Marking the 14th anniversary of legislation that allowed gay people to serve in the U.S. military, but only if they kept their orientation secret, 28 retired generals and admirals planned to release a letter Dec. 7 urging Congress to repeal the law.

"We respectfully urge Congress to repeal the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," the letter says. "Those of us signing this letter have dedicated our lives to defending the rights of our citizens to believe whatever they wish."

Video: Discharged for Being Gay

The former officers offer data showing that 65,000 gays and lesbians now serve in the U.S. armed forces, and that there are more than one million gay veterans. "They have served our nation honorably," the letter states.

The letter's release came as rallies were scheduled Dec. 7 on the National Mall by groups calling for a change in the law, which is known as "don't ask, don't tell" because it bars the military from investigating soldiers' sexual orientation if they keep it to themselves.

Although the signers of the letter are high-ranking, none are of the stature of John Shalikashvili, a retired general who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the policy was adopted and now argues for its repeal. Shalikashvili refocused attention on the issue this year when he wrote that conversations with military personnel had prompted him to change his position.

The current generation of Americans entering the armed services has proved to him "that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers," he wrote in an Op-Ed article published in The New York Times on Jan. 2.

"I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces," Shalikashvili wrote. "Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job."

Few issues have separated the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates this year as clearly as whether to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."

At a debate in June, all of the Democrats said they favored rescinding the policy. The Republican candidates, meanwhile, have favored continuing the policy, saying that it is a sensible approach or that it would be a distraction to integrate openly gay service members into the armed forces at a time of war.

Efforts to prompt the House and Senate to repeal the legislation have gained little traction. Senior leaders at the Pentagon are on record as saying the Department of Defense would follow the lead of Congress.

"Personal opinion really doesn't have a place here," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in March. "What's important is that we have a law." He was responding to comments by General Peter Pace, who was serving as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and had re- ignited controversy over the issue when he said that homosexuality was immoral, similar to adultery.

Before the policy was put into place, gay people were barred from serving in the military. When he ran for president, Bill Clinton pledged to change that, but after he was elected he compromised with "don't ask, don't tell," under which gay soldiers could serve as long as they did not disclose their sexual orientation.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said Nov. 29 that there were no efforts at the Pentagon or across the military to alter the policy.

Fake roundtrip tickets used to lure Filipinas to Singapore

By Veronica Uy
November 14, 2007

Manila - Trafficking syndicates use fake roundtrip tickets and offer them as "free" to lure Filipinas they deploy for sex jobs in Singapore, the Philippine embassy in Singapore said last week.

In a recent statement, Consul General Maria Lumen Isleta said: "'Most of the human trafficking victims who run to the embassy for help hold dummy return tickets and ask for our assistance to be repatriated back to the Philippines."

Following a report earlier this week showed that a growing number of young Filipino women were being trafficked to Singapore for sexual exploitation. That report cited the cases of two women who were drawn in by the adventure of work abroad on the false promise of a high-paying decent job.

The increased incidence of trafficking of Asian women, including Filipinas, to Singapore has prompted the United States State Department to downgrade the city-state's rating from Tier 1 in 2006 to Tier 2 this year.

The embassy, in a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, said the Singapore government was already cracking down on trafficking syndicates victimizing women.

Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Belen Fule-Anota said that in the past couple of months, Singapore authorities have arrested and jailed foreigners who knowingly presented fake return airline tickets to immigration authorities. She said that among them were 12 Filipinos, who were each given jail terms ranging from three to 10 months.

Anota said those arrested included several job seekers, pub girls who tried to extend their stay in Singapore, and even a Filipino information technology professional.

Isleta, who heads the embassy's consular section, observed: "Most of the women who were arrested by Singapore authorities for holding fake e-tickets were irregular hospitality workers who came to Singapore to work in pubs without any work permit. Most were caught while trying to re-enter Singapore at the border with Malaysia after their Singapore visas expired."

To entice prospective victims, Isleta said human traffickers and illegal recruiters would usually provide "free" roundtrip tickets (usually in the form of e-tickets). But, she cautioned, only one way was valid.

Isleta said this was a way for human traffickers to lower their cost and to demonstrate to their prospective victims that they were charging only a minimal recruitment fee while in the Philippines.

"To lower costs, human traffickers connive with travel agencies to issue dummy return tickets, usually from an airline different from the outbound one, to allow the trafficking victim to comply with the Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) requirement of a roundtrip ticket for tourists," she said.

Possession of a roundtrip ticket is a requirement for Filipino tourists who travel abroad. It is checked at the port of exit in the Philippines, as well as the port of entry of the destination country.

"This modus operandi lowers the cost of trafficking people across borders as traffickers only need to advance the cost of the outbound flight," she added.

Dubai: Luxury lures women into sexual slavery

By Glen Carey
November 14, 2007

Men and women interact in a bar in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Friday, Oct. 19, 2007. Dubai has transformed itself from a trading village to the Persian Gulf's financial and tourist hub with lower taxes and a more vibrant nightlife than other Gulf states. Bars heave with men drinking $10 beers and women in short skirts. Photographer: Charles Crowell/Bloomberg News
Fei Fei, a 22-year-old from China's Guangdong province, has a souvenir of her eight months in Dubai: burns on her back and arms from cigarette butts crushed against her skin when she refused to work as a prostitute.

She eventually submitted when a criminal gang threatened to send nude photos of her to family members. That indignity, she said, would have been worse than selling her body.

"They take pictures of me naked in shower," Fei Fei said in broken English as she pulled up her shirt to reveal the dark red circular marks. Soon afterward, she adopted the English name "Lucy," and sold sex in Dubai bars for 500 dirhams (USD $130) a trick to claw back her freedom.

Fei Fei's story symbolizes the dark side of Dubai, better known for its skyscrapers, sail-shaped hotel and man-made islands built in the shape of palm trees. The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is the second-largest member, is on a US State Department watch-list for failing to take "meaningful steps" to end trafficking of women for prostitution and other workers trapped in conditions of slavery.

There are an estimated 10,000 victims of human trafficking in Dubai, according to the department's 2007 report. UAE officials say the figure overestimates the problem and that they have begun to take action, passing the first anti -trafficking law in the Middle East.

Flush With Cash

Dubai has transformed itself from a trading village to the Persian Gulf's financial and tourist hub with lower taxes and a more vibrant nightlife than other Gulf states. Bars heave with men drinking $10 beers and women in short skirts. That's attracted rich Saudis, US oil workers flush with cash after stints in Iraq, and bankers who are paid as much as 40 percent more than those in London or New York. Affluence has increased the demand for laborers and housemaids, and the development of laws to protect them from exploitation hasn't kept pace, the International Labor Organization said in an e-mailed response to questions.

Women from Asia and Africa often sign contracts to work as maids, waitresses, hairdressers and secretaries, only to have employers confiscate their passports and force them to work as prostitutes, the US report said. Others work excessive hours under the threat of mental, physical or sexual abuse until they can pay off recruitment costs.
"Once they are there, they find that their contract is not valid," said Basil Fernando, executive director of the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission. "They get stranded."

Fear of Rape

Anne Valdez, 25, from Quezon City near Manila, lasted four months as a housemaid before she ran away.
Valdez said she traveled to the UAE because wages were higher there than at home. She was brought over by a UAE- based labor agency after signing a contract to work for $200 a month. Her employers paid Valdez $160 and made her work 19 hours a day.
"I couldn't leave the house the whole time," Valdez said in a Dubai coffee shop. "I even couldn't call my family. I was scared I would be raped." Valdez considers herself lucky. She spent 10 months hiding with relatives, avoiding police and working part-time jobs at hotels to help support herself. She said supervisors often made sexual advances, though they never assaulted her or forced her into prostitution. Valdez returned to the Philippines with no job and no savings to support her 1-year-old son, after taking advantage of a government amnesty that allowed illegal workers to leave.

Making an Effort

Worldwide, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, the State Department said. Kuwait and Qatar are ranked on the same watch-list for cases of involuntary servitude, not sexual exploitation as in the UAE Saudi Arabia is on a worse tier ranking than the UAE

In July, the UAE formed a committee of senior officials to combat human trafficking, and it has opened a shelter for abused women. In the past year it has closed 40 hotels and clubs that allowed prostitution, said Anwar Gargash, minister of state for Federal National Council Affairs in Dubai. "We are committed to tackling this problem on several levels through the rigorous prosecution of criminals, preventative measures and, most importantly, protection of victims of this crime," Gargash said. Any crackdown on such crimes comes too late for Emily Ivy from Edo State in southern Nigeria. The 22-year-old was forced into prostitution by her step-sister, who lured her to Dubai with the promise of a job in a beauty salon. She was told to pay $15,000 to get her identification back and continues to work the bars to send money to her widowed mother. "I came to work in a beauty parlor for my sister," Ivy said. "Three months later, I was told to go to the bars to sell my body. I don't want to do it anymore. I am tired."

She has applied for a job as an air stewardess.

Fei Fei's journey to Dubai also ended badly. Once she had plans to study English at a language school in the city, but after paying her pimp 6,000 dirhams (USD $1,600) a month, she managed to save enough money to return to China.

"I want to change my job," she said before departing.

Sex workers target businessmen in Hong Kong

November 14, 2007

Hong Kong - Forty-four mostly foreign businessmen have reported being drugged and robbed by sex workers in a Hong Kong red-light district over the last three years, police said this week.

Police are continuing to investigate the possible poisoning deaths of two Americans at the Grand Hyatt hotel, also in the red-light Wan Chai district, over a week ago. Reports said the two men, identified only as Paul, 45, and Richard, 51, had been to a night club before returning to their room with two women.

The men's slumped bodies were discovered the next day by cleaning staff.

Police have yet to say what caused the men's deaths, although they have not ruled out that they were drugged. The Standard newspaper reported that a mixture of cocaine and heroin was found in their blood, but police have refused to comment, saying toxicology tests were continuing.

A Filipino women arrested shortly after the bodies were found has been released, but will appear in court on charges of violating her visa by moonlighting as a prostitute, a police spokesman said.

Police said Sunday that at least 44 men had reported incidents of drugging and robbery over the last three years in Wan Chai, where many nightclubs are easy places to meet Filipino, Indonesian and mainland Chinese prostitutes.
Some victims couldn't remember much and only made reports days or weeks after the event when they received their bank statements and found unexplained withdrawals from cash machines, a police spokeswoman said.
Other victims discovered cash and other valuables missing when they awoke in their hotel room, she said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with policy.

Police were aware of the problem and of the possibility that some type of date-rape drug may have been used, she said. She said police were giving crime prevention advice to bars and hotels in the area and working with the immigration department.

In one of the most high-profile cases, a senior Finnish policeman, Kari Juhani Koivuniemi, died of a heart attack in a luxury hotel after being given the drug Rohypnol in 2003. A woman thought to have been a mainland Chinese prostitute was suspected of giving him the drug, but she was never found.

Wan Chai was once one of Hong Kong's most notorious districts for sex and drugs, but has undergone a makeover in recent years. It remains a popular place for U.S. sailors, tourists and overseas businessmen.

Although prostitution is legal in Hong Kong, many of the women are either illegal immigrants from mainland China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, or moonlighting from their day jobs.

Taiwan: Groups rally against scrapping legal prostitution

September 13, 2007

Taipei - More than 100 members of over 10 underprivileged groups last week rallied at the Kaitakelan Blvd. to protest against an undesirable decision made by President Chen Shui-bian to scrap the public prostitution business when he served as Taipei mayor 10 years ago.

The protest was initiated by a private association of prostitutes, which joined forces with jobless workers, those who borrow to live, and some low-level social groups to stage the protest in front of the Presidential Office.

Over the past 10 years since Chen eliminated public prostitution operation, Chung Chun-chu, executive secretary of the Ju Ju Chun Association (of former legal prostitutes), said there has been a sharp increase of 70 percent in underground whores, and an increase of NT$130 million in debts recorded by jobless prostitutes.

Chung continued that the government has cracked down on 38,263 illegal "sex workers" over the past eight years, and they have been jailed for a total of 35,405 days, leading to a loss of NT$270 million in sex-service income during the jail terms. She went on to say that over the past seven years after Chen assumed the presidency of Taiwan, around 30,000 people have committed suicide for failing to make a living.

The protesters furled posters reading "Save the 'Suicide Nation' before Joining the United Nations," and raised cloth banners trying to soothe the wandering souls of those who killed themselves over the past seven years.

They also tried to burn paper portraits of Chen, but some 30 policemen and policewomen moved to extinguish the fire, with no one injured.

The China Post

Singapore transsexual battles culture of shame

September 13, 2007

Ten years after fulfilling a lifelong dream to become a woman through sex-change surgery, Leona Lo, seen here, has embarked on an uphill battle to change the "culture of shame" surrounding transsexuals in Asia
Singapore - She loves children and her lifelong dream is to be a wife and a mother, but the raspy voice and masculine frame betray the fact that Leona Lo was born a man.

Unlike many other transsexuals in Asia who prefer to live privately because of the social stigma of sex change, the British-educated, Singaporean transsexual woman has chosen to live a normal life, but in public. Smart, confident and articulate, the communications specialist who heads her own public relations company has embarked on a mission to help turn around the "culture of shame" surrounding transsexuals in Singapore and the region. "Somewhere out there, not just in Singapore but throughout Asia, there are lots of young people who are suffering the way I suffered years ago," Leona, 32, tells AFP in an interview. In her former life as a man, she was called Leonard.

These days, she draws on her experiences of gender identity crisis, rejection and discrimination to challenge social mores on behalf of the so-called silent community. "It's this entire culture of shame that gets under your skin. It's not something that you can isolate and demolish because it is so much a part of our culture," she says.

While a few transsexuals are gaining prominence in Asia - notably China's Jin Xing - most continue to live in silence.

In May, a 32-year-old South Korean transsexual entertainer, whose sex alteration led the country to change its family registry laws, married her rapper boyfriend. Parinya "Nong Toom" Charoenphol's rags-to-riches story was made into a movie, "Beautiful Boxer." Former Chinese People's Liberation Army colonel and now woman Jin Xing is a prize-winning dancer and choreographer. Slim and taller than the average local woman, Leona packs charm and gets animated when talking about children. But her lip sticked mouth creases into a pensive smile when she says: "I can't bear children. I have to be on hormones for life and I have this body structure of a guy."

The hormone treatment has "feminised" the former man. While traces of masculinity are evident, Leona says she has already come to terms with being a woman -- although a transsexual one. "I can't deny that biologically I'm different," says Leona, wearing a blue dress, the muscles on her shoulders and arms clearly visible.

Discrimination is the biggest challenge faced by transsexuals, she says, recalling repeated rejection by prospective employers in Singapore despite her academic credentials.

"Singapore may be a cosmopolitan city, but many things are still swept under the carpet," Leona says.
No reliable figures on the number of transsexual men and women in Singapore, or the region, are available, mainly because those who feel they have been born in the wrong body prefer to endure their situation in silence rather than embarrass their families, Leona says.


Transsexual, Leona Lo, during her interview
"It's because a lot of transsexual women face discrimination at work and experience failure of relationships that a lot end up in suicide, depression. They end up on the streets as prostitutes," she says.

This is why she has taken time away from her thriving public relations consultancy promoting beauty products to wage her campaign.

After much persuasion, one local university allowed her to speak to an audience of students but she is finding it hard to pry open a window to share her thoughts in the corporate world.

On September 14 she is to launch her autobiography, "From Leonard to Leona -- A Singapore Transsexual's Journey to Womanhood."

From Singapore, Leona plans to travel across Asia to bring her message for greater tolerance of gender diversity.

Medical experts on gender believe transsexualism is a medical condition, and that transsexuals are different from transvestites and homosexuals.

In contrast, transvestites are always males and do not dislike their genitalia although they may derive sexual arousal through dressing as women, Goh said.

For transsexuals, dressing as a man or a woman for one year before a sex change operation is part of the transition process and is not related to any sexual pleasure, the experts say. The surgery is "the finishing touch," Goh wrote.

Leona says the association of transsexuals with prostitution in Singapore harks back to the 1960s when there was a flourishing culture of drag queens, including some transsexuals, on Singapore's Bugis Street.

As Singapore transformed rapidly into a modern Asian business centre, the government cracked down on Bugis Street. Transsexuals were lumped together with homosexuals, transvestites and prostitutes.

It was in this environment that the young Leonard -- Leona's original identity -- grew up.

As early as age 10, Leonard had already started developing feelings for boys.

But he was forced to remain silent because of a dearth of information about transsexualism and for fear his traditional Chinese family would be scandalized.

"I did not think I was gay. I just felt that I was a woman trapped in a man's body," says Leona, who has a younger sister.

At age 15, Leonard discovered a book about transsexualism, which sowed the seeds of his eventual decision to undergo a sex-change operation in 1997.

"I discovered that book in the library and I said 'Oh my God! There are actually people like me!'" she reminisces.

"That changed my life and I discovered that I could go for the sex change operation."

As an able-bodied man, Leonard entered Singapore's compulsory two-year military service at around 19.

Pressures of being forced to be "macho" during the training led to a nervous breakdown and drove him to attempt suicide by drug overdose, she says.

After military service, Leonard in 1996 went to study in Britain, where a more tolerant university environment allowed him to cross-dress for a year as part of his preparation for sex-change surgery.

In 1997, Leonard flew with his tuition money from Britain to Bangkok, where he walked into a clinic for the life-altering operation.

"I was afraid. I could go in and I could die. But I knew at that point that I was going to change my life forever," she recalls.

"I had carried that burden within me for so long and I couldn't live anymore without doing it."

Leona endured a lot of pain during the procedure, which took 14 days, but the feeling of having a new identity was "wonderful, euphoric!"

She warns other transsexuals who might be considering sex change surgery that getting a new identity "is not a magic wand" and they will have to live under a culture of shame and discrimination.

Family support is crucial. Her mother was the first person she told after the operation, and her father had already learned to accept her for who she is.

"By that time, they had already decided that they would rather have me as a woman than lose me as a child," she says.

What is her dream now?

"To be a wife and a mother," she says. "I look forward to a fulfilling relationship with a loving man, getting married and adopting three children.

"I've also reached a critical juncture where I'm more self-assured and finally able to lay to rest the painful aspects of my past and move confidently as a woman."

Sex ban on the Airbus A380

Singapore Airlines' puts out 'no sex' rules for the double bed suites, and Steve Bleach quizzed the first passengers

By Steve Bleach
November 3, 2007

The A380 may have the world's first airborne double bed, but it won't be put to the obvious use if Singapore Airlines has its way: "If couples used our double beds to engage in inappropriate activity, we would politely ask them to desist," said the company's Stephen Forshaw.

"There are things that are acceptable on an aircraft and things that aren't, and the rules for behavior in our double beds are the same ones that apply throughout the aircraft."

In any case, the plane is as yet unchristened: Tony and Julie Elwood from Perth, Australia had booked the first A380 double suite, but hardly had a moment of privacy for a romantic kiss, let alone anything raunchier, as a parade of journalists came knocking on their door.

Even so, they weren't too impressed with Singapore's strait-laced attitude. "So they'll sell you a double bed, and give you privacy and endless champagne - and then say you can't do what comes naturally?" asked Tony, a vigorous 76. "Seems a bit strange."

"They seem to have done everything they can to make it romantic, short of bringing round oysters," said Julie, 51. "I'd say they shouldn't really complain, should they?

"Though I don't think they'll have anything to worry about from us - the flight is so busy with people coming to see the suites, we wouldn't have the opportunity."

Singapore: Gay debate takes ugly turn

By Ansley Ng
November 3, 2007

The Parliamentary debate on the law against gay sex will be remembered for its fiery, heart-felt spirit. But outside the House, passions - among both supporters and opponents of Section 377A - have, at times, degenerated into spite.

There were threatening, expletive-laced emails. One parliamentarian had his sexuality questioned. Another academic was flamed in blogs and had her phone number circulated.

And the employer of one gay professional was questioned about their hiring him.

The ugly turn of events, some may say, is only to be expected given the emotional nature of the subject matter - one that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had warned on Tuesday could polarize society.

But a bigger question being asked is: What do such instances say of Singaporeans' ability to debate issues maturely, and without hostility?

In Parliament on Monday, Nominated MP Thio Li-ann recounted how a colleague received threatening emails following the publication of an article in The Straits Times in May, after reforms to the Penal Code were mooted.

Assistant Professor Yvonne Lee had commented that it was wrong to decriminalize homosexual acts. For a month after, people, including young lawyers and students, wrote to the dean criticizing her.

Her photo was posted on blogs and her phone number circulated. She received emails - "80 per cent of them abusive" - asking if she was a "fundamentalist" who would discriminate against homosexual students.

"It was a professional attack, intimidation and harassment," Asst Prof Lee told Today.

Professor Thio herself was "shell-shocked" and made a police report after receiving an abusive email in August from an unnamed stranger who threatened to defile her grave on the day Section 377A was repealed.

"If it was just a rude letter, I'd let it slip. But this really overstepped things," the law lecturer told Today.

In the opposing camp, fellow NMP Siew Kum Hong, who presented a public petition to scrap the law against gay sex, had his sexuality questioned.

"When you are a public figure taking a position on a public issue, you have to accept that some people will not be mature enough to refrain from such things," said Mr Siew, a lawyer.

"It bothers me but I just got past it and carried on. I don't want to dignify their comments."

The organizers of the Repeal377A.com campaign - who, in a statement yesterday, said they were "deeply disappointed" by the decision to keep the law - told Today that hate messages were posted on their website. "That's what the gay community experiences as part of their lives - derogatory slurs," a spokesman said.

Indeed, one employee at a large government-linked company learnt, a few months ago, that an anonymous letter had been sent to senior management, asking why they employed a gay person.

"I was really shocked. I'm not a closet gay but I don't show off my sexuality at work. I'm there to work, not advocate gay rights; I'm a professional. Honestly, I felt very violated," he said.

To him, the incident suggests there is "a lot of fear" that legalizing consensual gay sex would cause societal disintegration. "When there is fear, it can lead to viciousness."

MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC Baey Yam Keng, however, said that while some were not pleased at his speaking up for homosexuals, no one had been outright abusive so far.

One email sender vowed not to vote for him in the next election. Another asked if he was "naive or blind".

Said Mr Baey: "For these kind of emotional issues, there will be skewed positions taken. But it's healthy to have these two opposing views - albeit some being extreme about it - rather than not talk about the issue."

He feels such debates raise awareness among the uninformed, which feeds into an even more robust discussion.

But Prof Thio asked: "Can we promise ourselves that we will not resort to deception or shouting at each other, but focus on facts and issue? Even if we disagreed, can we disagree in a civil fashion?"

On Sunday, Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Information, Communications and the Arts), had called for tolerance of differences on Section 377A. The challenge, he had warned, was in preventing diversity from descending into "divisive antagonism", as it has in the United States.

Such polarisation was unlikely to happen in Singapore, said Dr Terence Chong, a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Citizens by and large have shown that they are capable of civil and passionate debate - both in and outside of parliament - despite the actions of a few anonymous "black sheep" in cyberspace, he noted.

"The overall tone of the debate has been civil. It would be naïve for anyone to want passionate debate without any name-calling at all. And it would be very unfair to point to a small group of people who send hate mail and say we are not capable of a mature debate," said Dr Chong.

Singapore Night Race Confirmed on 2008 Formula One Schedule
26 Oct 2007

(Bloomberg) -- Formula One's first night race will be held in Singapore in 2008 after the 18-Grands Prix calendar was confirmed today by the sport's governing body. The city-state will host the Sept. 28 event, which it hopes will draw 80,000 spectators and generate S$100 million ($68 million) in tourism spending. The race further boosts the profile of the world's most- watched motor sport in Asia. Singapore is also one of three street-races along with Monaco and Valencia.

The season ends on Nov. 2 at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil, where Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen three days ago secured the drivers' title by winning the race. His title is subject to McLaren failing in an appeal against several drivers not being penalized for fuel irregularities. Elsewhere, the Spyker team has been granted permission to change its name to Force India Formula One, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile said. Spyker, bought this month by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya for $109 million, scored one championship point this season.

The sport's first Indian-owned team, which was previously named Midland F1, will race in the colors of the Indian flag, the BBC reported. A request from Ferrari, winner of the constructors' title, to continue to supply engines for Spyker and Toro Rosso for the next two years was also approved. The FIA announced in the same statement that there will be a freeze on engine development for 10 years from 2008.

Economically speaking, one could just write it off as an upturn. But looking closer and talking to vendors, one finds that "proximity" and "competition" have a lot to do with it.

As the newer, swankier and terribly less affordable bars, restaurants and other businesses have popped up, it has given the old mainstay vendors, shops and guesthouses the opportunity to re-evaluate their pricing, in many cases leading them to decide that prices can increase. They are still priced well below the upper-class establishments, so they maintain their competitive foothold.

For now business continues to boom, so everyone is generally happy. Except, possibly, for the experienced budget traveler who finds himself digging deeper into his money belt to make ends meet.

The Boom-Boom of the Boom

By and large, Khaosan has been ignored by the sex industry, until now. In the past a wayward but well-informed traveler might be in the know that by going to a bar like Gulliver's at the Samsen Road end of Khaosan he might cross paths with a keen freelance girl looking for some action.

Five years back, other than Gulliver's, the only establishment that had a range of freelancers was Buddy Beer Lounge. The problem with Buddy's is that it was and is priced outside the average traveler's budget, both for beer and the company of a lady.

Other freelancers roamed about Khaosan and the only other notable stopping point was Khaosan Center - a guesthouse, bar, restaurant, and pool hall all rolled into one. They are still there, of course, because of a tried and true formula of attracting customers - but the prices are on an upswing.

With the increasing prices along today's Khaosan Road, more pristine entertainment and accommodation venues are dealing with the influx of another type of entrepreneur. Women working as PGs (promotion girls) are now quite common compared with years past.

PGs are usually exceptionally attractive, and it is their job to stand outside a particular bar and reel punters inside. They will often follow up with a cute, cooing and flirtatious bid to get you to buy the product that they are the PG for (they make a few baht based on sales). The girls are often paid a basic salary to support their commission-based work.

Recently the number of PGs on Khaosan has increased, and the bars employing them have begun to dominate the well-heeled-punters market. On a recent visit, a PG grabbed my hand and led me to her bar. With her tiny and amazingly tight Tiger Beer ensemble, it was hard to dismiss her promotional technique.

Led into the bar and seated with her, I made her day by purchasing a Tiger beer. Then she asked if I would buy her a drink. I agreed, if for no other reason than it appeared she could use some extra cash to buy a pair of panties.

The price was astonishing - okay, not as bad as a night out in Hong Kong or New York, but still not what a veteran of Khaosan Road might expect. I took stock of the people in the bar; it was surprisingly empty compared with the first few times I went there years ago. But what it had lost in volume it had made up in price.

I also could not help but notice that Pla the PG hadn't moved on; she was slowly enjoying her drink and her hand was headed north along my thigh.

Usually PGs get the customer, try to push a certain drink - maybe ask for a lady's drink, which cost a bit more to cover her commission - and then move on to the next prospective punter. So the attention she was providing was unusual.

Her motives were quickly revealed. Pla was, of course, a good, all-around salesperson, and was offering herself should I feel in the market for companionship. As equations began to fill my head, balancing monetary calculations and the proximity of the Thai wife, I was relieved when Pla excused herself.

"You want beautiful girls, better prices, head to Gulliver's," the bartender said, having obviously taken much more of an interest in the conversation than I had thought.

"Why? How much is it here?" I asked.

"Four hundred baht bar fine, then maybe 2,000 for the girl. Short time, long time up to the girl," he answered.

That added up to US$75, which seemed expensive for this neighborhood. In fact, it was more expensive than making your way to Soi Cowboy, Nana or Patpong, Bangkok's more notorious sexual marketplaces, and finding a girl yourself. This was shrugged off by the barman: "PG girls are better than sex workers," he said. "Have better time."

Back to the Boom

The changing business environment is driving much of the other changes being experienced on Khaosan Road. Once the haven for budget farangs (foreigners) backpacking their way across Asia, this required stop is pricing itself out of the market for the people who helped to create it.

Almost a quarter of Khaosan Road on its northern side has been leveled to make way for new construction. Conversations with cops, longtime vendors and Thais shed no light on what this project will ultimately be. Nonetheless the magnitude of the project and real estate the developers have acquired to undertake the project would seem to indicate something grand.

It doesn't matter if this is to be the Four Seasons Khaosan (which it won't be, of course) or if it is the usual array of Thai-style buildings accommodating various new guesthouses, restaurants and bars. The effect will be the same - prices will rise all around.

The other booming trade is, of course, the boom-boom trade. If the sex industry continues to seep into the fringes of this former backpacker haven, this too will affect prices and the social demographic of Khaosan.

Pricing yourself out of the market that made you famous or degenerating into another red-light district - while hoping for a more upwardly mobile customer - will only result in ostracizing the core tourist demographic. Backpackers on a budget already have a few choices for a night out on the town - they are called Patpong, Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza.

The backpacker district of Khaosan can improve itself while adhering to the principles and demographics that made it is a "must stop" venue without catering to or embracing the sex industry or allowing new developments to price it out of the market.

But the question now is: "Will it?"

Taiwan: Groups rally against scrapping legal prostitution

September 13, 2007

Taipei - More than 100 members of over 10 underprivileged groups last week rallied at the Kaitakelan Blvd. to protest against an undesirable decision made by President Chen Shui-bian to scrap the public prostitution business when he served as Taipei mayor 10 years ago.

 The protest was initiated by a private association of prostitutes, which joined forces with jobless workers, those who borrow to live, and some low-level social groups to stage the protest in front of the Presidential Office.

Over the past 10 years since Chen eliminated public prostitution operation, Chung Chun-chu, executive secretary of the Ju Ju Chun Association (of former legal prostitutes), said there has been a sharp increase of 70 percent in underground whores, and an increase of NT$130 million in debts recorded by jobless prostitutes.

Chung continued that the government has cracked down on 38,263 illegal "sex workers" over the past eight years, and they have been jailed for a total of 35,405 days, leading to a loss of NT$270 million in sex-service income during the jail terms. She went on to say that over the past seven years after Chen assumed the presidency of Taiwan, around 30,000 people have committed suicide for failing to make a living.

The protesters furled posters reading "Save the 'Suicide Nation' before Joining the United Nations," and raised cloth banners trying to soothe the wandering souls of those who killed themselves over the past seven years.

They also tried to burn paper portraits of Chen, but some 30 policemen and policewomen moved to extinguish the fire, with no one injured.

The China Post

Singapore transsexual battles culture of shame

September 13, 2007

Ten years after fulfilling a lifelong dream to become a woman through sex-change surgery, Leona Lo, seen here, has embarked on an uphill battle to change the "culture of shame" surrounding transsexuals in Asia

Singapore - She loves children and her lifelong dream is to be a wife and a mother, but the raspy voice and masculine frame betray the fact that Leona Lo was born a man. Unlike many other transsexuals in Asia who prefer to live privately because of the social stigma of sex change, the British-educated, Singaporean transsexual woman has chosen to live a normal life, but in public. Smart, confident and articulate, the communications specialist who heads her own public relations company has embarked on a mission to help turn around the "culture of shame" surrounding transsexuals in Singapore and the region.

"Somewhere out there, not just in Singapore but throughout Asia, there are lots of young people who are suffering the way I suffered years ago," Leona, 32, tells AFP in an interview.

In her former life as a man, she was called Leonard.

These days, she draws on her experiences of gender identity crisis, rejection and discrimination to challenge social mores on behalf of the so-called silent community. "It's this entire culture of shame that gets under your skin. It's not something that you can isolate and demolish because it is so much a part of our culture," she says.  While a few transsexuals are gaining prominence in Asia -- notably China's Jin Xing -- most continue to live in silence.

In May, a 32-year-old South Korean transsexual entertainer, whose sex alteration led the country to change its family registry laws, married her rapper boyfriend. Parinya "Nong Toom" Charoenphol's rags-to-riches story was made into a movie, "Beautiful Boxer." Former Chinese People's Liberation Army colonel and now woman Jin Xing is a prize-winning dancer and choreographer. Slim and taller than the average local woman, Leona packs charm and gets animated when talking about children. But her lip-sticked mouth creases into a pensive smile when she says: "I can't bear children. I have to be on hormones for life and I have this body structure of a guy." The hormone treatment has "feminised" the former man. While traces of masculinity are evident, Leona says she has already come to terms with being a woman -- although a transsexual one.  "I can't deny that biologically I'm different," says Leona, wearing a blue dress, the muscles on her shoulders and arms clearly visible.

Discrimination is the biggest challenge faced by transsexuals, she says, recalling repeated rejection by prospective employers in Singapore despite her academic credentials.

"Singapore may be a cosmopolitan city, but many things are still swept under the carpet," Leona says.

No reliable figures on the number of transsexual men and women in Singapore, or the region, are available, mainly because those who feel they have been born in the wrong body prefer to endure their situation in silence rather than embarrass their families, Leona says.

Transsexual, Leona Lo, during her interview

"It's because a lot of transsexual women face discrimination at work and experience failure of relationships that a lot end up in suicide, depression. They end up on the streets as prostitutes," she says. This is why she has taken time away from her thriving public relations consultancy promoting beauty products to wage her campaign. After much persuasion, one local university allowed her to speak to an audience of students but she is finding it hard to pry open a window to share her thoughts in the corporate world.

On September 14 she is to launch her autobiography, "From Leonard to Leona -- A Singapore Transsexual's Journey to Womanhood." From Singapore, Leona plans to travel across Asia to bring her message for greater tolerance of gender diversity.

Medical experts on gender believe transsexualism is a medical condition, and that transsexuals are different from transvestites and homosexuals. In contrast, transvestites are always males and do not dislike their genitalia although they may derive sexual arousal through dressing as women, Goh said.

For transsexuals, dressing as a man or a woman for one year before a sex change operation is part of the transition process and is not related to any sexual pleasure, the experts say. The surgery is "the finishing touch," Goh wrote. Leona says the association of transsexuals with prostitution in Singapore harks back to the 1960s when there was a flourishing culture of drag queens, including some transsexuals, on Singapore's Bugis Street.

As Singapore transformed rapidly into a modern Asian business centre, the government cracked down on Bugis Street. Transsexuals were lumped together with homosexuals, transvestites and prostitutes. It was in this environment that the young Leonard -- Leona's original identity -- grew up.

As early as age 10, Leonard had already started developing feelings for boys. But he was forced to remain silent because of a dearth of information about transsexualism and for fear his traditional Chinese family would be scandalized. "I did not think I was gay. I just felt that I was a woman trapped in a man's body," says Leona, who has a younger sister.

At age 15, Leonard discovered a book about transsexualism, which sowed the seeds of his eventual decision to undergo a sex-change operation in 1997. "I discovered that book in the library and I said 'Oh my God! There are actually people like me!'" she reminisces. "That changed my life and I discovered that I could go for the sex change operation." As an able-bodied man, Leonard entered Singapore's compulsory two-year military service at around 19. Pressures of being forced to be "macho" during the training led to a nervous breakdown and drove him to attempt suicide by drug overdose, she says.

After military service, Leonard in 1996 went to study in Britain, where a more tolerant university environment allowed him to cross-dress for a year as part of his preparation for sex-change surgery.

In 1997, Leonard flew with his tuition money from Britain to Bangkok, where he walked into a clinic for the life-altering operation. "I was afraid. I could go in and I could die. But I knew at that point that I was going to change my life forever," she recalls. "I had carried that burden within me for so long and I couldn't live anymore without doing it." Leona endured a lot of pain during the procedure, which took 14 days, but the feeling of having a new identity was "wonderful, euphoric!"

She warns other transsexuals who might be considering sex change surgery that getting a new identity "is not a magic wand" and they will have to live under a culture of shame and discrimination. Family support is crucial. Her mother was the first person she told after the operation, and her father had already learned to accept her for who she is. "By that time, they had already decided that they would rather have me as a woman than lose me as a child," she says.

What is her dream now?

"To be a wife and a mother," she says. "I look forward to a fulfilling relationship with a loving man, getting married and adopting three children. "I've also reached a critical juncture where I'm more self-assured and finally able to lay to rest the painful aspects of my past and move confidently as a woman."

Hundreds seek services of prostitutes at Kuala Lumpur's 'sex alley'

September 6, 2007

Foreigners continue to swarm the alley behind Jalan Petaling in Kuala Lumpur seeking the services of prostitutes.

Harian Metro reported recently that it was a normal occurrence for hundreds of foreigners to gather in the alley like they were having a "sex party" there. It said that the 200m-stretch of prostitute dens, believed to be the oldest in Kuala Lumpur, was filled with Myanmars, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indonesians and Nepalese. In a three-hour check by the tabloid, it found that charges were as low as RM40, which caused some foreigners to be willing to queue in long lines for their turn.

They were seen crowding the area from as early as 8am. The area became busier at 11am, when they entered the dens in groups. The tabloid said that while the customers were made up of foreigners, the prostitutes were locals.

It added that customers came from as far as Hulu Selangor, Malacca, Perak and Seremban for "entertainment," and to meet up with friends from the same country.

Berita Harian reported that National Union of the Teaching Profession will sue three parents it alleged made false reports in the media about the misconduct of teachers against students.

It reported that the action taken by the union was to preserve the image and dignity of the teaching profession in the country from being tarnished by the irresponsible actions of certain parties.

Its president Anuar Ibrahim was quoted as saying that the lawsuits would be filed within two weeks.

An internal investigation by the union found that the three allegations reported in Kedah were baseless and had adversely affected the profession.

The three cases were reported to have happened at SM Bakar Arang, SRJKT Tun Sambanthan, Bukit Lembu and SRJKT Kalaimagal, Matang Gedung, all in Sungai Petani.

Women 'duped into sex slavery'

By Geoffrey Bew
August 22, 2007

Many Asian women in Bahrain are being duped into working as sex slaves for men who lure them with promises of marriage, according to Thai Ambassador Phithak Phrombubpha. He says victims are put up in apartments and visited once a week by their boyfriends, who brainwash them into believing they will eventually live together and start a family. Mr Phrombubpha said women who want to escape are powerless to act as their passports are confiscated and once their visit visas expire they become illegal residents who rack up huge overstay fines that they have no means to pay. His comments come after one victim of human trafficking, who managed to escape from her captor, came to the embassy seeking help.

The 25-year-old, whose identity is being protected, is being kept in an emergency accommodation in Zinj until she flies home on Friday. "These people come to Bahrain because of an economic problem and they want to earn money," Mr Phrombubpha told the GDN. "People recruit them by any means but they may not know exactly what kind of work they will be doing. "Many Arabs come here and hire apartments and have these kind of women staying there. "There maybe many Thai women with similar cases and who is to say there may not be women of other nationalities. "Some of them can go out freely but others are kept inside and they cannot leave because their passports are confiscated. "We would like to warn the newcomers that they have to be on alert and comply with the laws here. "They have to know about the visa system."

The Thai victim came to the embassy in Zinj after her Saudi boyfriend beat her up while he was under the influence of alcohol. She managed to run away and a taxi driver dropped her off at the embassy. "She was a registered nurse and was promised a job in her profession, but she was sent to a hotel and the people who brought her here said she had to pay back BD1,500," said Mr Phrombubpha. "She thought that she had a chance to go to Australia because she was told they needed nurses. "She was told that she would go there from Bahrain once her paperwork was completed. "A Saudi customer then later bought her from the pimp and she fell in love with this man. "He kept her locked in a room and every week he would come to see her and give her some money so she could send it to Thailand."

The woman, from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, is single and does not have children but travelled abroad to support her parents and other family members. Her Saudi lover gave her BD50 a month to send back home.
An embassy spokesman said this was one of the more extreme cases officials had come across.
"This is a genuine case of human trafficking," he said. "It is the tip of the iceberg and hopefully we will be able to encourage more people to come out."  Although willing to go home, the embassy official said the woman still appears to be in love with the Saudi man and is hoping he will stick to his promise to marry her. She does not wish to press charges against him and, while officials say they are powerless to stop her if she wishes to return to him, they are determined to protect her and ensure she leaves Bahrain.

Prostitution: Legalize or fight it?

August 22, 2007

A writer from Kyrgyzstan takes a look at the local trade while considering what should be done with the 'world's oldest profession.'

It was midnight and I was coming back from the party, the celebration of my sister's birthday. I needed to buy some water. Asked the taxi driver to stop on the crossing of Sovietskaya and Toktogula street. What I saw absolutely shocked me.

I never witnessed it from such a close distance. A bunch of extremely young girls in revealing, short dresses and excessive make-up gathered in front of an internet cafe "Alfa" and were having vulgar chats and selling themselves in the sex trade.

The whole situation reminded me of one young girl who once came from a small and remote village to the capital in the search of a better life. She was so young and inexperienced in life that she did not notice that one day the profession she had was the 'oldest profession' as it has been dubbed.

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But she never considered herself as a prostitute, or a sex-worker. She said it perfectly suits her as she likes her way of life. Her parents have no suspicion about their daughter's way of earning money.

They were quite sure she goes to university and does a part-time job in a small cafe nearby the relative's house where she temporarily resided. This is not a sole example; there are hundreds of cases of girls with similar fate.

There are several spots where the ladies of the night gather to offer themselves. One of them is right in the corner of Sovietskaya and Toktogula streets. Before it used to be just the corner, now the commerce extends down to Tynystanova street as well.

As I live nearby, sometimes I hear their loud voices and cars during the night. The other one is in front of ZAGS, the central marriage registration institute. Poor brides and grooms, as this is the scene they view on the first day of their marriage.

Recently, Bishkek militia forces displayed a haunt for sexual services in Bishkek. There are many such places where illegal prostitution prospers, and it has become a way of business which has lasted for many years.

Some even spread this business in the porches of private homes and have clients who know their address and telephone numbers make 'in calls'. There is much less exploitation by the militia at the private residences, because the militia usually cannot muscle their way in as easily as they can with freelance girls on the street. If they close one place, another two or three will be opened soon and resolving the problems has proved challenging.

Some make an argument for legalizing the prostitution, even though it goes against Islamic rules and eastern mentality. With legalization, they believe, the rights of sex-workers will be protected; they will go through regular medical checks and receive any essential treatment in case they become ill. It would also protect them from physical violence and mistreatment both from those who use their services and militia that exploits them as well. It is said that militia workers use the services for free any time they want and can also act as pimps taking cuts of the women's earnings.

Others believe that legalizing is not right, what we need to do is to fight against prostitution. However, fighting prostitution cannot be done through the militia, who are already exploiting the women sexually and making money from the trade. So, how do we really fight it? Or do we indeed have to fight it?

Prostitution remains illegal throughout much of Asia, but at the same time seems to flourish as a black market trade.

Lesbian kiss photo riles Singapore

August 22, 2007
By Agencies and Staff


Singapore students embrace in a 'lesbian kiss' for a class photo that riled administrators (Click for full size)
An online auction site has seen bids to buy the photo of a girlish peck. And it is still making its rounds on the Internet - the result of a 'silly prank' that backfired.

In a rash moment, two girls from Anderson Junior College (Singapore) locked lips for the camera - all for a wacky class photo. They pulled off the joke under the noses of their form tutor and their classmates, when posing for an informal memento at the annual photo-taking session.

Now, the former Year One Science students say they did not mean it and are sorry for what they did. However, it has caused unnecessary embarrassment to the college, their tutor and their parents.

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The photo was taken last August. Six months later, it is still making faces go red, no thanks to its circulation via the Internet.

AJC's principal of five years, Mr Tan Tiek Kwee, told The Y Scene that the photo of the kiss was not a result of some fancy digital trick, as some suspected at first. It was just a result of a 'silly prank', he said. The 'fun' pose, captured by a photographer from AJC's Photographic Society, was for the class to keep. As the photographer said 'One, two, three', the girls kissed on the count of three.

Mr Tan claimed that the tutor and the other classmates were not aware of the quick peck - until the photo was developed about a week later. The vice-principal then took immediate action to confiscate the photo and retrieve the negative.

Mr Tan did not want us to speak to the tutor and the girls, but said the tutor was 'unhappy and disappointed' with what happened. When confronted, the girls had cried - out of remorse.

Mr Tan said, "They said they had not pre-planned what they wanted to do and it was done on the spur of the moment. 'They wanted something creative but they went overboard." He added that there was no 'special relationship' between the two.

The girls have also been punished. They had to do community service in school and write a reflection on what they had done and why they did it. Mr Tan added that the girls' parents were informed and they had apologized to the principal and the college.

Just when they thought the matter was behind them, the photo was put up for an online auction this month. An ex-student also e-mailed Mr Tan, to tell him that he had received the photo as well. Mr Tan, who thought that he had destroyed all evidence of the photo, was bewildered.

Upon further investigation, he found that three copies of the photo had been made by a member of the Photographic Society. The boy had kept one for himself and passed the other two to his schoolmates. Mr Tan said, "One of them passed it to his friend, a polytechnic student. What happened after that, we can't be too sure."

The online auction had started on March 9. Within five days, there were seven bids for the photo. The starting bid of SD $13.14 had risen to SD $53.30, but the auction was cancelled when the school wrote to the site.

Up to 30% levy imposed on hotel room revenues during F1 race

Aug 13 2007

SINGAPORE: The levy to be imposed on hotel room revenues during the Formula One race in Singapore next year has been announced.

After consulting the Singapore Hotel Association, the Trade and Industry Ministry (MTI) has decided a levy of 30 per cent for hotels on the trackside, and 20 per cent for others.

Since the 11 hotels that line the track will benefit more from the race, a higher levy will be imposed. One of the trackside hotels – Pan Pacific feels the levy befits the scale of the event. "Our rates are not finalized yet because there are plenty of details that have not been finalized by the event (organizers) For example, whether it's a day or night race will factor into the demand," said Cheryl Ng, PR manager of Pan Pacific Singapore. "I think definitely hotels will benefit from the F1. It's not just a short-term benefit, but long term as well because this event will boost Singapore's... international standing and it will also (make) us more visible in terms of being a venue for future events to be held," she continued.

Pan Pacific Hotel has already received enquiries on bookings for September next year, and it expects full occupancy during the event. Meanwhile, the hotel is trying to determine how to price its rooms. "At the moment, we are conducting a global pricing strategy research with other significant F1 cities regarding how they are pricing the hotel rooms," said Ms Ng.

According to the MTI, the F1 levy will be effective for a period of five nights - from September 24 to 28.
The amount collected through the levy will be used to defray the estimated cost of S$150 million to stage the race, of which 60 per cent is funded by the Singapore Tourism Board. MTI added that the projected annual tourist receipts should amount to about S$100 million, which is below the total costs of organizing the F1.

Update : 26 Oct 2007 - Some rooms will cost up to and over S$1,000 on race day.

Oldest profession flourishes in China

Economic boom, erosion of values cited in increased competition among sex workers

By Maureen Fan

August 8, 2007

A woman is questioned by police at an entertainment center in Beijing. Prostitution is branching out onto college campuses and moving into private residential compounds.

Beijing - The 22-year-old was a freelance prostitute. Henna-haired, eyebrows painted and dressed no differently than a college student, she moved from beauty salon to beauty salon, taking calls on her mobile phone from salon managers when they couldn't find enough girls for all their customers.

She said she wasn't as well paid as call girls in some of Beijing's toniest hotels. Nor was she as poor as the women on construction sites, who sometimes service scores of migrant workers a night for barely more than $1 per customer. Two years ago, when she worked in her native Shandong province, she charged $27 for a session.

By the time she came to Beijing last June, the market price for women like her was $20. With a couple of customers a day, she could make $1,350 a month, save most of her earnings and still send money home, she said. But now, because of increased competition from younger workers newly arrived from the countryside, her price has dropped to $13.

"I'm getting older," she said over a simple dinner of vegetables and spicy chicken in a Beijing suburb, a slim gold ring on each middle finger. "Though the price has gone down, the number of customers is up. I used to receive two visitors before, and now I have three to four a day. My income is the same, I just have to work a little harder."

No longer limited to well-known bars or a growing number of karaoke parlors, prostitutes are everywhere in China today, branching out onto college campuses, moving into private residential compounds and approaching customers on mobile phone networks.

Most are from the countryside: rural women placing all their hopes for the future in China's increasingly competitive urban centers. Some entering the trade are older than those in the past, and some are much younger. The changing demographics reflect the country's rapid economic growth and make a statement about the insatiable quest for money that permeates Chinese society.

"There was no open prostitution 25 years ago," said Jing Jun, a sociology and AIDS policy professor at Tsinghua University. "Fifteen years ago, you didn't find sex workers in remote areas and cities. But now it's prevalent in every city, every county."

Estimates of the number of prostitutes in China vary widely, from 1 million who earn their primary income from sex, to eight or 10 times that, including people who sometimes accept money, gifts or rent in exchange for sex. That the numbers have been allowed to increase illustrates the tricky relationship officials have with the ancient profession.

The Communist Party is embarrassed by the thriving trade, which goes against everything it stands for. Occasionally there are highly publicized crackdowns, and prostitutes are rounded up. But widespread prostitution does not exist without tacit police approval; the trade brings in money that helps support poor rural families and lines the pockets of everyone who helps protect the business -- often including local authorities.

Prostitution flourished in 14th-century China as wealthy Ming Dynasty officials visited mistresses, kept concubines, registered brothels and taxed courtesans. But by the late 1940s, Communists were campaigning against prostitutes -- along with other "socially unreliable" groups such as bandits, opium-smokers and adulterers -- by monitoring people's housing, hairstyles and makeup.

Though prostitution was officially outlawed after the Communist Party came to power in 1949, it was never truly stamped out.

Some experts say a complete evaporation of social values caused the explosion of the trade, and they cite the young sex workers who are in the business for easy money and fancy clothes. But the majority of prostitutes have violated old social mores out of desperation to help their families, Jing said, and an important change in perception may be underway.

"They are absolutely moral. A lot of these women send half their income back to support their families. They're more filial than I am," Jing said. "Among government officials, Chinese social scientists, health professionals, they are coming around to see that prostitution is not fundamentally connected to a lack of values but a lack of jobs, choices, opportunities and education."

And as the growing number of sex workers forces the price of sex to plummet, health workers are also concerned about a rise in medical risks.

"The impact is very simple. Sometimes a sex transaction is only 10 yuan [$1.33] in Sichuan province, under a bridge or an overpass," Jing said.

Jing said about 40 percent of the female sex workers tested by China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention two years ago were older than 35. "Among sex workers infected with HIV-AIDS, 60 percent are older than 35. That means there are some really desperate women," Jing said. "The lower you go in price and quality of the sex workplace, the lower the rate of condom use."

There were 174,506 reported syphilis patients in China last year, up 31 percent from 2005, said Wang Quanpei, a Nanjing-based researcher with China's CDC. But because many people with sexually transmitted diseases visit unregistered doctors, and partly because many hospitals specializing in these diseases are badly managed, the actual number of infected patients is estimated to be as much as 10 times higher than reported, experts said.

AIDS education in China is inadequate, and awareness of STDs remains poor, surveys show. Increasingly fierce competition among prostitutes means that often-ignorant customers have growing leverage over prostitutes who feel disadvantaged.

In a karaoke bar in northern Beijing, for instance, a 37-year-old prostitute from Hubei province said her main goal was saving enough money to support and win custody of her 9-year-old son, who lives with an estranged and abusive husband.

"If I was still with my ex-husband, he would have chopped me into pieces if he knew what I did for a living," said the woman, who asked to be identified only by her last name, Wang. "There are other ways to do business, but I need the money. Old women like us can't make a lot of money here."

She doesn't visit a gynecologist very often, because she doesn't believe she is sick. And each week, Wang watches the more cautious sex workers in the bar lose clients to other prostitutes.

"Another girl named Lily was abandoned by a customer named Big Brother Yao because she refused to have sex without using a condom," Wang said. "He's a frequent visitor here, and he's famous for not using a condom. He never called her again. She lost that business forever."

When Wang's customers insist on not wearing a condom, she usually gives in. She feels safe because she doesn't have sex with customers "very often," she said. "Who said that you will be infected as soon as you have sex with your customer?"

Her clients would probably agree. Most men who seek out prostitutes think sexually transmitted diseases are no more serious than a cold and are easily cured, according to preliminary results from a 2006 survey by the Institute for Research on Sexuality and Gender at People's (Renmin) University.

These days, prostitution is becoming less of an organized business and more of an exercise in individual entrepreneurship. Mid-level sex workers with a few years of experience are striking out on their own in residential compounds, renting apartments and finding their own customers, "because it's safer than a club or bar that's exposed to a police raid," said sexologist Pan Suiming, who heads the institute, referring to the occasional official efforts to crack down on the trade. "Competition is fierce."

Male prostitutes, whose prices have also been affected, say their customers are no longer just bored or lonely middle-age women but mostly a growing number of female sex workers who hire them in order to erase the sting of being used themselves.

The 22-year-old freelance prostitute tells her family she works in a supermarket. Armed with an elementary school education and a short stint as a textile factory worker, her only other job before becoming a sex worker was washing dishes 12 hours a day in a hotel in Shandong.

"There was a karaoke parlor in that hotel, and all the girls there didn't have to work at all, yet they made big money! I worked all day but only got 400 yuan [$53] a month," she said. "It's all because of money that I became 'bad' and joined this business."

July 21, 2007

Human trafficking on the rise, with easy pickings in the Philippines

By Jason Gutierrez

Trafficked into slavery as a young girl, Geralyn Quezo, 17, sits quietly by the window of a halfway house amid the deafening cacophony of life in Manila's main pier.

Now and then a smile breaks from her cracked lips, only to quickly fade as memories of her ordeal come flooding back in a wild see-saw of emotions. "I am now free. But now I do not know what to do," she told Agence France Presse at the Bahay Tuluyan refuge for rescued victims of human trafficking on a busy roadside at Manila's North Harbor.

 A distant relative had duped Quezo's father into allowing her to travel with him to Manila when she was barely 12, supposedly for a leisure trip. That hot summer day was the last time she saw her family in impoverished Muslim Mindanao. The relative turned out to be a broker for a human trafficking syndicate, but decided to keep Quezo as his personal slave. For three years, the young girl worked for him as a cook, nanny and maid -- and was not paid a cent. She thought her parents had given her up for dead and it was not clear why they never made the trip to Manila to search for her. "Perhaps they did not have money. We lived on a remote farm, and we lived a day to day existence," Quezo said. "They may have given me up as a lost cause because I had many other siblings they needed to feed." She lost all contact with the outside world, she said, and would cringe at the sound of passing vehicles. At night she would curl up in a corner and cry herself to sleep.

Then one day, her captor forgot to lock the gates and Quezo escaped, only to end up lost in the dark alleys of Manila's slums, working odd jobs that paid enough to buy food and the clothes on her back. She later met social workers who referred her to the Visayan Forum Foundation, a non-government organization that works to combat trafficking and which runs the halfway house. Quezo is now rebuilding her life, learning livelihood skills that should help her reintegrate into society. She remains hesitant about going home, fearful of her parents' reaction. "I don't know if they would still remember me. I only have a vague memory of their faces," she says.

Human trafficking is on the rise

Sad as Quezo's case may be, it is an increasingly common one in the Philippines, which international advocacy groups say has in recent years become a major source of cheap illegal labor in Asia.

Human trafficking has also become the dirty secret of economic expansion, with many criminal organizations preying on unsuspecting rural families who send their young children off on false promises of money and prosperity.

Often, they end up in the hands of illegal recruiters who sell them as virtual household slaves. Many end up in suburbs around Manila, working in clubs and bars or forced into slavery, said Marina Ullegue, who runs Bahay Tuluyan. "Many think that once they get to Manila, they will end up shoveling money on the streets before going abroad. The sad reality is that they end up being trafficked and abused," she said. There have been cases of Filipinas trafficked to Europe and Africa, where they ended up working in brothels. In one celebrated case, a group of Filipinas recently rescued from the Ivory Coast said they thought they were in France.

Ullegue said: "It is easy to lure these mostly uneducated people to leave their rural homes, and traffickers know how to make a pitch." Many of those rescued by the foundation at first were distrustful and angry that they were being prevented from earning money they could send home, she said. "The emotions are so high because they want to help their families, but many do not realize that they have fallen in the net of recruiters."

Bruce Reed, the International Organization of Migration's (IOM) regional representative in Southeast Asia, said human trafficking has become a major policy challenge for governments in Asia. He said many victims are trafficked domestically within Asia, although there has been a rising trend of shipping people across continents. "The causes of trafficking in the region are rooted in poverty, limited educational and employment opportunities," Reed told a recent forum in Manila. "We all can cite instances where the demands for labour outstrip the legal sources of supply, creating opportunities for traffickers to step into the breach," he said.

In the Philippines, while there are no figures, internal trafficking has become a "lucrative underground economy," the Visayan Forum said. "The demand for human commodities in brothels, sweatshops and even in households is evident," it said in a recent study. The study said Manila remains a major exit point of trafficking to other countries as well, although the porous southern border in the Zamboanga peninsula is also widely used as a jump-off point for undocumented Filipinos heading for nearby countries.

June 1, 2007  

MediaCorp Radio fined $15,000 for raunchy content 

By Lee Sze Yong, MEDIA REPORTER 

THE Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) has fined MediaCorp Radio $15,000 for raunchy segments on radio station 98.7FM's morning show.

In three five-minute segments aired over three days in March, 10 women taking part in men's magazine FHM's Girl Next Door competition were asked to whip off their bras in the shortest time, without exposing themselves.

The segments, called No Bra Days With The Muttons, were part of the station's morning show, hosted by DJs Justin Ang, 25, and Vernon Keith Anthonisz, or Vernon A, 34, for the past two years.

Video clips of the women removing their bras were posted on MediaCorp Radio's podcast website, and subsequently made their way onto video-sharing website YouTube.

At least one member of the public complained to the MDA. After investigations, it found the radio station in breach of the Radio Program Code.

The code states that 'broadcasters must exercise sensitivity and avoid humor which offends against good taste and decency'.

A MediaCorp Radio spokesman said yesterday: 'We accept MDA's decision and recognize that the