"Although the Singaporean government took some significant new steps to prevent conditions of forced labor, the quantifiable indicators of anti-trafficking prosecution and victim protection – which this report emphasizes – indicate no increasing efforts to prosecute and punish forced labor offenses or to identify both victims of sex trafficking and victims of forced labor. Therefore, Singapore is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. There were no labor trafficking prosecutions or convictions during the reporting period." Ref: Pg 292, Trafficking in Persons Report 2010
USA is terrible! Singapore being a staunch supporter of US policies and Major buyer of US Weaponry is now on USA's list of countries "accused of failing to prevent women from being forced into prostitution".
According to AFP article titled "US puts Singapore, Thailand on human trafficking watch list", our country was in the list was due to women from China, the Philippines and Thailand are tricked into coming to the city-state with promises of legitimate employment and coerced into the sex trade.
Are the US saying the women from these countries were promised jobs in Singapore and when they arrived, sorry no jobs available for them, but they have mountain full of debts. The alternative is to sell themselves? Of course, it not forced, but a choice is given right? The Singapore authority does not recognised these women as victims but treated them as immigration offenders and deported. I think Secretary Clinton was mad at us for not declaring these women!
One funny thing our MSM did was to paint good picture of our country and do not publish bad reports about our country. They had forgotten there is a search engine called Google. In my search on this human trafficking issue, this news from Deccan Chronicle, a south Indian paper reported "Singapore based sex trade busted" on 25th May 2010.
Singapore based sex trade busted
Hyderabad, May 24: The state police have busted human trafficking and sex racket gang that would operate from Tamil Nadu and Singapore and arrested six persons. A case against three Singapore-based racketeers has been registered and the police have decided to seek a red corner notice from Interpol. The gang members who were arrested from Chennai, Hyderabad, Khammam and West and East Godavari were sending girls to Singapore on two-month tourist visas where they would be forced into prostitution.
The cops also rescued a 15-year-old girl of Tanuku in West Godavari district in an operation and registered a case against one of the gang members. The accused has confessed that they have sent five girls to Singapore on the pretext of providing them with jobs. They were sent as relatives of the three accused gang members in Singapore.
During investigations, the Kovvur police identified 12 persons, P. Aruna Kumari (19) of Khammam, R. Santhi Kumari of East Godavari, A. Jagadish (31) of Vijayawada, Govinda Swamy Murugandanadam (28) of Chettiyar and Satyaveni, the wife of Murugan of Tamil Nadu, G. Krishna of Hyderabad and B. Purushottam Kumar of East Godavari, Rambabu of West Godavari and K. Satyanarayana of Rajahmundry.
A case has been booked against Maran, Kumar and Kannan of Singapore.
The Eluru Range DIG, Mr Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagawat, said, “Aruna Kumari used to send girls to Chennai with the help of the other accused. They promised the girls decent jobs in Singapore as maids.”
One of the accused, R. Santha Kumari, had gone to Singapore in 2008 on a tourist visa and returned to India and started sending women and girls to Chennai. Purushottam and Rambabu used to help organising passports and tourist visas for the girls. The Police caught the accused while they were trying to shift one of the victims to Singapore in a decoy operation. They said red corner notices & extradition proposals will be sent to ministry of external affairs and Embassy of India in Singapore.
Source: Deccan Chronicle
The Local media did not report this piece of news above. Why we do not have news? I think not only Lee Bee Wah's "timely wake-up call" remark to the Freak Flood Ministry timely, it is also Mr Wong Kan Seng Ministry's wake up call. Please recognise these women ever rounded up by our anti-vice officers as victims, not as immigration offenders.
We should stop supporting USA's war effort in Iraqi by boycotting US Fighters aircraft over the Iraqi No Fly Zone by our KC-135s. Our fueler boys in the KC-135 should tell the US pilots "Sorry, no fuel unless your Secretary of State explain why!"
We should demand Secretary Clinton to "Explain" her accusation because our Foreign Ministry is once again PUZZLED by the accusation. Then they will know how important we are!
Pict of a RSAF KC-135 with then LTA Yusri Abu Bakar (who dare says we do not have Malay Fighter Pilot in Air force??). Pict from Ex Pitch Black 2006
As the Chinese saying goes "无风不起浪" crude translation means "without wind there can be no waves". I strongly believed Secretary Clinton's accusation got a case against us.
This is a case of 'blaming the victim'. By treating these women as 'offenders' and deporting them, those engaged in such 'trade' can continue to do as they please despite 'just-for-show' efforts to clamp down on it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.according2ed.com/2010/03/human-trafficking-in-singaporewith-work.html