[KangTuo]

Vietnamese prostitutes showing up in Geylang
Tan Dawn Wei and Chong Chee Kin & Teh Joo Lin
Sun, Mar 16, 2008
The Straits Times

THE area between Geylang lorongs 42 and 44 does not usually see much red-light action, but Vietnamese prostitutes are plying their trade there.

Dr Fatimah Lateef, the area's MP, is now leading grassroots efforts to address this problem.

Since last July, up to 40 Vietnamese women have been spotted each night in the area, which has a cluster of five pubs.

Some also work in Joo Chiat and come after the pubs there close after midnight.

Dr Fatimah, an MP for Marine Parade GRC, told The Sunday Times: 'It doesn't matter where they are coming from, as long as we control and contain the issue...and the problem is restricted to the main road and doesn't affect the residential and private areas.'

She has led initiatives to reduce the number of streetwalkers between lorongs 22 and 44, such as improving lighting in the back lanes.

Illegal prostitution has been in the news lately. Last month, MP Christopher de Souza told Parliament that an evening drive down Duxton Road and Duxton Hill will 'prove that prostitutes operate well beyond the artificial borders of Geylang'.

Statistics point to the presence of more illegal sex workers. Last year, some 5,400 foreign prostitutes were nabbed, a 25 per cent increase over the number in 2006.

The police have stepped up anti-vice raids, from 890 in 2006 to 950 last year. The women from China, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and other Asian countries typically come here on social visit passes.

About half of the total number of female foreigners arrested for vice-related activities were arrested in Geylang last year.

There, the red-light area has traditionally been in the even-numbered lorongs between 16 and 24.

The Vietnamese women in lorongs 42 and 44 are mostly in their early 20s and trawl the pubs in pairs.

Their stories are invariably the same: They come from Ho Chi Minh City; it's their first visit to Singapore; their friends took them to the pubs to work.

One of them, Tran, 21, who is petite and has long straight hair, said she was a hairdresser's apprentice but left because she could not earn enough to support her parents and younger sister.

She stays in a Geylang lodging house with three friends who also do the rounds in Joo Chiat and Geylang. But Joo Chiat, her friends told her, is not safe as there are many police raids.

The women's social visit passes usually allow them to stay for two weeks. In a month, they can earn about $1,000.

Many leave just before their visa expires, usually making a trip to Johor Baru before returning to extend their stay.

Mr Daniel Tung, 32, programme director at non-governmental organisation Action For Aids, said of the illegal sex trade: 'We're not the only ones facing this. It's worldwide since the girls move around.'

Project coordinator of Women's Care Centre Viviene Lim, 33, who runs an outreach programme called Project Streetwalker, said the illegal prostitutes easily outnumber the licensed ones.

Unlike the latter who work in regulated brothels, illegal prostitutes do not go for mandatory health checks.

Women's Care Centre, which set up a drop-in centre for streetwalkers last August in Geylang Lorong 20, has conducted free health screenings for nearly 60 streetwalkers. Five had sexually transmitted infections.

'Whenever you broach the subject of sexually transmitted infections, it turns them off. They're not willing to face up to it and there's a fear that if they are tested positive, they will have no resources to deal with it,' said Ms Lim.