The red lights of Singapore

She wore a long sleeved shirt, long pants and closed toed shoes.

A good girl, I thought working in a rough area. She probably helped in one of the kitchens of the restaurants.

Then I noticed her pose. She was standing in a doorway with her arm propped provocatively on her hip. Her eyes were demure yet somehow enticing.

Then I realized. This woman was standing in the doorway of a brothel.

I smiled at her.

For a fleeting second I saw a twinge of sadness on her face, which was quickly replaced with a hardened look. She looked away.

Maybe my eyes had deceived me; maybe I had made the experience up. Maybe I had brought my western ideas that prostitutes are victims, forced into slavery. Maybe this was her chosen way of life. Maybe I shouldn’t draw conclusions from one look.

Surrounded by young women parading their bodies for ogling men, I refused to believe that. I could not ignore that one fleeting second.

Just one street down I saw what I thought to be stereotypical sex workers. Five young women stood underneath an opening made for storing cars showcasing their bare legs and open mid-drifts, some of them showed more.

Men stood nearby looking on. Nearly all of the women on display did not look Chinese or Singaporean. They looked Filipino to me, but I could not be sure.

I longed to observe and understand this place. As two young white western women, I knew we could not linger in this part of town.

A few days later, an article about Filipino women forced to work in the red light districts appeared in one of the free daily Singaporean news magazines titled Today.

According to the Philippine Embassy the number of Filipino women trafficked into Singapore and forced into prostitution or work in the red-light district has surged by 70 percent.

As reported in the Singapore newsmagazine Today, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs contested that the number of Trafficking In Persons cases reported to police has been falling. Today reported there were 33 reported in 2006 and 28 cases in 2007.

Compare those numbers to the 212 cases the Philippine government reported. The disparity between these numbers made me very suspicious.

What’s more, the Philippine Embassy reported the large number of cases may even be higher.

By chance, while traveling in Malaka, Malaysia I happened to meet a man who works for the Singapore Tourism Board. We did not exchange names, as it was only a conversation shared over es cendol (shaved ice with molasses, condensed milk, red beans and a green-jelly-like substance).

I asked him about the article and the disparity in the numbers I had read about.

The Singaporean man told me the numbers were a matter of perception. While this information is not confirmed, he explained that any visitor to Singapore received a 30 day visa.

He called the Filipino women “social visitors.” These women might enter prostitution, but they are not considered trafficked.

I joked with him and said, “Well, then I am a social visitor, but I didn’t make any money.” I thought to myself, the only difference is that I was not forced into prostitution.

I told the Singaporean man how safe I felt in Geylang. He told me how regulated the red light districts are.

“There is a reason this is one of the oldest professions,” he said. He went on to say that every two months the women are tested for HIV/AIDS amongst other diseases to make sure they are “clean”.

I also learned while in Malaka one of the Malay words for prostitute: Kupu-kupu malam (meaning night butterfly). I did not see the kupu-kupu malams in Malaka.

Adelaide and I steered clear of Malaka’s red-light district. But I still could not forget the women I had seen in Singapore. My mind kept visiting the words of the article and what I had seen.

The Today article tried to explain why there was such a disparity in numbers. Its explanation mirrored what the Singaporean had told me.

According to Today, Singapore defines human trafficking on the issue of consent. For example, if a man or woman enters Singapore legally and then fall into prostitution the government does not consider those people to be trafficked.

The article pinned down two factors fueling the increase in Filipinos entering Singapore:

Budget airlines offering cheap flights within South East Asia.

The resulting growing number of red light districts in Singapore (there are three within the city alone).

What the article failed to do was hit the streets of Singapore’s red light districts – something I stumbled upon accidentally.

PHOTOS from top to bottom: 1) The opening where the sex workers had been standing the day before in Geylang. 2) Walking on Geylang Street where men usually sit drinking beer and stare at the women walking by.