Prostitution in Singapore

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.[1]

Law

Commercial sex with underaged persons

Any person who obtains for consideration the sexual services of a person under 18 years of age (in other words, has commercial sex with such a person) commits an offence and may be punished with imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine or both.[2] The term sexual services is defined to mean sexual services involving sexual penetration of the vagina or anus of a person by a part of another person's body other than the penis or by anything else, or penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth of a person by a man's penis.[3] It is also an offence for a person to communicate with another person for the purpose of having commercial sex with a person under 18.[4] These offences apply to acts that take place in as well as outside Singapore.[5]

It is a crime for a person to:

A person who is guilty of the offence may be punished with imprisonment of up to ten years, or a fine, or both.[9]

Pimping

It is a criminal offence to:

The penalty is imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding $10,000.[19] A male person who is convicted of a second or subsequent offence under the first six offences listed above[20] is liable to be caned in addition to being imprisoned.[21]

Prostitution and Law Enforcement in Practice

In Singapore, police unofficially tolerate and monitor a limited number of brothels, where the prostitutes are regularly screened for health check-ups; however prostitution outside these brothels also exists such as via social escort agencies that usually adopt an internet website or Facebook presence. There are also internet websites for private independent escorts who own their own businesses. One such website says that it can "verify" the escorts listed on the site as real independent sex workers who own their own businesses. Prostitution outside the informally designated red-light areas operates via three main channels: internet advertising, street solicitation, and karaoke box and massage parlor work. The internet-advertised sex workers are based in anonymous hotels, and the profile of each sex worker is available from the internet advertisement. Interested clients contact the sex worker's agent through SMS, who arranges the timing and gives the hotel address to the client. Sex workers operating via such illegal pimps come primarily from Thailand, China and Philippines to Singapore for a short tourist visit, and therefore are not screened for health check-ups. There are also local Singaporean masseurs, therapists, call girls or social escorts in the industry working as sex workers on the pretext of being students at a local educational institution such as a polytechnic, models, working office professionals or ex-air stewardesses. Some of these say that they are certified therapists. Apart from the usual bilingual Singaporean Chinese that speak English as well as a mother tongue such as Mandarin, other ethnic races on the island such as Malay and Indian women also work as social escorts often using an English name, alongside Eurasians and Russians. Vietnamese prostitutes in Singapore charge high prices for their services.[22]

Apart from these regulated brothels, commercial sex workers can be found in many "massage" or "spa" establishments. Some massage parlours, including tui na outlets, employ women from mainland China and offer massages as a pretext for 'special' sexual services.[23] These activities are illegal, and the operators of such massage establishments risk jail if exposed by anti-vice police raids. Yet, virtually everyone who visits these establishments in particular is fully aware of the sexual services provided within, and are there precisely because of it. The main red-light district in Singapore is located in Geylang. Orchard Towers, nicknamed the "Four Floors of Whores", is a shopping centre frequented by prostitutes. Some bars in Duxton Hill also offer sexual services, the most controversial ones being located at Adelphi basement which also houses a handful of law firms in the same building[24][25] as well as within walking distance from the Ministry of Law in Singapore.

Vice busting

As the year 2015 came to an end, there had been an increase of around 40% of commercial crimes including prostitution or sex-related scams involving the internet; the public has been advised by the National Crime Prevention Council (Singapore) to be wary of controversial practices such as sugar mommies,[26] credit-for-sex or internet love scams.[27] With sensual massage palours and other sex-related vice activities also appearing in suburban heartlands such as Woodlands, Sembawang, Sengkang, Jurong West, Yishun, Chinatown and River Valley,[28][29] the Government of Singapore is looking at various options of regulating and punishing violations such as cases of unlicensed prostitutions or operators of brothels.

In 2016, examples of sentencing include Chew Tiong Wei who was jailed 85 months and fined S$130,000 for running an online vice ring[30] and evading S$26,964.65 in income tax.[31]

There are also reported cases of nightly vice activities involving transvestite prostitutes soliciting at a carpark in the old Woodlands Town Garden which is adjacent to the Johor-Singapore Causeway.[32] These are possibly Malaysian transvestites working full-time jobs in Singapore, moonlighting to save money for sex-change operations.[33] Member of Parliament Halimah Yacob announced in 2016 a series of changes involving National Parks Board to clean up the sleaze in the area that involves upgrading the pre-existing park and malls there.

There are also rare cases of policemen impersonation on the pretext of robbing sex workers. These are offences punishable by the law in Singapore, as in the case of Teo Zhi Jie, Melvin Tan Shen Kang, Andrew Tan Zhi Wei and Lee Qing Yew. Teo Zhi Jie has since been sentenced to two years and seven months in jail and 12 strokes of the cane.[34]

References

Notes
  1. ↑ "2008 Human Rights Report: Singapore". U.S. Department of State. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  2. ↑ Penal Code (Cap. 224, 2008 Rev. Ed.), s. 376B(1). It is not an offence to obtain sexual services from one's own spouse: s. 376B(3).
  3. ↑ Penal Code, s. 376B(4).
  4. ↑ Penal Code, s. 376B(2); the penalty is imprisonment for up to two years, a fine, or both.
  5. ↑ Penal Code, s. 376C.
  6. ↑ Penal Code, s. 376D(1)(a).
  7. ↑ Penal Code, s. 376D(1)(b).
  8. ↑ Penal Code, s. 376D(1)(c). Publication of information means the publication of information by any means, whether by written, electronic or other form of communication: s. 376D(2).
  9. ↑ Penal Code, s. 376D(3).
  10. ↑ Women's Charter, s. 140(1)(a).
  11. ↑ Women's Charter, s. 140(1)(b).
  12. ↑ Women's Charter, s. 140(1)(c).
  13. ↑ Women's Charter, s. 140(1)(d).
  14. ↑ Women's Charter, s. 140(1)(e).
  15. ↑ Women's Charter, s. 140(1)(f).
  16. ↑ Women's Charter, s. 140(1)(g).
  17. ↑ Women's Charter, s. 140(1)(h).
  18. ↑ Women's Charter, s. 140(1)(j).
  19. ↑ Women's Charter, 140(1)
  20. ↑ Women's Charter, ss. 140(1)(a) to (f).
  21. ↑ Women's Charter, s. 140(2).
  22. ↑ "More bang for your buck: How new technology is shaking up the oldest business". The Economist. 9 August 2014.
  23. ↑ Koh, Hui Theng (18 Apr 2012). "He wanted massage, but was offered 'special'". The New Paper. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  24. ↑ "ENGELIN TEH PRACTICE LLC". Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  25. ↑ "Contact Us". Genesis Law Corporation. Genesis Law Corporation. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  26. ↑ Cheong, Danson (23 Feb 2016). "Online "sugar mummy" scams on the rise: police". Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  27. ↑ "Don’t be a victim Know the scams". Scam Alert Singapore. National Crime Prevention Council. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  28. ↑ Foo, Jie Ying (7 November 2015). "One-woman anti-vice squad". Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  29. ↑ Cheong, Danson (10 July 2015). "34 women, 2 men arrested in 2-day anti-vice sweep". Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  30. ↑ Hussain, Amir (11 Feb 2016). "Online vice ring pimp who received nearly $2.6m in revenue over 5 years jailed". Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  31. ↑ Hussain, Amir (12 Feb 2016). "Online pimp jailed and fined for evading more than $26,000 in income tax". Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  32. ↑ Cheong, Danson (11 October 2015). "MP pledges to clean up sleazy Woodlands park". Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  33. ↑ "'Sisters' peddle sex in cars at park". Straits Times. 11 Oct 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  34. ↑ Chong, Elena. "Man robbed, tied up 2 Chinese masseuses". my paper. Retrieved 24 February 2016.

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