Syarifudin, Combating Sex Trafficking

KOMPAS/RYAN RINALDY

Syarifudin

In working with brokers, Syarifudin, 56, has established a platform for fighting the trafficking of women and children in his hometown in Bongas district, Indramayu, West Java. This is just the first step. When he began his fight in 2000, the people in his village were already familiar with the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation.

"[Sex trafficking] is rampant here. [People] can directly find jobs [at nightclubs], even without brokers [or recruitment networks]. They can also go to Jakarta and be recruited by [people they know], without going through the middlemen," Syarifudin, the chairman of Yayasan Kusuma Bongas, said in mid-July in Indramayu.

Before 2000, Syarifudin was a non-permanent teacher at the Aliyah Darul Falah Madrasah in Bongas. He was concerned about the trafficking of women and children in his village. However, he was unable to do much about it. Moreover, some of his friends and neighbors were partly involved as brokers or recruiters of prospective women in the village. "I witnessed some neighbors recruiting them. But I couldn’t do anything," he recalled.

Syarifudin stressed that the people in his village did not want to work as prostitutes, but brokers and pimps had been active in the region since 1995. Their network grew over the years, and many children and women were sucked into prostitution. Most of them are employed in Jakarta’s Mangga Besar red-light district.

The sexual exploitation of women and children, said Syarifudin, became increasingly entrenched in the village because some victims of the practice encouraged their children to work in prostitution. Indramayu became known as a source of prostitutes. "What could we do? Such a label surely has an impact," he said.

As Syarifudin became more and more concerned about sexual exploitation, Yayasan Kusuma Buana arrived in the village to provide assistance on reproductive health and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. The foundation invited Syarifudin to join its efforts to combat the trafficking of women and children in his village.

Syarifudin was initially skeptical about joining the group, as he had often seen NGO activists coming to Bongas just to gather data and then leaving. "They came again and again to gather data [and then] left, with no follow-up. I say, \'that\'s useless\'. What was needed was [knowledge on] how to prevent [sex trafficking] and what the real situation was," he recalled.

The Kusuma Bongas working group was then formed. "In Jakarta it’s [called] Kusuma Bangsa. Here, it’s Kusuma Bongas.

Syarifudin\'s doubts were answered when Kusuma Buana recruited several local residents to introduce adolescent reproductive health in the village. He finally became interested in joining the foundation when he learned that its ultimate goal was to eliminate sex trafficking. The Kusuma Bongas working group was then formed. "In Jakarta it’s [called] Kusuma Bangsa. Here, it’s Kusuma Bongas," he said.

Syarifudin has been fighting sex trafficking since then. He invited two brokers to become partners and raise awareness on reproductive health in the village. Sukim and Nono Taryono are now actively supporting the village in its fight against sex trafficking.

High dropout rate

The Kusuma Bongas group also worked to uncover the root cause of sex trafficking in the villages. They discovered that the root cause of sex trafficking was the large number of school dropouts due to a shortage of schools. From 1995 to 2000, the eight villages in Bongas district had just one junior high school, even though the district had 28 elementary schools. "Many students who graduated elementary school did not continue [to junior high school]," he said.

These village children who were unable to pursue their education to junior high school were undereducated and became jobless, and were then targeted by the illicit sex trade. "So we encouraged the local administration to establish a junior high school. It was only afterwards that the SMPN 2 junior high school and private junior high schools were established," he said.

In 2016, Kusuma Bongas – which was not a legally registered yayasan (foundation) at that time – co-founded the SMP Terbuka Kusuma Bongas, an open school, as part of its efforts to combat sex trafficking.

Syarifudin said that the Kusuma Bongas open junior high school was established with assistance from Kusuma Buana Jakarta and the support of Indo ACT and Terres des Hommes Nederland. "The three of us [including Sukim and Nono] looked for students. In the end, we collaborated with the village administration to find children who were not going to school, so they could go to school and not be [trafficked]," he said.

Syarifudin said that the Kusuma Bongas open junior high school did not only provide education for its students. The school also monitored their academic career after they had graduated. "We continued to monitor them through their pursuit of higher education levels. To date, four or five students have graduated from the open school. One has become a teacher, the others work in Jakarta at auto repair shops and garment factories," he said.

Bongas district currently has 30 elementary schools, 11 junior high schools, two senior high schools and seven vocational schools. Even so, the group’s education development mission was not finished. Kusuma Bongas, which became a registered foundation in 2011, continues to provide assistance and education about the dangers of sex trafficking, including HIV/AIDS transmission as a result of the sexual exploitation of children and women.

Yayasan Kusuma Bongas’s records show that its educational intervention program has been successful in mitigating sex trafficking in Bongas district. In 2016-2018, the district saw 32 children and adults, mostly female, who became victims of sex trafficking. Syarifudin said that the number was much larger in the previous period.

He noted that areas that were targeted by sex trafficking rings, such as Bongas, faced complex problems, because some victims of sex trafficking were motivated by consumerism.

"Why are there still victims [of sex trafficking]? Why is that? Because first, people who become trapped in trafficking come from remote areas, far from the reach of information. Second, they come from poor families that have needs that must be met. In addition, there is competition, consumerism," he explained.

KOMPAS/RYAN RINALDY

Syarifudin

Syarifudin said that it was vital to immediately address any cases of sex trafficking that emerged in a certain area and warned against neglecting such cases, as they once were in Bongas district. If the illicit practice became rooted, the children and women in the area would become vulnerable to exploitation. "Once it takes root, it is difficult to eliminate," he said. (MDN)

Syarifudin

Birthdate: 2 July 1963

Education: Bachelor in English, IKIP Muhammadiyah Jakarta (1991)

Activity: Chairman, Yayasan Kusuma Bongas, Indramayu