Why are there prostitues in the Duxton Road Area
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DINNER in the Duxton Road area turned out to be an eye-opener for MP Christopher de Souza.
He told Parliament he was surprised to see prostitutes lining the streets.
As this was not a red-light district, he felt something had to be done to protect our heartlands from an invasion of street-walkers.
Mr de Souza, who represents Ulu Pandan, highlighted the problem in Parliament during the Budget debate yesterday and asked if more financial resources would be available to tackle it.
He noted that the number of foreign prostitutes arrested in 2006 was 4,310. This was a 34 per cent increase from 2005.
Then last year, the number of foreign prostitutes arrested went up to 5,400, a further 25 per cent rise.
He said: 'Bids to contain the trade in Geylang have not been successful. An evening drive down Duxton Road and Duxton Hill will prove that prostitutes operate well beyond the artificial borders of Geylang.
'Prostitution is working itself into our heartlands.'
To laughter, he assured the House that he drove by the area with his wife.
He added that many of these sex workers came on two-week social visit passes, and just before the fortnight was up, they would leave for Johor Baru, only to return to Singapore the same day.
The problem was so bad, he had received feedback that sexual services were being offered at shops claiming to offer massage.
He asked what concrete steps the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) would take to curb this and strengthen the anti-vice squad with additional manpower and intelligence officers to hunt vice syndicates and clamp down on their operations.
OLICE OPERATIONS UP
Responding to his questions, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, said it was impossible to completely eliminate vice.
He said the majority of those arrested for vice activities were social visit pass holders.
Prof Ho said that last year, the police conducted 950 vice-related operations, up from the 890 in 2006.
And they were focused on keeping vice activities within the traditional red-light district.
Speaking to The New Paper, Mrde Souza said residents had voiced their concerns over prostitution in their backyard.
He said: 'We should be careful they don't encroach into the heartland areas.
'I don't think it makes for a wholesome neighbourhood if your children have to grow up next to women plying their trade.'
Turning to the problem of illegal moneylenders, or ah longs, he told Parliament the words 'owe $ pay $' have stained the walls of many common corridors at HDB flats.
He was not the only one to voice his concerns on the issue.
West Coast GRC's Mr Arthur Fong and Mr Teo Ho Pin (Bukit Panjang) also shared his sentiment.
In January last year, Prof Ho said there were 10,221 reported cases of unlicensed moneylending in 2006.
That was a 19 per cent increase over the 8,568 cases in 2005.
Mr de Souza said that despite the enhancement of penalties under the Moneylenders Act and the formation of the anti-unlicensed moneylending task force to increase the number of ambush operations, these syndicates have not been deterred.
He urged MHA to adopt a different strategy - consider making it an offence for people to borrow from an unlicensed moneylender.
He added that a borrower who gave a false address to loan sharks, causing innocent residents to be harassed, deserved to be prosecuted.
Prof Ho agreed that those who borrow to feed their vices and then abet loan sharks should not be treated as victims.
He said they were part of the problem.
While MHA had previously rejected the idea of punishing borrowers, ProfHo said they were now seriously considering it.
Taken from the Straits Times ... perhaps this little bit of tibit got overshadowed by the escaped terrorist thingy ...
Nice to see that not all MPs got their nose stuck in the air and head in the clouds .... he happens to be one of the youngest ( "elected" ) MP in parliament and also works at Lee and Lee's ... (the law firm that is, not the country) ...
but hey, at least he's bringing up what has been painfully obvious to the peasants for a long time ... the kways have been fanning out into the heartlands ... and so have the loan sharks ....
just the other day, a friend of mine, incidently also a lawyer, told me how his parents' flat got vandalized by loan sharks, together with all of the neighbours ... and not because anyone in his family borrowed money mind you ! ... no ! ... his doors got vandalized and the walls and gate got splashed with red paint cos his neighbour DOWNSTAIRS borrowed money from the loansharks and chabut'ed ... and so to pressurized and shame the chap into paying up, the loan sharks turned on THE NEIGHBOURS ! ....
frankly ... I'm not sure if I should be surprise that the terrorist fellow escaped ... cos if the SPF can't even clear the streets of prossies, of ciggie sellers, and our heartlands of loansharks, how can they be expected to hold onto a foreign trained terrorist suspect ? .....
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no way! it just goes to show that she's not been doing her rounds in her constituency these characters don't just "appear" overnight!
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hahaha....
the famed keong saik street ah?
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Originally posted by ^tamago^:
no way!
it just goes to show that she’s not been doing her rounds in her constituency
these characters don’t just “appear” overnight!ermmmm .... first .... it's a gang, not a bu one ....
and .... also ... Duxton road is not part of the chap's constituency .... if I'm not wrong .. Duxton road falls under Tanjong Pagar GRC ... which also happens to be .......
MM's territory ...
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haha. sorry for the error. but... i think it just goes to show how they've not really been stepping out of their elite castles too much. ):
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The money trail leads to ......
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I like this response given by Ho Peng Kee.
"Responding to his questions, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, said it was impossible to completely eliminate vice."
How to eliminate vice if you legalised prostitution???
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Originally posted by maurizio13:
I like this response given by Ho Peng Kee.
"Responding to his questions, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, said it was impossible to completely eliminate vice."
How to eliminate vice if you legalised prostitution???
Actually ... I do buy into the idea of legalized prostitution ... it's better to have it nice and regulated, than to push the whole enterprise underground, or worse, for singapore men to visit chickens overseas ... dunno what kind of sauce head and bugs they'll catch with their peckers there ....
but what's happening now is that the whole enterprise is spiralling out of control, with massage parlours rampant, unlicensed kways strutting around everywhere, moving out of their traditional areas, loansharks springing up, getting bolder and bolder etc, and now we have unlicensed ciggy sellers (who also happened to be illegal immigrants, if it's so easy for these chaps to slip in, what more a few JI terrorists ? ) sprouting up everywhere, a couple of weeks ago I was travelling from woodlands down to zheng hua and i saw a bunch of them squatting around just before 10 mile junction ... right after the highly publized police raid ......
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we have a mega crisis now
the pros prob can wait lah.
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Originally posted by Fatum:
The problem was so bad, he had received feedback that sexual services were being offered at shops claiming to offer massage.
Eh... this guy just landed on Singapore izzit?
hahahahahahah
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This type of people also have ar
(shaking head)? -
Originally posted by Fatum:
ermmmm .... first .... it's a gang, not a bu one ....
and .... also ... Duxton road is not part of the chap's constituency .... if I'm not wrong .. Duxton road falls under Tanjong Pagar GRC ... which also happens to be .......
MM's territory ...
MM busy la... (or senile)
And this goes to show that the GRC system of bringing in new blood via putting them together with "stewarts" actually bring in incompetent and unobservant people.
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nothing wrong with a bit of vice here and there hehe
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Those are foreign talents providing a service which no singaporeans want to provide.
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Originally posted by eagle:
MM busy la... (or senile)
And this goes to show that the GRC system of bringing in new blood via putting them together with "stewarts" actually bring in incompetent and unobservant people.
I support the GRC system in principle actually ... this may, unfortunately, be the only way to have proportionate represention of minorities in parliament, if it comes down to a one-on-one single constituency fights like our neighbours up north, more often than not it becomes a battle along racial lines ... people would vote for the tribe, this is still true in Singapore ...
but of course, like many things else, this system has become a political tool ...
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Originally posted by fymk:
Those are foreign talents providing a service which no singaporeans want to provide.
With educational level rising, why be a pro when you can be an escort?And how many heartlanders can afford an escort?
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Originally posted by maurizio13:
I like this response given by Ho Peng Kee.
"Responding to his questions, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, said it was impossible to completely eliminate vice."
How to eliminate vice if you legalised prostitution???
Actually Prof Ho gave a strawman reply. De Souza was talking about containing the trade in Geylang and only Geylang. So vice will still exist, but does it have to be so blatant outside Geylang?
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Originally posted by FireIce:
we have a mega crisis now
the pros prob can wait lah.
i think the world continues to revolve...terrorist escape or otherwise.
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How did de souza know the girls are prosstitute along Duxton Rd ??,Is the word "chicken" written on their forehead ? Or all china girls are pros? Any girls standing along the road are considered Prosstituts??? pay this kind of MP and ask silly questions in Parliament, WTF, come 2011, you will know the taste!!
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Originally posted by t_a_s:
How did de souza know the girls are prosstitute along Duxton Rd ??,Is the word "chicken" written on their forehead ? Or all china girls are pros? Any girls standing along the road are considered Prosstituts??? pay this kind of MP and ask silly questions in Parliament, WTF, come 2011, you will know the taste!!
He has put his point across, that vice outside Geylang is on the rise. Doesn't matter whether he really saw pros along Duxton Road or not. They can assemble a contingent of chiko pek to tour the island to pick out hotspots, if the govt is serious.So De Souza did not ask silly questions.
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dont you all think they shld focus more on the Mas selamat escaping issue first than this?
sometimes i wonder arh.. does SG government prioritise their stuff properly, like they can even let a limping guy escape... but yet they still so harsh on minor stuff like contraband ciggs and stuff..
shouldnt they focus more on terrorism first? contraband ciggs cant kill.... but a angry and mad mas selamat WILL KILL AND HURT ppl
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Originally posted by Fatum:
I support the GRC system in principle actually ... this may, unfortunately, be the only way to have proportionate represention of minorities in parliament, if it comes down to a one-on-one single constituency fights like our neighbours up north, more often than not it becomes a battle along racial lines ... people would vote for the tribe, this is still true in Singapore ...
but of course, like many things else, this system has become a political tool ...
This was a tool to firmly gripe on to power. From 3 to a team went 4 and then 5. there's no end. It was just like the implemtation of GST. from 3 went to 4-5 and then 7%. there's no stopping to it now -
Originally posted by Cpt.ZR:
dont you all think they shld focus more on the Mas selamat escaping issue first than this?
sometimes i wonder arh.. does SG government prioritise their stuff properly, like they can even let a limping guy escape... but yet they still so harsh on minor stuff like contraband ciggs and stuff..
shouldnt they focus more on terrorism first? contraband ciggs cant kill.... but a angry and mad mas selamat WILL KILL AND HURT ppl
the show has to go on
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dont you all think they shld focus more on the Mas selamat escaping issue first than this?
Some reports say that he is alleged or suspected of plotting terrorist attacks.
Not sure whether there is actual evidence against him.
Has he been charged of a specific criminal act or just under investigation?
Hope someone can clarify.
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Originally posted by Cpt.ZR:
dont you all think they shld focus more on the Mas selamat escaping issue first than this?
sometimes i wonder arh.. does SG government prioritise their stuff properly, like they can even let a limping guy escape... but yet they still so harsh on minor stuff like contraband ciggs and stuff..
shouldnt they focus more on terrorism first? contraband ciggs cant kill.... but a angry and mad mas selamat WILL KILL AND HURT ppl
heh .. if parliament focuses on the escaping and terrorism, then pple will say they *evading* bread and butter issue like GST hike, means testing etc.
furthermore b4 the indie report is out, WKS will just say he dunno, and nothing constructive will come out. will parliament be efficient this way?