
-- Credit schemes for micro-, small- and medium-sized 
businesses, some of which focused on women. 
 
-- Revolving credit schemes for cooperatives and savings 
and loan associations. 
 
-- Various cooperative efforts with NGOs to assist women 
from poor families. 
 
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOI, NGOs AND OTHER ELEMENTS 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
The overall relationship between relevant GOI offices and 
NGOs remained cooperative and mutually supportive on TIP- 
related issues.  Cooperation varied from agency to agency 
and location to location.  The GOI recognized the 
importance of NGO expertise, networks and involvement. 
NGOs met regularly with officials and participated in 
national and local task forces.  The GOI and NGOs 
collaborated on many TIP initiatives, including in 
protection of victims, public awareness raising, and in 
providing assistance to law enforcement officials in 
investigations and prosecutions.  The police and NGOs 
continued to share information on trafficking, although 
mutual suspicions between NGOs and police sometimes 
prevented their cooperation. 
 
In East Java, the province's Child Protection Commission, 
police, city authorities, and NGO representatives in May 
2005 launched a network to monitor and prevent trafficking 
of children into prostitution.  The network monitors 
brothels and reports to the social services office and 
police if a brothel employs a child prostitute. 
 
The DPR invited NGOs and other civil society groups to 
participate in hearings on the pending anti-trafficking 
bill.  Women's groups worked with the GOI and DPR members 
to garner political support for the bill's passage. 
 
MONITORING OF IMMIGRATION/EMIGRATION 
------------------------------------ 
 
Update 
------ 
 
The Directorate of Immigration, under a new Director 
General who has made stopping trafficking a top priority, 
particularly of children, has begun training immigration 
officers on trafficking awareness. Immigration has begun 
 
efforts to stop trafficking of under-18 persons at 
international transit points with some anecdotal evidence 
of good early results in late 2006.  The implementation of 
bio-metric passports should help immigration officials to 
stop trafficking of girls as well, since false documents is 
one primary way to prevent this.  Secondly, immigration 
officers have been trained that allowing girls to go abroad 
to work is not helping them to find jobs but rather is 
contributing to their exploitation by being trafficked, a 
concept not taught before. Finally, immigration, police, 
prosecutors and judges from migrant worker transit areas 
were trained together in late 2006 by IOM, a coordinated 
effort that officials from these offices praised as 
heightening awareness and cooperation.  A recent DOJ visit 
to some remote border areas in Kalimantan revealed that 
immigration officials in even the most isolated posts were 
aware and concerned about trafficking, although they have 
few resources to police a long and porous border. 
 
The Transnational Crime Center (TNCC), which includes 
trafficking as one focus, began to aggressively tackle 
trafficking this year, with nearly half of the TNCCQs 21 
cases in 2006 related to trafficking, exceeding even the 
number of anti-terrorism cases handled, an indication of 
the importance the GOI has given to this crime.  This is 
even more impressive given that the TNCC did not get off 
the ground until July 2006.  End update. 
 
While efforts to increase passport integrity began, 
Indonesia's passport services, like most other government 
services, remained the object of widespread corruption. 
Indonesians are able to easily obtain passports in false 
and multiple identities.  The lack of computerized 
nationwide passport and immigration records facilitated the 
work of traffickers, and made it difficult to check whether 
potential trafficking victims have left Indonesia. 
Recruitment agencies routinely falsified birth dates, 
including for children, in order to apply for passports and 
migrant worker documents. 
 
The GOI, by its own admission, could not adequately monitor 
its borders due to the vast size of the country (stretching 
some three thousand miles east-west encompassing 17,000 
islands), its tens of thousands of miles of coastline, and 
its limited naval and border patrol units.  While the GOI 
increased controls and oversight at some border points in 
response to concerns over terrorism and illegal migrant 
worker flows to Malaysia, border control in general 
remained very inadequate.  Field reports from the 
Indonesia-Malaysia land border crossing points, such as 
Entikong, West Kalimantan, consistently described very 
loose and easily corrupted immigration controls. 
 
The GOI did not effectively monitor immigration and 
emigration patterns for evidence of trafficking, with some 
limited exceptions in areas like the Riau Islands, where 
from time to time police and immigration officials utilized 
immigration/emigration data to detect and act against 
trafficking rings.  On the whole, however, immigration 
officials and law enforcement agencies did not have the 
equipment, capacity or tools to generate useful 
information, or did not prioritize such information. 
 
COORDINATION AND COMMUNICATION MECHANISMS 
----------------------------------------- 
 
Update 
------ 
 
Indonesia hosted the international Bali Process ministerial 
on trafficking victim support in November 2006. 
 
Indonesia also signed the ASEAN Declaration on the 
 
Protection and Promotion of the Rights and of Migrant 
Workers, committing itself to an extensive list of 
protections.  End update. 
 
At the national level, the Women's Ministry served as the 
focal point for GOI actions on TIP.  The People's Welfare 
Coordinating Ministry, which includes the Women's Ministry 
under its umbrella, also played a key role in coordinating 
efforts across different agencies.  The National Action 
Plan to eliminate trafficking created a Task Force led by 
the People's Welfare Coordinating Minister and the Women's 
Minister, and included some 28 government and law 
enforcement agencies, NGOs, and civil society groups (see 
above).  Many provinces and a number of districts operated 
task forces for coordinating anti-trafficking efforts. 
 
The GOI actively participated in multilateral and 
international coordination efforts to combat trafficking 
under UN, ASEAN and regional frameworks.  As an example, 
the GOI hosted the ASEAN workshop on combating TIP in 
November 2005.  The results for Indonesia of such 
multinational efforts have been mixed, in part because they 
often do not involve GOI agencies that are responsible for 
TIP and are knowledgeable about the issue.  For example, 
the Bali Ministerial process appears to have had little 
discernable impact on GOI anti-trafficking efforts inside 
the country thus far. 
 
NATIONAL PLANS OF ACTION 
------------------------ 
 
In 2002, then President Megawati approved three five-year 
national action plans related to trafficking, one each to 
eliminate the worst forms of child labor, to combat 
trafficking in women and children, and to eliminate the 
commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC).  The 
People's Welfare Coordinating Ministry and the Women's 
Ministry led the development of the anti-trafficking action 
plan, beginning in March 2002.  A number of NGOs and civil 
society groups actively joined in the drafting and 
discussion of the plans.  NGOs and civil society groups sit 
on the steering committee for implementing the action plan. 
Following its adoption, the GOI has disseminated the action 
plans to GOI offices, provincial officials, NGOs and civil 
society groups, often through workshops, seminars and the 
travel of Jakarta officials to the provinces. 
 
East Java Province approved a provincial action plan in 
¶2005.  Other provinces and districts also have developed 
action plans, including West Kalimantan. 
 
The GOI has given responsibility for developing anti- 
trafficking programs to the National Anti-Trafficking Task 
Force, created by the National Action Plan, and led by the 
People's Welfare Coordinating Minister and the Women's 
Minister, which includes other government and law 
enforcement agencies, NGOs, and civil society groups (see 
above).  Responsibility for provincial and district-level 
programs varies from location to location.  A growing 
number of provinces and districts (26 in total) have their 
own task forces or committees. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
III. INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
UPDATE 
------ 
 
The DPR completed the final draft of a comprehensive anti- 
trafficking bill in February 2007 and scheduled it for 
final consideration and hopefully passage for March 20. 
The government and the DPR strengthened the bill during the 
 
final months, taking on board all the major suggestions 
from NGOs and the international community, including 
internationally accepted definitions of debt bondage and 
sexual exploitation, as well as clauses on trafficking of 
children and immunity of victims from prosecution. 
 
Law enforcement against traffickers increased sharply 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 longest sentence 
handed down by a court in 2006 in a trafficking case was 
fifteen years, under the Child Protection Act.  These 
statistics were based on case descriptions given by the 
police and prosecutors national anti-trafficking officials, 
plus cases tracked by IOM, with a few cases tracked in the 
media that could be verified with authorities.  No cases 
were counted that could not be verified to be actual 
trafficking cases; i.e., we did not count cases reported in 
the media which might have been illegal adoption cases but 
could not be verified. 
 
In the 94 cases for which relevant information was 
available, police and prosecutors used the Child Protection 
Act against traffickers in 61 cases; the Penal Code in 47 
cases; the Migrant Worker Protection Act in 32 cases. 
 
Arrests and prosecutions should increase as the number of 
law enforcement officials assigned to trafficking continues 
to increase.  In the last few months of 2006 alone, the 
anti-trafficking desk of the national police force expanded 
from 12 officers to 20.  There are now 237 womenQs police 
units nationwide with 10 police officers each, focusing 
mainly on trafficking cases.  Police trainers have gone to 
the provinces to conduct six training courses with 30-40 
police at each course, and have done joint training with 
prosecutors. 
 
One piece of anecdotal evidence of effectiveness was a 
testimonial from a police officer assigned to the Jakarta 
international airport, who said as a result of recent 
training, he has caught 18 cases of child trafficking and 
trafficking related to document fraud that he would not 
have caught before. 
 
Further progress has been reported by the American 
consulates in Medan and Surabaya (see below) which are not 
included in the above statistics because we were unable to 
cross reference the cases to ensure we did not double count 
cases. 
 
It is almost impossible for police, prosecutors and the 
courts to keep accurate statistics without an anti- 
trafficking law and a database (which will be years away 
given the state of computer and Internet technology in 
Indonesia).  However, police made great efforts to keep and 
provide statistics and the prosecutors with the TNCC also 
made an effort, although gathering local prosecution and 
conviction statistics remains very difficult.  End update. 
 
EXISTING ANTI-TIP LAWS 
---------------------- 
 
Update: 
 
The National Plan of Action encourages provincial and local 
governments to do their own anti-trafficking regulations 
and a number have done so. Notable are strong anti- 
trafficking or women and child protection laws which are 
local reactions to the trafficking problem and are being 
used vigorously. Some of these laws include: 
 
-- North Sulawesi with Regional Regulation No. 1 of 2004 on 
Prevention and Elimination of Trafficking of Women and 
Children; 
-- North Sumatra with Regional Regulation No. 6 of 2004 on 
Prevention and Elimination of Trafficking of Women and 
Children; 
--Indramayu District with Local Regulation No. 14 of 2005 
on Prevention and Prohibition of Trafficking for Child 
Commercial Sexual Exploitation; 
--East Java Province with its Local Regulation No. 9 of 
2005 on Provision of Protection for Women and Children 
Victims of Abuse; and 
--Sumbawa District with its Local Regulation No. 11 of 2003 
on Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers originating 
from Sumbawa. 
End update. 
 
Current Indonesian law criminalizes trafficking in persons, 
although the country does not yet have comprehensive anti- 
trafficking legislation.  Existing laws have important 
limitations, such as the lack of a clear legal definition 
of trafficking.  The Penal Code's Article 297 stipulates 
that "trafficking of females (age not specified) and 
trafficking in underage males" constitute a criminal 
offense and provides for penalties.  Law No. 30/1999 on 
Human Rights also asserts children's rights to enjoy 
protection against trafficking.  The October 2002 Child 
Protection Act (Chapter 12) includes specific and serious 
penalties for child trafficking and related offenses.  As 
pertains to trafficking, however, the act is general in 
nature and without a comprehensive definition of the crime. 
While the GOI can and did prosecute TIP cases under 
existing laws, including those for related 
criminal violations (e.g., rape, illegal confinement, abuse 
of women for immoral purposes, etc.), the lack of a 
comprehensive law with adequate legal definitions 
constitutes an impediment for law enforcement.  Police and 
prosecutors have increasingly turned to the Child 
Protection Act, and its tougher sanctions, in cases of 
child trafficking.  This trend continued over the past 
year, with at least 38 traffickers charged under the act. 
 
At times, police and prosecutors used other sections of the 
Penal Code to jail traffickers, including provisions 
against abductions (Article 332). 
 
STATUS OF NEW LEGISLATION 
------------------------- 
 
The 2002-2007 National Action Plan on anti-trafficking 
notes that the enactment of a comprehensive anti- 
trafficking law is an important goal and called for passage 
of the law by 2004.  GOI began research for the law in 
2002, completed an initial draft in 2003, and submitted the 
bill to the House of Representatives (DPR) following 
presidential endorsement in July 2004.  The bill 
criminalizes all forms of trafficking, provides 
compensation for victims, and protection for victims, 
witnesses and others involved in legal proceedings.  It 
also includes stiff penalties for perpetrators and 
officials involved in trafficking (see below). 
 
In 2004, the DPR passed Law 39/2004 on the protection of 
migrant workers abroad.  The law provides greater 
regulation of the migrant worker recruiting and placement 
process.  It establishes jail sentences of 2 to 15 years 
for unlicensed labor recruitment agencies.  Over the past 
year, Jakarta police and Manpower Ministry officials began 
shutting down some illegal and abusive recruiting agencies, 
and arresting their operators using the migrant worker 
protection law. 
 
OTHER LAWS USED AGAINST TRAFFICKERS 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
A myriad of other laws exists in Indonesia that the GOI can 
use to prosecute trafficking-related offenses.  These 
include laws against sexual exploitation, labor 
exploitation, child labor, abduction, rape, unlawful 
detention, and immigration offenses.  At times, the GOI 
used these laws in conjunction with anti-trafficking 
charges to prosecute traffickers. 
 
ICMC/ACILS conducted a review of existing legislation and 
concluded that, "although (existing laws) can and should be 
used to act now against those who traffic in people, there 
are many gaps in the existing legislation." 
 
PENALTIES FOR TRAFFICKING 
------------------------- 
 
Under the Criminal Code, Article 297, those "trafficking in 
females and trafficking in underage males are threatened by 
a penalty of up to six years in jail."  The Child 
Protection Act, Article 83, provides for a jail sentence of 
3 to 15 years, plus fines, for child traffickers.  In 
addition, there are separate sanctions for related crimes 
against children such as:  sexual exploitation (10 years 
maximum imprisonment plus fine), involving a child in 
narcotics trade (5 years in jail to life imprisonment, or 
death penalty, plus fine), and exposure of children to 
trafficking situations (5 years maximum imprisonment, plus 
fine). 
 
The anti-trafficking bill, pending before the legislature, 
provides for jail sentences ranging from 4 to 15 years for 
trafficking acts.  The bill provides for increased 
sentences for trafficking under certain circumstances, for 
example: trafficking by parents (increased sentence by one- 
third); trafficking resulting in serious injury (5 to 20 
years); and trafficking resulting in death (life in 
prison). 
 
PENALTIES FOR RAPE OR FORCIBLE SEXUAL ASSAULT 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
The Criminal Code, Article 285, stipulates a maximum of 12 
years imprisonment for rape committed outside of marriage. 
Other generally less severe criminal sanctions apply for 
sexual intercourse with a minor, forcing a person to commit 
an act of sexual abuse of a minor, facilitating minors to 
perform acts of obscenity, and other related offenses.  The 
12-year maximum jail sentence for rape exceeds the 6-year 
maximum for trafficking under the Criminal Code, but is 
similar to the 15-year maximum penalty for trafficking of 
children under the Child Protection Act. 
 
PROSTITUTION NOT LEGAL, BUT WIDESPREAD 
-------------------------------------- 
 
As a matter of national law, Indonesia has not legalized 
prostitution.  Indonesia's Penal Code does not explicitly 
mention prostitution, but the Code's Chapter 14 refers to 
"crimes against decency/morality," which many within 
national and local governments interpret to apply to 
prostitution.  Central government officials contacted by 
the Embassy agreed in their interpretation that the Penal 
Code renders prostitution illegal.  The prostitution of 
children is clearly illegal under the Penal Code and the 
2002 Child Protection Act. 
 
The Penal Code can be used to prosecute the acts of pimps, 
brothel owners and enforcers on the basis of various 
crimes, including:  using violence or threats of violence 
to force persons to conduct indecent acts (Article 289, 
with a maximum penalty of nine years in jail); facilitating 
 
indecent acts (Article 296, with a possible jail term of 16 
months); conducing/facilitating public indecency (Article 
281); and making profits from the indecent acts of a woman 
(Article 506, with a possible one-year jail sentence).  In 
practice, authorities rarely pursued such charges against 
those involved in prostitution. 
 
Clients of child prostitutes can be charged under the Penal 
Code and the Child Protection Act.  In theory, married 
persons who are clients of prostitutes can be charged for 
engaging in sexual relations outside of marriage (Penal 
Code Article 284).  In general, police did not arrest and 
pursue charges against clients of prostitutes. 
 
While contrary to societal and religious norms in 
Indonesia, the practice of prostitution is widespread and 
largely tolerated in many areas of the country, 
particularly when it is not a matter of public display. 
Although contrary to national interpretations that the 
Penal Code prohibits prostitution, authorities in some 
localities have formally or informally regulated 
prostitution in response to community pressure.  Drawing on 
precedents from the Dutch colonial era, beginning in 1960, 
some cities and other areas, including eventually Jakarta, 
Surabaya, and Batam, adopted a policy of "localization" 
(concentration in a particular locale) for prostitution. 
Often supported by elements of civil society, 
"localization" was justified as an attempt to isolate vice 
and thereby preserve the morals of the wider community, as 
well as an effort to better monitor the activity and 
provide health and rehabilitation services.  In recent 
years, some local governments (Jakarta among them) closed 
down the "localization" areas because of protests from 
religious groups, a trend that continues. 
 
In November 2005, the city of Tanggerang, near Jakarta, 
passed a public morality ordinance which, in part, forbids 
persuading or coercing others into acts of prostitution, as 
well as against acts of physical intimacy in public, such 
as kissing.  Other local governments are considering 
ordinances against prostitution in the context of broader, 
and possibly intrusive, regulations of public morality. 
 
According to a media report, in February 2006 the social 
services agency in Batam announced a plan to issue 
identification cards to prostitutes, with the stated 
objective of preventing children from being engaged in 
prostitution.  The plan met with opposition from local 
legislators and religious leaders, who objected to the 
measure believing it to constitute legalization of 
prostitution. 
 
In some areas, including certain locations in Papua, 
brothel owners registered prostitutes with the police with 
a view to demonstrating that the prostitutes are not 
coerced or underage. 
 
Some local governments gained important tax revenues from 
otherwise legal entertainment businesses, such as karaoke 
bars, that also offer prostitution.  Individual police and 
other officials also gained illegal income as a result of 
prostitution.  These factors encouraged the tendency to 
tolerate prostitution, according to observers. 
 
ARREST AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS 
------------------------------------- 
 
Update 
------ 
 
(See above for update on total investigations, prosecutions 
and convictions.) 
 
Police and prosecutors often filed charges under multiple 
laws.  Police and Manpower Ministry officials conducted 
raids on 32 illegal migrant worker holding centers and 6 
illegal migrant worker holding centers in Jakarta from 
January to June 2006.  The raids resulted in the release of 
3,438 prospective workers and the arrest of 8 suspects. 
The police used the 2004 migrant worker protection law as 
the basis for the arrests.  According to GOI officials, the 
raids targeted unlicensed holding centers some of which 
forcibly held prospective female workers (adults and some 
children) under inhumane conditions.  However, they did not 
reflect a change in the GOI's tacit acceptance of debt 
bondage, which, while not recognized in law, is largely 
institutionalized in Indonesia's migrant worker system. 
 
East Java Law Enforcement 
------------------------- 
 
During 2006, 14 people were arrested for human trafficking 
in East Java, up from four the previous year.  Two of those 
traffickers, Imam Syaifii and Sumi, from Lumajang, East 
Java admitted they sold two girls to a brothel in 
Kalimantan for $44 each.  Seven of the suspected 
traffickers were arrested and five other investigations 
with names of suspects were announced during the last two 
months of 2006.  According to police contacts, East Java 
police are stepping up anti-human trafficking efforts by 
targeting trafficking rings operating in the province.  All 
suspected traffickers were arrested under the East Java 
Woman and Child Protection Act, a provincial law passed in 
2005, or under the National Overseas Employment Law, 
protecting overseas bound workers from fraud and abuse. 
 
Seven people in East Java were convicted of human 
trafficking during 2006 and received prison sentences from 
6 months up to 7 years.  Two of the cases were notable for 
instigating local public outcry against human trafficking. 
Lamretta Situmeang, an East Java attorney, was tried in 
December 2006 for trafficking 293 people, 41 of the victims 
to England and France to be employed as commercial sex 
workers.  Activists from the Anti-Trafficking Task Force 
(ATTF), a civil society group consisting of human rights 
NGO leaders, local government officials, police and 
prosecutors, together with the Airlangga University Human 
Rights Center publicly lodged formal complaints with the 
police that Situmeang could not have worked alone in such a 
complex operation. Public pressure forced police to reopen 
the investigation, looking for accomplices in the crime. 
Situmeang was recently convicted of fraud under overseas 
employment laws and received a sentence of only 1 year 3 
months in prison. Local anti-trafficking advocates are 
disappointed with the light sentence. 
 
In Krukah, East Lombok Regency, two 12-year old girls 
escaped involuntary captivity by an overseas employment 
agency, which promised them jobs as domestic workers 
abroad.  They reported to police through the Lombok Legal 
Aid Society that while in captivity they were raped and 
beaten and that the agents had many other girls.  When the 
police raided the facility they found 55 other girls 
subject to the same conditions.  The perpetrators were 
arrested, eventually convicted of defrauding the girlQs 
parents of the $330 placement fees and sentenced to only 
nine months in prison.  The local community responded to 
the abuses this crime highlighted and the lack of 
governmental response with indignation and calls for 
action.  The East Lombok Regency parliament passed 27 local 
regulations during 2006 specifically to protect local 
residents from human trafficking by overseas employment 
agents.  End update. 
 
The law enforcement data available to the Embassy 
represents incomplete and imperfect information.  Despite 
 
standing instructions from National Police Headquarters, 
not all police districts reported anti-trafficking 
statistics and some district reports were incomplete.  The 
national police data collection effort for anti-trafficking 
statistics remained inadequate and did not demonstrate 
improvement over the previous year.  This also reflects a 
general weakness in law enforcement data collection, which 
applies not only to the issue of trafficking in persons. 
In addition, police data would not necessarily capture some 
cases that did not involve trafficking charges, such as 
cases in which traffickers are charged with rape or 
abduction instead of trafficking. 
 
Relative to the police, the AGO had even more difficulty in 
providing anti-trafficking data.  AGO attention to data 
collection on TIP appeared very limited.  Central 
government officials often relied upon contacts with 
province and district level courts and prosecutors to 
gather data on legal proceedings against traffickers. 
 
The GOI's difficulties in collecting data are not unique to 
TIP, but are endemic to the Indonesian Government and have 
been particularly acute following decentralization.  Local 
authorities are no longer compelled to provide data to 
central authorities in many instances. 
 
Police and other GOI officials stated that almost all of 
the convicted traffickers served their sentences in jail, 
but no details were available. 
 
THOSE BEHIND TRAFFICKING 
------------------------ 
 
Many traffickers arrested during this period appeared to be 
lower level operators and/or members of small crime groups. 
In a few cases, like that of the Jakarta-based traffickers 
who sent women to Japan as "cultural entertainers," police 
appeared to arrest more senior members of trafficking 
syndicates.  Most observers suspected the involvement of 
larger crime syndicates and international criminal rings, 
particularly for some overseas trafficking of prostitutes. 
Large organized crime gangs commonly operated brothels in 
major prostitution zones, normally with the involvement of 
individual security force members.  Traffickers also took 
on the form of migrant worker recruiting agencies, both 
licensed and unlicensed.  Marriage brokers were involved in 
trafficking using false marriages. 
 
Some government officials and individual members of the 
security forces indirectly or directly assist traffickers, 
and in some cases themselves fit the definition of 
traffickers. 
 
No information was available on the channeling of profits 
from trafficking in persons. 
 
HEFFERN