Prostitution is legal in Singapore, where the state openly
regulates rather than suppresses the trade. However, illegal sex
workers vastly outnumber those with a license, many of them picking
up trade using the internet and social media.
By John
Pennington
In Singapore, prostitution is legal, but public solicitation,
living on the earnings of prostitution and operating a brothel is
illegal. The government regulates prostitution rather than trying
to eradicate it, but nevertheless illegal sex workers saturate the
industry. The problem is showing no sign of going away.
There are an estimated 1,000
or more licensed sex workers in Singapore, and 95% of
those come from abroad. Yet thousands more choose – or are forced –
to work without a license. Unable to access the same protection the
state offers licensed workers, illegal sex workers will either work
from massage or beauty parlours or cut out the middleman altogether
and set up a profile online which they use to pick up clients.
As Director of Health Education and Research at HOME (The
Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics) Dr. Thein Than
Win explains,
“In the licensed brothels, everything is in place: mandatory health
screenings, condoms. But for the illegal sex workers, the transient
ones, there are no health services, education or testing services
for them.”
Sex workers adapted their
methods to avoid capture
As police stepped up their efforts by increasing
surveillance and police patrols, sex workers reacted by
changing how they went about their business. Pimps employed people
to keep
watch and alert them whenever police patrols were on their
way. Prostitutes started advertising their services online. In
response, lawmakers added Section 146A to the Women’s Charter to
outlaw the practice. Sex workers used websites hosted outside
of Singapore to circumvent it.
“The rise of online media has allowed vice syndicates to take
their business online to widen their reach to clients, while hiding
behind the anonymity of the Internet,” said Minister for Social and
Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin.
Prostitution is thriving,
driven by popular online sites
Although police operations and raids have increased, illegal
prostitution continues unabated. Win adds, “Even though the
government has been raiding these places – Geylang, Orchard Towers
– we still see sex workers coming, soliciting, and providing sexual
services to the clients.”
Websites on which sex workers advertise their services and
others where clients openly discuss their own experiences and
recommendations are easy to find. One popular site is the Sammyboy
Forum (www.sbsg.net). Here, reports of sexual activities and
advertisements run into hundreds of posts. There is no attempt to
hide what is going on. Visitors are even encouraged to download a
specific browser to avoid censorship.
Local law enforcers have spoken out against the forum. District
judge Matthew
Joseph called it, “a thriving community of like-minded and
depraved individuals…commenting on each other’s perverse
handiwork.” He urged authorities
to act against the site but got nowhere. The site itself
is hosted
in the US, meaning the Singapore government cannot easily act
against it.
The police seem to be
missing an obvious opportunity
Easily accessible via Google searches, as these and similar
sites enable sex workers to advertise their services, location and
contact details, why aren’t the police using information that is
placed in the public domain to investigate them? If it’s obvious to
anybody looking at the site, shouldn’t it be obvious to them?
Instead, the police wait for others to
make complaints rather than being proactive. “When a
report is made, police will consider the facts and circumstances of
the case to assess if a criminal offence is disclosed and take
appropriate action,” a police
spokesman said.
Some using the site have been arrested
and sentenced. In one case, a woman was using the site to sell
videos of other women in various states of undress but she was only
investigated because the fitness centre where she was
operating made
the complaint. In another, the Singapore Civil Defence
Force reported footage
appearing on the site to the police.
The challenge is significant
but the police are not doing enough
The fluid nature of the illegal sex trade and the sheer numbers
of workers mean they face significant challenges. The growth of
social media and the internet makes it hard for the government
to control the
proliferation of prostitution. Even when sites are blocked,
mirrors are quickly set up so users can maintain access.
Time could also be an issue and one reason why the police are
seemingly reluctant to act. “It might take nothing short of getting
Interpol involved and even then, it might take years,”
a criminal
lawyer commented.
According to Vanessa Ho, coordinator of Project X, a human
rights group for sex workers in Singapore, if the police were to
raid a brothel the women taken away will simply
be replaced within 24 hours. How motivated are the police
to send them home when many illegal sex workers are only in the
country on a short-term tourist visa anyway?
The police claim they are
clamping down on illegal prostitution
Meanwhile, the police say they are making progress against
illegal prostitution in Singapore. “It is not realistic to expect
vice…to be eliminated,” a Ministry of Home Affairs spokesman said.
“The police are focused on maintaining law and order…and have taken
strong enforcement actions against those involved in illicit
activities.”
Following the arrest of 26 women in
March, the police affirmed that they will, “continue to take
tough enforcement action against vice-related activities and those
who engage in such activities will be dealt with in accordance with
the law.” Further raids and arrests followed
in April as part of the clampdown.
Geylang is now virtually a no-go area for illegal sex workers
after police stepped up their efforts. Locals believe that the
police had an ulterior motive – to ensure the area around the
nearby National Stadium was cleaned
up ready for opening in 2014. Orchard Towers, meanwhile,
thanks to its parlours and steady stream of potential clients,
remains a more lucrative place for them to operate from – despite
the risks.
To deal effectively with sex
workers, Singapore has to take a fresh look
Singapore’s policy of pragmatically regulating prostitution has
some merit. After all, trying to eradicate prostitution completely
would drive it underground, create the conditions for fraudulent
and criminal behaviour to thrive, and increase the workload of the
police force. There are already too many illegal sex workers
flooding into the country, making their job difficult.
Licensing sex workers is helpful, but loosening restrictions
could result in fewer illegal sex workers. Licensing agencies
is another
option. Something must be done about what is happening online,
however. If the police cannot close sites down, then the onus is on
them to use the information provided and make arrests.
A problem with illegal sex workers does not help Singapore’s
global image. The state must look again at balancing regulations,
restrictions, and licensing so that prostitution does not become an
even bigger problem than it already is. It must to more to
proactively seek out illegality – applying themselves online and
offline – and counter it.
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