BY: Mavis Toh

Galang (Sumatra) - He wears a crumpled denim shirt and jeans, and sits in the corner of a coffee shop drinking tea and smoking cigarette after cigarette.

Mr Iyan (pictured below), 47, is the head of the villagers' welfare organisation in Galang, a small town an hour's drive from Medan, Sumatra.

But people here also know the mustachioed man as the person to go to should they want to sell a kidney.

In May last year, Mr Iyan sent a young man from Galang to Medan. After medical tests proved he was healthy, he was flown to Singapore to have one of his kidneys transplanted. The recipient was a Singaporean.

The seller received 250million rupiah (S$37,000) for his kidney. Mr Iyan pocketed 20million rupiah for his role as a middleman. It was his first and only case so far.

Mr Iyan got into the kidney trade two years ago after being approached by a group from Medan who knew he was the head of the villagers' welfare organisation and wanted to tap his community knowledge to find a seller.

'All transactions need to go through me because it's not easy to find willing sellers,' he said in Bahasa Indonesia last week.

Galang is also the hometown of Mr Sulaiman Damanik.

The name is perhaps familiar to Singaporeans.

On July3, the 26-year-old Indonesian labourer was jailed for two weeks and fined $1,000 in Singapore for agreeing to sell one of his kidneys to Tang Wee Sung, chairman of the CKTang retail chain.

The trading of organs is illegal, and Mr Sulaiman had lied that he was related to Tang. He had been offered 150million rupiah but the operation never took place. Tang has since been charged with attempting to buy a kidney as well as making a false declaration to the Commissioner of Oaths and lying to Mount Elizabeth Hospital's ethics committee.

Another Indonesian man, Toni, 27, has also been jailed. The unemployed man, who was from a village in Medan, sold his kidney for 186million rupiah to Indonesian Juliana Soh in an operation carried out in Singapore. He also lied that he was related to Ms Soh.

It was revealed in court that both men had been exploited by syndicates in Indonesia which coerce poor villagers into parting with their organs. The case caused a stir in Singapore and the issue was debated in Parliament.

The Sunday Times went searching for Galang last week. The village is about 70km from the bustling city of Medan, with highways leading into rural roads which, in turn, lead into kampungs.

Like the thousands of the large villages which dot Indonesia, it has a centre with a market, food stalls and shops selling clothes and daily necessities.

Scattered around this centre are clusters of zinc-roofed houses.

We were introduced to Mr Iyan when we asked the villagers about organ-selling activities there. While those in the centre professed not to have heard of this happening, others outside were not surprised when asked about such goings-on.

Mr Iyan said he got into the trade about two years ago when he was approached by a group of people from Medan. Knowing that he was the head of the villagers' welfare organisation, they wanted to tap his knowledge of the community.

When asked who his boss was, he would say only that the man owned a fabric company in Medan.

Galang is the hometown of Mr Sulaiman Damanik, who was jailed in Singapore for agreeing to sell his kidney to CK Tang chairman Tang Wee Sung.

'He's a big boss, an important man; it's very hard to get to him,' he said.

He claimed to know nothing more, except that the sellers he and other middlemen introduced to their Medan contacts were often sent to Singapore for the transplants.

Waiting for recipients

Two months ago, a Chinese Singaporean in his mid-30s visited Galang and sought Mr Iyan's help to find a man willing to sell his kidney.

'The man was very anxious. He came at 9am and said he needed a seller urgently for his relative,' said Mr Iyan. 'I couldn't find anyone in time.'

But now, Mr Iyan has three men, aged between 28 and 33, who have agreed to be operated on at any time. Two have the blood type O, while the other is of AB blood type. Mr Iyan is awaiting news from Medan to see whether there are any takers.

Once a man agrees to sell his kidney, Mr Iyan will arrange for him to visit the Rumah Sakit Gleneagles hospital in Medan for checks. (It is not related to the Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore.)

If the tests are cleared, counterparts in Medan will fly the man to Singapore for the operation.

Mr Iyan said he seeks the approval of the seller's family first. 'I make sure that his parents are aware and make them sign a form to say they agree,' he said. 'If not, the deal is off.'

However, finding a willing seller is not easy, and months go by when he can't get a single one.

Since most of the villagers are labourers or farmers, many are worried that they would not be able to handle hard labour after giving away a kidney.

'They are worried about their safety, and some are also worried that their sex lives would be affected if they lost a kidney,' he said.

He usually targets the poorest in the village as they are the ones most likely to need cash.

When we asked to speak to his willing sellers, he refused to give us their addresses, insisting that 'all deals must go through me'. But he eventually allowed us to speak to one, at a coffee shop, in his presence.

Motorcycle cabby Muhd Hisab Lubis, 31, said he was eager to sell one of his kidneys as he makes no more than 20,000rupiah a day and has to pay monthly instalments for his motorcycle.

'I want to sell my kidney because I am poor. I am not scared of the operation,' said the father of one.

Strict laws

The law in Indonesia allows for organ transplants only between living relatives, Indonesian nephrologist Raka Widiana told The Sunday Times.

The transplants are usually carried out in government hospitals, which have very strict regulations, he said.

'If there is any indication that the donor is commercially motivated, we will refuse the surgery,' he said.

However, media reports have said that the ease of faking official documents and economic hardship have pushed many poor Indonesians to offer their kidneys for sale, to both local and foreign patients.

Kidney specialists also regularly get calls from would-be donors asking for a fee in return for their kidneys.

In Galang, it is not uncommon for those living in far-out kampungs to be approached for their organs.

A group of men hanging out in a coffee shop told The Sunday Times they had been approached by a Chinese man from Medan about six months ago. However, he was interested only in the Chinese Indonesians among them.

Mr Atu, a Chinese Indonesian in his 20s, was eventually sent to Medan for medical checks. He is now awaiting the results.

Middlemen like Mr Iyan trawl coffee shops like this looking for sellers.

Some villagers thought we were sourcing for a willing kidney seller and jumped at the chance to strike a deal.

When security guard Dodi Harmoko, 33, saw us, he asked for 500million rupiah in exchange for one kidney.

He added that his blood type was O.

'I am not afraid and I don't think it is illegal,' he said.

'I just want to have a better life.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on July 27, 2008.