Singapore prostitutes are driven out of business

From: "truth"
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:20:14 GMT
Local: Wed, Sep 16 2009 9:20 pm
Subject: Even Singapore prostitutes are driven out of business

http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/

Citizens in the Vice Trade Up Against Strong Foreign Competition
Tougher rules for new hotels
By Kor Kian Beng

THE Government will come down hard on new hotels that rent rooms by the
hour, as it tightens the rules for these places which are often seen as
hotbeds of prostitution.

Newcomers applying for an operating licence have to justify why they are
offering such rates. In addition, they have to install closed-circuit
television systems, and hire guards to preserve the safety of their guests
and look out for possible illegal activities.

Hoteliers with an eye on offering such rooms in residential areas will
face an even harder time. They are required 'to engage the community and
respond to concerns of residents', said Mr S. Iswaran, Senior Minister of
State for Trade and Industry, without elaborating.

He announced the new measures in Parliament on Monday. Singapore Tourism
Board's director of resource development, Ms Rebecca Lim, said the new rules
take effect immediately but apply only to new hotels.
In the debates about foreigners versus citizens in Singapore, the sad plight
of our local prostitutes is often neglected.

In the first place, the fact that you've chosen to be a prostitute will
often mean that you're already hard-pressed to find any better way of making
a living. Unfortunately, nowadays you not only have to compete with other
Singaporean prostitutes, you also have to compete with prostitutes from
different countries.

And the competition is growing.

When I was a DPP many years ago, I would come across criminal cases
involving foreign prostitutes every now and then. (Prostitution itself is
not a crime in Singapore - however, prostitutes tend to show up in criminal
cases from time to time, either as victims or witnesses). Back then, foreign
prostitutes tended to be either from Thailand or the Philippines. Nowhere
else, really.

Nowadays, the Thais and the Filipinas are still here, but there are also
foreign prostitutes from a much more international background. Even
Wikipedia, the world's most popular online encyclopaedia, comments on the
wide range of prostitutes' nationalities at Orchard Towers - "They are
primarily from Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Russia, Ukraine
and a few from mainland China and South America".

The ladies from China even give newspaper interviews now and then. And the
wide selection of nationalities available at Geylang recently won praise
from a German expatriate.

How did all these women get here? It cannot be the case that the Singapore
government has not noticed their presence. Perhaps the PAP has been too
liberal with its foreign talent policies.

Posted by Mr Wang Says So