When silence is not golden
When was the last time we read a report on any of these foreign women being charged, found guilty, jailed and then deported?
The Mole
ALMOST every time an entertainment outlet is raided, we are told of the many foreign women arrested on suspicion of being involved in vice.
Or since recent times, a new favourite catch-phrase: “The police managed to save these foreign women who are victims of human trafficking syndicates.”
One television station gives these operations prominent coverage through its weekly crime news round-up.
Good that diligent efforts are seen to be made to rid Malaysia of the world’s oldest profession, although despite the best of efforts, the problem never seems to go away. Maybe there are good reasons why it’s known as planet earth’s oldest profession after all.
The feather in the cap of any enforcement action is to have a conviction in court but when was the last time we read a report on any of these foreign women being charged, found guilty, jailed and then deported?
The other issue is that if indeed more and more foreign women who are victims of human trafficking syndicates are being saved by the police here, this only serves to reaffirm the negative human trafficking report on Malaysia last year by the United States State Department.
It must be remembered that the Malaysian government didn’t agree with the contents and issued a firm statement to object to it.
Official statements, including in Parliament, indicate that since five or six years ago, on average about 12,000 foreign women are caught each year on suspicion of being involved in immoral activities.
Many are arrested in a sweep-all kind of raids while having a chat over drinks at open bars, places which impose no restrictions whatsoever on their movements and allow them in so long as a door charge is paid, like every other patron. This does not fit in with the profile of a human trafficking victim, whose movement is restricted and under guard and passport kept by the syndicate.
The clubs are also known to ask foreign patrons to produce their passports before being allowed in. A photocopy will not do.
From the way these women are arrested, profiling appears to be a criterion.
Which means that if you happen to be at a bar with a (genuine) girlfriend from central Asia or Indonesia or the Philippines or Vietnam when a raid happens, most likely you will have to go to the police station a few days later to get her out.
Having read statements on these raids that were given wide media coverage, The Mole got curious and decided to find out more so that we can give our readers a complete picture.
Read more at: http://www.mole.my/content/xxx
