Tuesday 17 April 2012

The Oldest Profession In Lalaland

I've had this discussion on prostitution before. In JC, I was shocked and appalled that the gahmen would let women parade about the streets selling their bodies for a price. Morally wrong and unacceptable the naive mind thought. In some GP lesson, the tutor happened to say something like "It's illegal but tolerated". I was puzzled, the same naiveté pondering and conflicting with the true state of affairs.

It makes people curious. I have been in car rides where we intentionally took the slow route through the Changi Point carpark, the Geylang backstreets and Desker Road to catch a glimpse of the seedy side of squeaky clean Singapore.

And there is life there. It opens up the imagination and makes one think about what it takes a society to function completely.

Prostitution in Singapore is probably controlled and monitored. Too few then horny men do stupid things. Too many girls then it makes the country and neighbourhoods look bad. There is also the spread of STDs to consider. If prostitution was eliminated from the usual places, then it'll filter off to the housing neighbourhoods. With one vice comes another. There'll be gambling dens, drug parlours, gangland warfare and late night wan tan mee stalls all over the place. Horror.

I wrote about this because the case of 40 or so men having had sex with an underaged girl is splattered across the papers' front page today. And the only guy who pled guilty was a school principal. Wow, an educator to children. He's certainly got parents questioning who their letting teach thirt kids, and how the gahmen screens these institution leaders. I foresee much debate about this. And maybe spycams.

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