Trafficked to China: an Indonesian bride’s story

Monika was promised a good life, an allowance and money for her family if she married a man from China

But the 23-year-old soon found out that she had been lied to by the matchmaker who recruited her

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Dozens of Indonesian women have been tricked into marriage and unpaid labour in China over the past year. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:30am, 25 Jun 2019Updated: 3:54pm, 25 Jun 2019

When Monika, a 23-year-old Indonesian from Pontianak in West Kalimantan province, was introduced to a matchmaker last year who promised her a good life as the wife of a man from China, she had no inkling it would mark the start of 10 months of turmoil.

She received 17 million rupiah (US$1,200) for marrying the 28-year-old man, but claims he beat her for refusing to have sex with him, while her new mother-in-law physically and verbally abused her at the family’s home in Hebei province, 122km northeast of Beijing.

The petite, fair-skinned woman is one of 29 Indonesians who have been tricked into marriage and unpaid labour in China by human trafficking rings over the past year, according to the Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union, an advocacy group. Their stories add to those of thousands of other women from across Southeast and South Asia who have been caught in such scams.

Last week, China said that it rescued 1,147 foreign victims of human trafficking, including 17 children, who came from countries including Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand.

In total, 1,332 suspects have been detained, accused of organising 126 fraudulent marriages and falsely obtaining marriage, employment, or tourist visas – as in Monika’s case – to bring victims into the country.