Slavery was outlawed in the archipelago 160 years ago, but in some remote corners, long-held local beliefs keep the practice alive.
A two-hour flight from the tourist beaches of Bali, the Indonesian island of Sumba hides a dark secret. A rigid caste system dictates that some people are born into a lifetime of slavery. They work from dawn to dusk without pay, are passed on in marriage and can suffer years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their ‘masters’. Yet many are resigned to their fate. As one young slave – or ata – said, their status “cannot be wiped away”.