Prostitution in Malaysia

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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]

Contents

There were an estimated 150,000 prostitutes in Malaysia in 2014 and that the country's sex trade generated US$963 million. [6]

History

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]

Foreign prostitutes in Malaysia

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 women first entered the Malaysian prostitution market by working in Korean owned entertainment outlets servicing Koreans but then broke into the domestic client scene marketing themselves for local Malaysian men demanding top prices of 600 RM per hour, working at a brothel in Bukit Bintang masquerading as a health spa. They demanded top prices by capitalizing on a fad for Korean things in Malaysia. These Korean women are mostly students and tourists working as part time prostitutes. [20] [21]

A Malaysian defence contractor called Leonard Glenn Francis provided Mongolian women working as prostitutes in Singapore to US navy vice-admiral Ted “Twig” Branch in exchange for classified military information. [22] Francis had prostitutes flown over from Mongolia to also entertain US Navy Cmdr. Troy Amundson. [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] A Malaysian police inspector raped two Mongolian women who were working as prostitutes in Malaysia, taking them to a hotel after stopping them at a checkpoint. [34] [35] In the Murder of Shaariibuugiin Altantuyaa a Mongolian woman was murdered in a case linked to Malaysian defence analyst Abdul Razak Baginda who she was romantically involved with.

Malaysian sex tourists in foreign countries

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. [36]

Chinese American actor Wang Leehom was accused of patronising Korean prostitutes and patronising prostitutes while visiting Malaysia. [37]

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]

Kelantan

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

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, [38] 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. [39] [40]

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

Johor Bahru is notorious as a sleazy border town since the 1980s. [41] The underground sex services has a huge demand from foreign migrant workers and Singaporeans. [42] [43] Known red light districts in Johor Bahru are Johor Bahru City Square, Wong Ah Fook Street, Jalan Meldrum, Kotaraya, and Taman Sentosa. [44] [45] [42]

Sex trafficking

Demand for prostitution has created a problem of people trafficking for the purpose of forced prostitution [46] from China [47] [48] and Vietnam, [49] [50] [51] even as far as Uganda. [52] A 2009 study by a church estimated that there were 30–32,000 victims of trafficking in the Sabah area alone. [53] 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. [53]

The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranks Malaysia as a 'Tier 2 Watch List' country. [54]

Malaysian prostitutes in foreign countries

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. [55]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual slavery</span> Slavery with the intention of using the slaves for sex

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massage parlor</span> Business offering the services of masseuses/masseurs

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Thailand</span>

Prostitution in Thailand is not itself illegal, but public solicitation for prostitution is prohibited if it is carried out "openly and shamelessly" or "causes nuisance to the public". 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, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Japan</span>

Prostitution in Japan has existed throughout the country's history. While the Prostitution Prevention Law of 1956 states that "No person may either do prostitution or become the customer of it", loopholes, liberal interpretations and a loose enforcement of the law have allowed the Japanese sex industry to prosper and earn an estimated 2.3 trillion yen per year.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in China</span>

After taking power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) embarked upon a series of campaigns with the aim of eradicating prostitution from mainland China by the early 1960s. Since the loosening of government controls over society in the early 1980s, prostitution in mainland China not only has become more visible, but can now be found throughout both urban and rural areas. In spite of government efforts, prostitution has now developed to the extent that it comprises an industry, one that involves a great number of people and produces a considerable economic output. Prostitution has also become associated with a number of issues, including organized crime, government corruption, hypocrisy, as well as sexually transmitted diseases. Notably, a CCP official who was a major provincial campaigner against corruption was removed from his post and expelled from the party after he was caught in a hotel room with a prostitute in 2007.

Prostitution in Hong Kong is itself legal, but organised prostitution is illegal, as there are laws against keeping a vice establishment, causing or procuring another to be a prostitute, living on the prostitution of others, or public solicitation.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Asia</span>

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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Vietnam</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in China</span>

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 Mongolia is illegal but widespread in some areas. The Global Fund for Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Malaria estimated there were about 19,000 sex workers in the country in 2006. Many women in Mongolia turn to prostitution through poverty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Macau</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karayuki-san</span> Trafficked women in the 19th and 20th centuries

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 prostitutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Oceania</span>

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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