Paradise Lost for Children: Bali
A stroll down any of the streets on the Kuta strip and you will see young boys and girls being preyed upon by Westerners whose sexual deviance is sickening. Unfortunately, the children are easy prey to these vultures. Trisha Sertori wrote an excellent article in the Jakarta Post regarding these parasitic paedophiles.
Potential victims: Children of Paradise Lost
Those most vulnerable to being targeted by pedophiles are children of Bali’s poorest villages. These are villages that have dust, disease and little else, like Kubu in Karangasem regency, East Bali.
“I am really concerned (for the safety) of street kids,” said CASA activist Rosalina Norita.
“A few months ago, I saw a bunch of kids selling fruit in the streets of Kuta until 11 p.m. at night. I followed an 8-year-old and asked her for her story,” she recounted.
The girl was from Kubu village, one of a group of children who had come to Kuta and rented a house together.
The eldest of the group was a pre-teen boy of 11 who went to market every day in the early morning to buy fruit. The children sold the fruit on the streets of the tourism hub, day and night.
“Each child manages to send home Rp 250,000 every month. That is incredible,” said Norita. “These kids are really smart, little entrepreneurs, but they are at such risk from pedophiles.”
She pointed to the complexity of the pedophilia issue and the poor children who are most at risk of being victimized.
“These kids are on the street selling and making money for the family, but can’t afford to go to school. The school may be free, but there’s no transport to get there. So they come here and support their families (instead).”
Families that want the best for their children are often duped by pedophiles, said Suryani, citing the case of a suspected pedophile in custody of Karangasem Police awaiting his trial next month.
The suspect allegedly came across a child from Kubu village begging in Kuta, and told the boy he would pay for the boy’s education. The suspect moved in with the child and his family, gaining the parents’ and community’s trust, then sexually abused the boy and his brother.
“I hope the police can help those boys,” said Suryani. “I hope police can collect these children from the street and take them home. We have a law that children must go to school, and not work. I hope the government funds this responsibly… The word ‘program’ does not mean action.”
— Trisha Sertori