VICE-RELATED ACTIVITIES

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VICE-RELATED ACTIVITIES:

(Number of women arrested): 14.

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs (a) how many women were arrested for vice-related activities in the past one year; (b) of these, how many were on Social Visit Passes; (c) what steps will be taken to reduce the number of prostitutes working on Social Visit Passes; and (d) what controls does the Ministry have in place to deter human trafficking, particularly within the vice trade in Singapore.

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs): Sir, last year, Police arrested some 5,400 female foreigners for vice-related activities. 4,900 or 91% of these were in Singapore on Social Visit Passes. As a percentage of all social visit passes issued last year, this represents an abuse rate of 0.03%. As I said in this House earlier this year, there will always be a very small number among those who come to Singapore who enter under the pretext of social visits but engage in vice activities. This is a reality that we should expect with an open economy and with tourism as one of our key economic drivers.

Nevertheless, Sir, MHA has in place a number of measures to detect and prevent sex workers from entering Singapore as far as possible under the guise of social visitors.

Certain nationalities are required to apply for visas prior to entering Singapore. This enables ICA to screen travellers against ICA's records before they even travel to Singapore. If a visa applicant has adverse records or there are irregularities in her visa application, she will not be issued with a visa. The visa requirements are regularly reviewed and calibrated to deal with changes in trends and the operating environment.

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When a foreigner arrives in Singapore, she is subjected to face-to-face immigration clearance by ICA officers and screened against the various border control systems. Apart from scrutinising travel documents, ICA officers also assess the entry eligibility of each visitor. If the officer suspects that the visitor's intention of entering Singapore is dubious or non-genuine, the visitor will be referred to the Duty Officer for secondary examination. This includes screening the person's fingerprints against a database of immigration offenders. If it is established that the visitor has previous adverse records or is entering Singapore for dubious purposes, he or she will be denied entry.

Nevertheless, Sir, some sex workers will still slip through the system. Such cases are then dealt with through Police enforcement. Last year, Police conducted more than 900 vice-related raids. These include major anti-vice operations as well as licensing checks on entertainment outlets and massage establishments. As a result, some 5,400 foreign sex workers were arrested. We take their biometric data, send them back home and blacklist them from entering Singapore.

Sir, Police is mindful that a woman in the vice trade may have been forced into prostitution or brought into Singapore under false pretences or against her will. Hence, Police has a dedicated vice unit that interviews every foreign sex worker arrested to establish whether there was any coercion or deception. Persons who have committed offences within Singapore will be dealt with in accordance with our laws.

Last year, Police also prosecuted 15 pimps and 30 vice-abetters in Court. Investigations were conducted to establish if any of the prostitutes involved with these pimps and vice operators were

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coerced, deceived or lured into vice. None was found to be so.

In short, Sir, Singapore has a comprehensive legal framework and a robust operational framework to deal with vice and human trafficking. We will continue to fine-tune this framework as necessary.

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): Thank you, Minister, for the reply.

In light of the figures, especially given that 91% of women who are arrested for vice-related activities are either on Social Visit Passes (SVPs) or SVPs that had expired, what will MHA do to enhance the enforcement side, especially for the Anti-vice Branch, to further deter the rise of vice activities in Singapore and to deter the vice activities from encroaching into the heartlands?

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, as I have said in my answer, the number of raids, in fact, has increased. About 950 were conducted last year and it is about up 9% from the year before that. And in terms of beefing up of manpower, actually this is what the Police has done. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has, in fact, reorganised its branches within the CID so that the four specialist branches – suppression of vice, gambling suppression, secret society, as well as unlawful moneylending – have now been put together under investigation branches that will look into these four topics, and then there is an expert branch that looks at the research or the background. This is because sometimes the areas overlap. So to work in silo is not practical. In this sense, more officers at the CID level are now available to do anti-vice work, including, of course, looking at the larger picture, intelligence gathering, and so forth. And on the ground, currently only selected officers from 'G' Division and 'A' Division have been empowered, under the Women's

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Charter, to carry out these vice raids. In fact, there are now moves to empower more officers from the other divisions to do likewise. So I do see a stepping up of enforcement on the ground.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo: Mr Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister whether he has any statistics on the number of males on work passes or Social Visit Passes who were arrested for vice-related activities and how is enforcement on anti-vice activities actually conducted and coordinated within the heartlands.

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: As far as the figures go, all the figures are for female foreign sex workers. As far as the heartlands go, in fact, the number of foreign sex workers arrested in the heartlands is very small. It is actually only about 1% of all the foreigners arrested in Singapore. So, it is not a large number.

Mr Speaker: Last question, Mr de Souza.

Mr Christopher de Souza: I fully appreciate that the economies of scale between the individual agencies will now help in tackling crime. But how quickly will there be officers outside the Golf and Alpha Divisions being allowed to investigate and level charges against vice-related activities? I think time is of the essence.

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, this should happen over the next few months.