New Straits Times
Saturday, Mar 17, 2012
"Foreign women involved in vice are considered victims. Whether their involvement is voluntary or not, it is not an issue.
"When it is clear that there is no evidence of them being trafficked or smuggled and that they were in violation of their social visit passes, they can be deported."
Tun Abd Majid said police had been told to investigate the operations of syndicates exploiting foreign women.
"We want police to bring us cases with strong evidence of syndicates running the flesh trade for us to charge and not just present these women and expect us to charge them."
Police also said the relaxing of immigration regulations with regard to foreign spousal visas had exacerbated the problem.
The new regulation, implemented by the Immigration Department on the instructions of Pemudah, they said, had made it easier for syndicates specialising in the flesh trade to get long-term stays (for five years), effectively bypassing the screening process these women would have to go through previously when they had to renew the passes every year.
Pemudah is an agency set up in 2007 to ease government-business dealings.
Senior Immigration officers said the source of the problem lay in a circular dating back several years, the crux of which was to relax immigration requirements so as to not put off tourists.
A former director, who was in office when the circular was issued, said the principle was "to do away with any form of 'harassment' of tourists".
"The principle is 'not to frustrate tourists'. But when most other countries facing problems caused by immigrants are imposing all sorts of screening at entry points, why did this country, that is inundated with unsavoury foreign characters, choose to relax the rules?
"Boosting tourist arrival is good for the country's economy, but are all these genuine tourists?"
Several have called for the practice of questioning those on tourist visas on their return tickets, and declaration of details, such as the amount of money they have and their place of residence in the country, to be reintroduced.
