Prostitution in Malaysia is restricted [1] [2] [3] in all states despite it being widespread in the country. [4] Related activities such as soliciting and brothels are illegal. [1] [2] In the two states of Terengganu and Kelantan, Muslims convicted of prostitution may be punishable with public caning. [5]
There were an estimated 150,000 prostitutes in Malaysia in 2014 and that the country's sex trade generated US$963 million. [6]
For 200 years, except in wartime, prostitution was only apparent in small areas of George Town, Ipoh, Johor Bahru, Kuantan and Kuala Lumpur, serving loggers, tin miners and sailors. [7]
While Chinese prostitutes in British Malaya refused to service non-Chinese men, Japanese Karayuki-san prostitutes in British Malaya were open to non-Japanese men. [8] [9] Men from every race in British Borneo including natives, westerners, Chinese were clients of the Japanese prostitutes of Sandakan. [10] in 1972 Tomoko Yamazaki published the film Sandakan Brothel No. 8 which raised awareness of karayuki-san and encouraged further research and reporting.
Japanese Karayuki-san prostitute Zendo Kikuyo who ended up in British Malaya (British Malaysia) said that Chinese men were her best customers until the Chinese boycott of Japanese products due to the Twenty-One Demands. The Japanese were then forced to rely on Indian customers. The Japanese smeared pig lard on their brothels to stop Malay Muslim men from coming near them and using love magic on them [11]
During the Japanese occupation of Malaya in the Second World War, the Japanese set up a number of brothels for their troops to "prevent the rape of local women by Japanese soldiers, to limit anti-Japanese resistance in the occupied area, to protect the soldiers from venereal disease and to avoid international disgrace". Many local women between 17 and 28 were forced to work in the brothels, employed as what were euphemistically termed "comfort women". [12]
Starting at the end of the 20th century, prostitution has spread over the rest of Malaysia, particularly in the form of massage parlours, [7] and "health centres". [13]
Originally the prostitutes were locals, but there has been an influx of foreign sex workers over the last 10 years. Prostitutes from China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia now outnumber locals. [7]
Most of the women trafficked from China to Thailand and Malaysia are from ethnic minorities like the Dai ethnicity from areas like the from Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan province and they are trafficked by men of their own ethnicity. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] The Dai people are related to Thai people.
In 2012, the Anti-Vice, Gambling and Secret Societies divisions of the police arrested 12,234 prostitutes throughout the country, of which 9,830 were foreign nationals, including 5,165 Chinese, 2,009 Thais and 1,418 Indonesians. [6]
In 2015, Malaysian police announced that half of the arrested prostitutes in a police raid in Kuala Lumpur were Iranians. Some Iranian women in Malaysia became prostitutes due to financial problems. [19]
South Korean Yang Hyun-suk, head of K-Pop YG Entertainment was accused by South Korean media (Straight program by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation) of offering local prostitutes from South Korea to male foreign investors including the Malaysian Chinese businessman Low Taek Jho. Another woman interviewed in the same program said a YG subsidiary YGX executive brought along a Thai man who raped her. [20]
There are no federal laws against prostitution but there are laws against related activities. Section 372 of the Penal Code criminalises soliciting in any place and living on the earnings of a prostitute. [1] The latter is applied against those who run brothels. [3]
The Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 adds an offence of exposing another person to the risk of HIV infection. [1]
Local health regulations prevent health and beauty establishments (which includes massage parlours) from employing sex-workers. [1]
Various other laws such as those against vagrancy are also used against sex-workers. [1]
The Sharia Criminal Offences Act, which brings Sharia law into force, [1] is in effect in Kelantan. [5] Sharia law allows fines and public whipping or caning for "any woman who prostitutes herself". [1] Buying of sex is also forbidden. [1] However Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi suggests this may only apply to Muslims. [5]
Kuala Lumpur has a number of red-light districts where street prostitution, massage parlours and brothels can be found. [7]
The most upmarket area for prostitution, and probably the best known, is Bukit Bintang. While the more downmarket is the RLD at Lorong Haji Taib where Indian, Chinese, and local prostitutes operate. Close by is the Chow Kit area where transgender prostitutes ply at night. [7]
Changkat Bukit Bintang, Chow Kit, [21] Jalan Alor, Jalan Hicks, and Jalan Thamibipilly in the Brickfields area are known red-light districts. Street walkers operate around Jalan Petaling. [7] Another well-known place among locals is Desa Sri Hartamas located in the Segambut district, where massage parlours can also be found. [22] [23]
In the Klang Valley, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thais, and Cambodians work as Guest Relations Officers (GROs) in the karaoke and bars. After being brought a few drinks they will negotiate a price for sex. Indonesians work as dancers/prostitutes in the Dangdut Pubs. African prostitutes try to pick up customers outside nightclubs in Bukit Bintang, Jalan Sultan Ismail, and Jalan Imbi. There are also a number of escort agencies. [7]
Johor Bahru is notorious as a sleazy border town since the 1980s. [24] The underground sex services has a huge demand from foreign migrant workers and Singaporeans. [25] [26] Known red light districts in Johor Bahru are Johor Bahru City Square, Wong Ah Fook Street, Jalan Meldrum, Kotaraya, and Taman Sentosa. [27] [28] [25]
Demand for prostitution has created a problem of people trafficking for the purpose of forced prostitution [29] from China [30] [31] and Vietnam, [32] [33] [34] even as far as Uganda. [35] A 2009 study by a church estimated that there were 30–32,000 victims of trafficking in the Sabah area alone. [36] Victims are detained without access to legal, medical or social services in 'protective shelters'. After 90 days they are usually deported. [1]
Child prostitution and trafficking is also a problem. [36]
The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranks Malaysia as a 'Tier 2 Watch List' country. [37]
In 2004 the United States Department of State reported that some Malaysian women and girls had been trafficked for sexual purposes, mostly to Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, but also to Japan, Australia, Canada, and the United States. [38]
Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor that results in sexual activity, forced marriage and sex trafficking, such as the sexual trafficking of children.
A massage parlor, or massage parlour, is a place where massage services are provided. Some massage parlors are front organizations for prostitution and the term "massage parlor" has also become a euphemism for a brothel.
Prostitution in Thailand is not illegal. Section 5 of the relevant Act makes that very clear. What is forbidden is openly and shamelessly offering sexual services or causing a public nuisance. However, due to police corruption and an economic reliance on prostitution dating back to the Vietnam War, it remains a significant presence in the country. It results from poverty, low levels of education and a lack of employment in rural areas. Prostitutes mostly come from the northeastern (Isan) region of Thailand, from ethnic minorities or from neighbouring countries, especially Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. In 2019, UNAIDS estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
Prostitution is illegal in Russia. The punishment for engagement in prostitution is a fine from 1500 up to 2000 rubles. Moreover, organizing prostitution is punishable by a prison term. Prostitution remains a very serious social issue in Russia.
Prostitution in South Korea is illegal, but according to The Korea Women's Development Institute, the sex trade in Korea was estimated to amount to 14 trillion South Korean won in 2007, roughly 1.6% of the nation's GDP. According to a survey conducted by the Department of Urology at the Korea University College of Medicine in 2015, 23.1% of males and 2.6% of females, aged 18–69, had sexual experience with a prostitute.
The legality of prostitution in Asia varies by country. There is often a significant difference in Asia between prostitution laws and the practice of prostitution. In 2011, the Asian Commission on AIDS estimated there were 10 million sex workers in Asia and 75 million male customers.
Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" appear in international and humanitarian conventions, such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but have been inconsistently applied. "Forced prostitution" refers to conditions of control over a person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity.
Prostitution in Myanmar is illegal, but widespread. Prostitution is a major social issue that particularly affects women and children. UNAIDS estimate there to be 66,000 prostitutes in the country.
Prostitution in Singapore in itself is not illegal, but various prostitution-related activities are criminalized. This includes public solicitation, living on the earnings of a prostitute and maintaining a brothel. In practice, police unofficially tolerate and monitor a limited number of brothels. Prostitutes in such establishments are required to undergo periodic health checks and must carry a health card.
Prostitution in Vietnam is illegal and considered a serious crime. Nonetheless, Vietnam's Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) has estimated that there were 71,936 prostitutes in the country in 2013. Other estimates puts the number at up to 200,000.
Indonesia is a source, transit, and destination country for women, children, and men trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. The greatest threat of trafficking facing Indonesian men and women is that posed by conditions of forced labor and debt bondage in more developed Asian countries and the Middle East.
The history of Japanese migration in Malaysia goes back to the late 19th century, when the country was part of the British Empire as British Malaya.
Sex trafficking in Thailand is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Kingdom of Thailand. Thailand is a country of origin, destination, and transit for sex trafficking. The sexual exploitation of children in Thailand is a problem. In Thailand, close to 40,000 children under the age of 16 are believed to be in the sex trade, working in clubs, bars, and brothels.
China is a main source and also a significant transit and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labour and forced prostitution. Women and children from China are trafficked to Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America, predominantly Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour. Women and children from Myanmar, Vietnam, Mongolia, former USSR, North Korea, Romania, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Ghana are trafficked to China for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour.
Prostitution in Hawaii is illegal but common. There are about 150 brothels in Oahu alone.
Prostitution is legal in Macau unlike in mainland China, because the city is a special administrative region of the country. However, operating a brothel and procuring are both illegal in Macau, with the latter punishable by a maximum jail sentence of 8 years. Street prostitution is illegal but sex work in a massage parlor is considered to be de facto legal. The city has a large sex trade despite there being no official red-light district. In addition to street prostitution, prostitutes work in low-rent buildings, massage parlours and illegal brothels, and the casinos, nightclubs, saunas and some of the larger hotels. Most hotels, however, have suspected prostitutes removed from the premises. Many of the city's sidewalks and underpasses are littered with prostitutes' calling cards.
Karayuki-san (唐行きさん) was the name given to Japanese girls and women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who were trafficked from poverty-stricken agricultural prefectures in Japan to destinations in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Siberia, Manchuria, British India, and Australia, to serve as sex workers.
Prostitution in Oceania varies greatly across the region. In American Samoa, for instance, prostitution is illegal, whereas in New Zealand most aspects of the trade are decriminalised.
Prostitution in Guam is illegal but is practised covertly, especially in massage parlours. Although massage parlours are sometimes raided, generally the authorities turn a blind eye.
Sex trafficking in China is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the People's Republic of China. It is a country of origin, destination, and transit for sexually trafficked persons.
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