appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Aisyah Llewellyn

Concerns about baby trafficking networks in Indonesia have resurfaced amid renewed scrutiny of cross-border adoptions involving Singapore, with experts warning that illegal syndicates continue to exploit economic vulnerability and gaps in enforcement.
The issue has drawn particular attention in Singapore following allegations that infants were trafficked from Indonesia into the city state for adoption, prompting authorities on both sides of the border to review existing safeguards and cooperation mechanisms.
Against that backdrop, Indonesian police in mid-January arrested nine people over a baby-trafficking operation, the latest in a series of cases that officials and activists say point to a broader, organised trade in infants across the archipelago.
The suspects were detained in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, after authorities uncovered what they described as a well-organised syndicate that marketed babies through social media platforms.
“The syndicate operated with a well-organised structure,” Medan police chief Jean Calvijn Simanjuntak said.
Police alleged that two babies had been sold domestically for between US$530 and US$1,500, and said the case reflected methods increasingly seen in other trafficking investigations across Indonesia.
The arrests follow earlier cases elsewhere in the country, including a major investigation in 2025 in West Java, where police arrested 13 suspects accused of procuring babies for illegal cross-border adoptions.

Indonesian authorities said the West Java syndicate had been operating since 2023 and might have trafficked about 25 babies, 15 of whom were allegedly sold to families in Singapore.
Gabriel Goa, chairman of Advocacy Services for Justice and Peace in Indonesia (Padma), who works on human smuggling cases nationwide, said the recent spate of arrests suggested baby trafficking was becoming more visible.
“Mafia networks are now targeting children, especially babies who are sold for economic reasons, and the victims are young women or sometimes children who have fallen pregnant outside marriage,” he said.
“The driving factor for rampant baby trafficking in Indonesia, like in the case in West Java, was because they were tempted by the lure of the Singapore dollar.”
Earlier in January, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Social and Family Development issued a joint statement saying they were aware of the baby trafficking allegations.
“The Singapore government is working closely with our Indonesian counterparts to review these allegations,” the statement said.
“Child trafficking is a serious matter as it exploits young children’s vulnerabilities, violates their rights and separates them from their biological families for others’ personal gain or criminal activities. It also affects the children’s long-term well-being and development.”
Siti Mazumah, founder of the Women’s Crisis Centre Puantara, told This Week in Asia that Indonesian women and children were vulnerable to exploitation due to a range of social and economic issues.
“Indonesian women can become victims due to many factors, including unwanted pregnancies and births, poverty and human trafficking practices involving larger syndicates with malicious intent,” she said.
While Indonesia had strict laws in place to clamp down on illegal adoptions, Siti said these were sometimes not strongly enforced, and trafficking rings in recent years had become increasingly sophisticated, particularly when targeting underage victims.
“Children are a vulnerable group who lack the power to resist adult perpetrators. Child traffickers are mostly people close to or known to the victims, and the methods used are manipulation, coercion and other attempts to manipulate children.”

Across the Singapore Strait, Ivan Cheong, head of family and divorce law at the Withers KhattarWong law firm, told This Week in Asia that it was important to understand what “cross-border adoptions” meant in the Singaporean context.
“Cross-border adoptions or intercountry adoptions occur when the adoptive parents apply to adopt a child who is a foreign national and not a Singapore citizen,” Cheong said.
“The adoptive parents are responsible for identifying a foreign child for adoption through their own contacts, which may be through an adoption agency. The way in which the foreign child is sourced and matched for adoption must not contravene the laws of Singapore and the child’s country of origin.”
Cheong said there were several reasons why Singaporeans might choose to adopt children of foreign nationalities.
“Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries may be more popular given the ethnicity of the infants, and the lower costs of identifying and processing the appropriate paperwork for adoption in Singapore than other countries in Europe or the US,” Cheong said.
“Adoption is not difficult in Singapore, but is a highly structured process that has been enacted to ensure the interests of the infant being adopted are protected and that only suitable applicants are able to adopt the children. Given the requirements, it may be seen to be ‘difficult’.”
Experts in both Indonesia and Singapore agreed, however, that the issue was not a lack of robust laws governing adoption, but rather illegal syndicates exploiting gaps in enforcement.
“Child trafficking is strictly prohibited in Singapore,” Sandra Ong, a senior lawyer at the Gloria James-Civetta & Co law firm in Singapore, told This Week in Asia.
“Adoption agencies in Singapore are required to comply with the safeguards and procedures set out under the Adoption of Children Act of 2022. Parents engaging in adoption are guided to work only with accredited agencies and to follow prescribed processes to ensure that children brought into Singapore are not of suspicious or unknown origin.”
Ong said Indonesia’s proximity to Singapore might also have played a role in adoption patterns, citing how most of the cross-border adoption cases her law firm handled involved Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam.
She noted that Singapore’s laws carried serious penalties for agencies that breached adoption safeguards, such as immediate de-authorisation, fines or imprisonment.


Indonesian authorities have said three Singaporean adoption agents are allegedly involved in the West Java case, and that prospective parents signed memorandums of understanding with the syndicate setting out fees, expenses and what they believed were the legal conditions of the adoptions.
Singaporean adoptive parents paid more than US$20,000 per infant, while biological mothers were given as little as US$1,193 for their babies, according to West Java police.
The syndicate’s members, including alleged adoption brokers and document forgers accused of creating fake birth certificates and other paperwork for the infants, are expected to face trial in March, according to police.
Goa of Padma said Indonesia already had a task force for the prevention and handling of human trafficking, but warned that continued vigilance was needed.
Silvia Annisa, a sociology professor at North Sumatra University, urged authorities to tackle the root of the problem and understand why desperate young women in Indonesia turned to illegal adoption in the first place.
“It’s not just that women do not have money, but because they are suffering from structural poverty. They are people from the lower classes and they do not have access to proper help, so they lose autonomy over their lives. It is about economic survival,” she told This Week in Asia.
According to Annisa, the rise of social media has also fuelled illegal adoption, with syndicates recruiting women online and appearing to offer them support that was lacking elsewhere.
“Paid adoption is now seen as an innovative way of solving an economic problem,” she said.


Chickens in Malaysia are producing fewer eggs. Is haze a leading cause?

Indonesia’s 3% deficit cap: guardrail or growth barrier?

Indonesia eyes China for massive 2,772km railway project – with caution

Southeast Asia faces a false binary in US-China mineral trade

Indonesia

Why ‘rampant baby trafficking’ is a growing concern in Indonesia, Singapore

Concerns about baby trafficking networks have prompted authorities in Singapore and Indonesia to review existing safeguards and cooperation mechanisms. Photo: Shutterstock

Indonesian authorities in West Java last year arrested 13 people accused of procuring babies for illegal cross-border adoptions. Photo: Handout

An Indonesian woman holds a baby as she attends evening mass prayers at the Grand Mosque of Istiqlal in Jakarta. Indonesia has strict laws in place to clamp down on illegal adoptions. Photo: Reuters

Indonesia police arrest 9 in Medan baby trafficking case linked to social media

A newborn baby lies in a hospital bassinet. Photo: Shutterstock

Twelve suspects detained by Indonesian authorities after they uncovered an alleged baby trafficking ring in July. Photo: Handout

14 Indonesian babies trafficked to Singapore? Jakarta’s envoy has his doubts

Indonesian authorities have detained 12 suspects after uncovering an alleged baby trafficking ring, a police official said on Tuesday. Photo: Handout

Indonesia dismantles baby trafficking ring smuggling infants to Singapore

Indonesian authorities have detained 12 suspects after uncovering an alleged baby trafficking ring a police official said on Tuesday. Photo: Handout

The perpetrators are accused of moving the babies to Pontianak City on Borneo Island and then sending more than a dozen of them onwards to Singapore. Photo: Shutterstock

Child kissing scandal in Indonesia reignites debate on preacher regulation

Islamic cleric Mohammad Elham Yahya Al Maliki is seen embracing a young girl and sucking in her cheeks. Other clips show him kissing several children on the cheek. Photo: YouTube/Gerakanpis

Islamic cleric Mohammad Elham Yahya Al Maliki has insisted the girls “were under the supervision of their parents who attended my regular religious study group”. Photo: Instagram/mtibadallah

Indonesian Muslims pray during Friday prayers at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation. Photo: EPA-EFE

Islamic cleric Mohammad Elham Yahya Al Maliki’s behaviour has drawn swift condemnation from rights advocates and religious figures alike. Photo: YouTube/ Gerakanpis

This Week in Asia

People

Analysts warn the driving factor for the rise in baby trafficking is the ‘lure of the Singapore dollar’, urging authorities to step up vigilance


Analysts warn the driving factor for the rise in baby trafficking is the ‘lure of the Singapore dollar’, urging authorities to step up vigilance.


Singapore

Human trafficking

Crime

Adoption

Why ‘rampant baby trafficking’ is a growing concern in Indonesia, Singapore

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Analysts warn the driving factor for the rise in baby trafficking is the ‘lure of the Singapore dollar’, urging authorities to step up vigilance

Analysts warn the driving factor for the rise in baby trafficking is the ‘lure of the Singapore dollar’, urging authorities to step up vigilance