Welcome to Geylang

SINGAPORE - Step into some parts of Geylang and you might think that you have just stepped into the set of a gangster movie.

Many of its lorongs are a hotbed of vice and crime.

Streetwalkers openly parade in tight clothes despite the presence of surveillance cameras.

Nearby, motorcyclists flash their bike lights, a signal that they are interested in buying contraband cigarettes. The transactions are done within a minute. The sellers enjoy brisk business.

Other vices that are part of the landscape of Geylang: Sale of illegal drugs such as codeine and sex pills, and gambling dens.

All these, of course, are not new to Geylang.

What is new is the brazen way the purveyors of these vices ply their trade, with those in the flesh trade even employing foreigners to be lookouts, runners and to "promote" the women to potential customers. What is new is the extent of violence that some of them would resort to in order to escape arrest or to protect their turf.

As Mr Lawrence Koh, the managing director of SK Investigation Services, puts it, this is not the Geylang he used to know.

MORE FOREIGNERS

He said of the crooks in the red-light district: "They are using more foreign workers to commit crimes for them, like running gambling dens, pushing prostitutes and selling drugs. It's all about making as much money as possible."

Geylang came into stark focus on Tuesday when Commissioner of Police Ng Joo Hee spoke about its crime rate, unsavoury characters, "hint of lawlessness" and the hostility against the police.

Testifying at the Committee of Inquiry (COI) hearings into the Little India riot, he warned that Geylang poses "a clear and present danger to public order".

It seems like attempts to clean up Geylang is an uphill battle. Clean up some areas and the illegal activities will just move somewhere else.

Observers said that many of these activities have moved inwards into the lorongs and backlanes away from the main thoroughfare of Geylang Road.

What is most obvious, visually at least, is the number of streetwalkers in recent years, especially in areas like Lorong 12, Jalan Suka or Talma Road.

Some observers say this is because of the increase in foreign prostitutes over the past 10 years.

Before that, the streetwalkers were mainly Indonesian, Thai and South Indian. Some time after 2004, others joined their ranks, in particular the Vietnamese and Chinese nationals.

Mr Syamsul Rumangkang, head of the Anti-Trafficking Agency in Batam, told The New Paper that more Indonesian women are working as prostitutes in Singapore in the last three years.

"Indonesian women still believe that they can make good money in Geylang. We see hundreds every month heading to Singapore from Batam after being recruited by Singapore pimps," he said.

"Some are tricked into thinking they are going there for other jobs but end up working as prostitutes in Geylang."

Singapore is also popular with prostitutes from China, Vietnam and Indonesia because of its strong currency.

But it is difficult to keep track of them because many are on social visit passes and work illegally.

In 2007, some 5,400 foreign prostitutes were nabbed in Geylang - a 25 per cent increase from 2006. The influx of these women brought foreign workers out to Geylang in droves in search of cheap sex, security firm director Louis Raja said.

Soon, some of the foreign workers were enticed into working for the vice syndicates in Geylang.

It is believed that they are overstayers or jobless individuals waiting for salary disputes to be resolved. They are cheaper to hire and more trusted, so to speak.

"If they get arrested, these foreigners would not know the hierarchy of the syndicate they are working for," said Mr Raja. "So in a way, they can't betray them to the authorities."

This view is shared by Mr Koh, a former police officer whose private investigation firm is in the Guillemard area.

But these foreign workers could turn violent to evade arrest, such as in 2006, when Mr Raja was injured while chasing an overstayer-turned-pimp.

He pushed Mr Raja into the path of an oncoming car. Luckily, he escaped with just an injured ankle.

"The foreigners are more aggressive because they have a lot to lose," said Mr Raja.

"That's because they've borrowed money to come to Singapore. They will do anything to stay, and that includes fighting off pursuers."

Things can also turn volatile when there's turf to be protected.

"I was told that when foreigners recently clashed in Geylang, they didn't hold back. They used chilli powder to blind enemies and concealed razor blades to injure opponents."

UP CLOSE

We walked around Geylang over two nights this week to get a feel of the activities up close.

At every corner, we found an abundance of foreign women and transvestites prostituting themselves, some under the watchful eye of their local pimps.

Mr Nadarajan Pramaiyan, who runs a provision shop at Geylang Road, said criminal activities are common on a typical night.

"In the 10 years I've been here, I've seen people selling contraband cigarettes outside my door as well as fights and stabbings," said the 43-year-old.

"I don't see such scenes any more, but not because they're disappeared. The illegal activities have just moved to the backlanes to avoid attention of the police."

tnp@sph.com.sg

Get The New Paper for more stories.