Singaporean child-sex tourists in law's crosshairs



Ansley Ng


Singaporean who go overseas to have sex with children could soon face the music at home after their jaunt.

In its current review of the Penal Code, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recommended that any Singaporean or permanent resident who buys sexual services from a minor under the age of 18 in another country be prosecuted in Singapore, regardless of whether the act is legal in that country.

The proposed law will have sex-tour organisers on its radar as well.

"Apprehending a sex tourist removes only one person from the industry," said the MHA. "Shutting down a child-sex tourism agency can block a far greater number of sex tourists."

Under the proposed law, those found guilty of buying sex from under-18s abroad face up to seven years in jail and a fine with no limit. Those convicted of organising child sex tours could face a similar fine and be jailed up to 10 years.

The new laws, if approved, will see Singapore join more than 30 countries that have similar laws.

The calls for child-sex tourism to be criminalised in Singapore have heightened over the past year. MPs raised the issue in the last Parliament, and non-governmental organisations have lobbied for it.

A Johns Hopkins University study released last year found that Singaporean men form the largest group of those who visit the Indonesian Riau Islands for sex with prostitutes, many of whom are under the age of 18.

Last April, polytechnic lecturer Darwis Rianto Lim was arrested by Thai police after he placed offers on the Internet to buy sex with teenaged boys in Thailand. Lim subsequently jumped bail and is now on the run.

But the MHA acknowledges there are constraints that come with the enforcement of extra-territorial laws. Language barriers and different local conditions can make it difficult to trace and interview foreign witnesses and gather evidence.

Ms Braema Mathi, chairperson of the women and children trafficking sub-committee at the Association of Women for Action and Research, suggested that a taskforce be set up within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to tackle this "borderless phenomena". She also proposed a hotline be set up to encourage Singaporeans to report such matters to authorities.

"For this to be effective, all Singaporeans have to keep our eyes wide open to help," said Ms Mathi.

What's significant, said Unifem Singapore's Saleemah Ismail, is that the country is taking a stand. The proposed law "sends a clear signal that such behaviour is unacceptable in our society. It represents where the nation stands on this issue", she said.

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Crackdown on sex industry drives STDs through the roof

Alarming increases in outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases across Japan are nothing to clap about, according to Flash.


An estimated 6.5 million Japanese are believed to have contracted at least one type of venereal disease, with some estimates saying one in four female sex workers and one in five of all women having a sexually transmitted disease of some sort.

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Tags: venereal | workers | TRANSMITTED | sex | saying | roof | OUTBREAKS | Increase | estimated | drives | disease | contracted | Clap | believed | according | tokyo | SEXUAL | stds | JAPANESE | Japan | Flash | crackdown

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Crackdown on sex industry drives STDs through the roof


Ryann Connell


Alarming increases in outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases across Japan are nothing to clap about, according to Flash.

An estimated 6.5 million Japanese are believed to have contracted at least one type of venereal disease, with some estimates saying one in four female sex workers and one in five of all women having a sexually transmitted disease of some sort.

"Looking at the figures on a nationwide level shows a gradual increase in the number of people with STDs, but if you go to places like (Tokyo entertainment districts) Shibuya, Ikebukuro and Roppongi, contraction rates are skyrocketing," Flash hears from Seiji Matsuda, head of the Japanese Foundation for Sexual Health Medicine, an organization that has for almost a century advised Japanese on coping with STDs -- or illnesses of the flower and willow world, as they were once referred to. "And the people contracting the diseases are getting younger all the time."

Crackdowns on Japan's sex business have driven it underground and made it harder for care workers to deal with the STD problem.

"There are women who go into sex work on a part-time basis and pick up diseases, but don't want to get them treated because it'll show up on their health insurance records or their parents will find out the jobs they've been doing," Matsuda says. "We get calls for help from schoolgirls, too."

When permitted to operate openly, many sex services encouraged workers to regularly undergo health checks. But with authorities shutting down all and sundry, many workers are driven into going freelance. When times get tight, there's a tendency to forgo things like regular check-ups and turning down risky johns.

"That doesn't mean going to a high class soapland brothel is going to be entirely safe, though. Brothel operators aren't going to be happy if women they're paying big wages aren't around to perform and customers are going to complain if their favorite workers aren't around," a doctor who regularly treats STDs says. "Some women know they've got STDs, but keep working even while they're being treated. For soapland workers, not being on the job means they're not getting paid, so many will knowingly work with STDs and try and hide it from their bosses."

Dr. Masahiko Ozeki, a urologist who once regularly performed health checks on prostitutes, says the pattern of STD contraction has changed in Japan over the past decade.

"Now, most people are getting them from friends and lovers (rather than professional sex workers)," Ozeki tells Flash. "Many people now lose their virginity during high school or college, then go out into the workforce and have sex with several different partners, making it easier for STDs to spread."

Chlamydia is fast becoming the scourge of Japan, and its transmission among partners is made easier because it has no visually discernable symptoms. A Fukushima Prefecture study found girls as young as 10 had contracted chlamydia. In Tokyo, one in 5 schoolgirls who visited public health clinics did so to be treated for the sexually transmitted disease. When it came to 18- and 19-year-olds, the chance they had contracted chlamydia rose to 1 in every 4.

"Chlamydia can be treated with pharmaceuticals, so there's a tendency to treat it likely in the belief that picking up another case will only need another dose of medicine. What people forget, though, is that those who've picked up chlamydia are at higher risk of contracting HIV," Ozeki tells Flash. "Some Japanese will go overseas and not use a condom, saying that 'going without once will be all right.' Unfortunately, 'going without once' is more than enough to pick up something."

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Today in history - Nov. 14

Today is Tuesday, Nov. 14, the 318th day of 2006. There are 47 days left in the year.


Today's Highlight in History:


On Nov. 14, 1889, inspired by Jules Verne, New York World reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) set out to travel around the world in less than 80 days. (She made the trip in 72 days.)


On this date:


In 1851, Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick" was first published.


In 1881, Charles J. Guiteau went on trial for assassinating President Garfield. (Guiteau was convicted and hanged the following year.)


In 1906, 100 years ago, actress and dancer Louise Brooks was born in Cherryvale, Kan.


In 1922, the British Broadcasting Corporation began its domestic radio service.

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Tags: assassinating | Verne | Guiteau | trial | reporter | inspired | hanged | days | CONVICTED | broadcast | SECURITIES | president | nov | New York | Nellie | jules | garfield | elizabeth | Charles

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Immigrants may be held indefinitely

MATT APUZZO,

Associated Press Writer

Immigrants arrested in the United States may be held indefinitely on suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts, the Bush administration said Monday, opening a new legal front in the fight over the rights of detainees.

In court documents filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., the Justice Department said a new anti-terrorism law being used to hold detainees in Guantanamo Bay also applies to foreigners captured and held in the United States.

Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, was arrested in 2001 while studying in the United States. He has been labeled an "enemy combatant," a designation that, under a law signed last month, strips foreigners of the right to challenge their detention in federal courts.

That law is being used to argue the Guantanamo Bay cases, but Al-Marri represents the first detainee inside the United States to come under the new law. Aliens normally have the right to contest their imprisonment, such as when they are arrested on immigration violations or for other crimes.

"It's pretty stunning that any alien living in the United States can be denied this right," said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney for Al-Marri. "It means any non-citizen, and there are millions of them, can be whisked off at night and be put in detention."

The new law says that enemy combatants will be tried before military commissions, not a civilian judge or jury, and establishes different rules of evidence in the cases. It also prohibits detainees from challenging their detention in civilian court.

In a separate court filing in Washington on Monday, the Justice Department defended that law as constitutional and necessary.

Government attorneys said foreign fighters arrested as part of an overseas military action have no constitutional rights and are being afforded more legal rights than ever.

In its short filing in the Al-Marri case, however, the Justice Department doesn't mention that Al-Marri is being held at a military prison in South Carolina — a fact that his attorneys say affords him the same rights as anyone else being held in the United States.

The Justice Department noted only that the new law applies to all enemy combatants "regardless of the location of the detention."

The Bush administration maintains that al-Marri is an al-Qaida sleeper agent. The Defense Department ordered a review of Al-Marri's status as an enemy combatant be conducted if, as requested, the case is thrown out of court.

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Today in history - Nov. 14


The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday, Nov. 14, the 318th day of 2006. There are 47 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 14, 1889, inspired by Jules Verne, New York World reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) set out to travel around the world in less than 80 days. (She made the trip in 72 days.)

On this date:

In 1851, Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick" was first published.

In 1881, Charles J. Guiteau went on trial for assassinating President Garfield. (Guiteau was convicted and hanged the following year.)

In 1906, 100 years ago, actress and dancer Louise Brooks was born in Cherryvale, Kan.

In 1922, the British Broadcasting Corporation began its domestic radio service.

In 1935, President Roosevelt proclaimed the Philippine Islands a free commonwealth.

In 1940, during World War II, German planes destroyed most of the English town of Coventry.

In 1943, Leonard Bernstein, the 25-year-old assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, made his debut with the orchestra as he filled in for the ailing Bruno Walter during a nationally broadcast concert.

In 1969, Apollo 12 blasted off for the moon.

In 1972, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 1,000 for the first time, ending the day at 1,003.16.

In 1986, the Securities and Exchange Commission imposed a record $100 million penalty against inside-trader Ivan F. Boesky and barred him from working again in the securities industry.

Ten years ago: Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, the senior Roman Catholic prelate in the United States and leader of Chicago's 2.3 million Catholics, died at his home at age 68.

Five years ago: The rout of the Taliban in Afghanistan accelerated with the Islamic militia losing control of Jalalabad in the east, once-loyal Pashtun tribesmen joining in the revolt in the south and many of their fighters fleeing into the mountains to evade U.S. airstrikes. President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin continued their talks at Bush's Texas ranch, a day after the two leaders agreed at the White House to reduce their countries' nuclear stockpiles.

One year ago: Two separate suicide attackers rammed car bombs into vehicles belonging to NATO-led peacekeepers in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing a German soldier and an Afghan child. President Bush hurled new arguments against Iraq war critics as he headed for Asia, accusing some Democrats of "sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy." Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees won his second American League Most Valuable Player award in three seasons.

Today's Birthdays: Former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali is 84. Actress Kathleen Hughes is 78. Jazz musician Ellis Marsalis is 72. Blues singer Carey Bell is 70. Writer P.J. O'Rourke is 59. Zydeco singer-musician Buckwheat Zydeco is 59. Britain's Prince Charles is 58. Actor Robert Ginty is 58. Rock singer-musician James Young (Styx) is 57. Singer Stephen Bishop is 55. Pianist Yanni is 52. Actress Laura San Giacomo is 45. Actor D.B. Sweeney is 45. Rapper Reverend Run (Run-DMC) is 42. Actor Patrick Warburton is 42. Rock musician Nic Dalton (The Lemonheads) is 42. Country singer Rockie Lynne is 42. Pop singer Jeanette Jurado (Expose) is 41. Rock singer Butch Walker is 37. Actor Josh Duhamel is 35. Rock musician Travis Barker is 31. Contemporary Christian musician Robby Shaffer is 31. Rapper Shyheim is 29.

Thought for Today: "The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history." — George Eliot, English author (1819-1880).

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