JAKARTA: Two people have been arrested in West Kalimantan for allegedly operating a bride-trafficking scheme, recruiting Indonesian women for marriages to men in China. West Kalimantan Police's Women and Children Protection and Anti-Human Trafficking Directorate chief, Senior Commander Rusdiani, said the two suspects, identified only as L, 42, and LKS, 36, were both homemakers who allegedly arranged four such marriages.
"Two women were successfully sent to China and married, while attempts to send two others were thwarted," Rusdiani said earlier this week, as quoted by Detik.com. She said the case came to light on Oct. 21 after police received information from local residents.
An ensuing investigation led officers to a 19-year-old woman who was preparing to leave West Kalimantan for China to marry a prospective husband. Police intercepted her at Supadio International Airport in Kubu Raya regency on Oct. 22, preventing her departure.
Investigators later identified L and LKS as the alleged intermediaries between the woman and her prospective husband in China. She had been recruited as a replacement for another prospective bride whose departure was previously stopped by immigration officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta.
As part of the engagement arrangements, the 19-year-old reportedly received gifts including gold rings, gold bracelets and Rp 30 million (US$1,644) in cash. The two suspects, meanwhile, allegedly received Rp 1.5 million each, along with free airfare and accommodation in China, in exchange for arranging the marriages, police said.
Investigators also found that the woman's age had allegedly been changed from 19 to 21 in administrative documents at the request of parties in China, Rusdiani said.
L and LKS are being held at the West Kalimantan Police detention centre and face charges under Articles 2, 4 and 10 of the 2007 Human Trafficking Law, which carry a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. Rusdiani said police were continuing to investigate the recruitment process, the role of each suspect and the possibility of other parties being involved.
She added that authorities had been unable to determine the current circumstances of the two women who were sent to China, including whether their marriages and living conditions matched what they had been promised.
Syarifah Ema Rahmaniah, a gender and political sociology expert at Tanjungpura University said the case should not be viewed simply as a matter of women choosing to marry foreign men.
“The more important question is how social and economic inequalities could leave women vulnerable to exploitation by people seeking to profit from such marriages,” she stressed. Limited employment opportunities, restricted access to formal-sector jobs and the responsibility of supporting their families could push some women to view marriage overseas as a way out of financial hardship, she said.
“Human trafficking does not always involve abduction or physical violence. The exploitation of economic vulnerability, manipulation and the abuse of personal dependency could also be forms of trafficking,” she said.
The consequences of exploitative arranged marriages could extend far beyond the marriage itself, potentially exposing women to physical, psychological and sexual abuse, forced labour, restrictions on their freedom of movement and financial dependence on their husbands or in-laws. Victims could also find themselves isolated from their families and struggle to access legal assistance, maintain contact with relatives or return to Indonesia, she said. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
