http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,204360,00.html?
Sex workers 'haunt' former cemetery
Guards nearby spooked by lights and noises in the night
By Elysa Chen and Zaihan Mohamed Yusof
June 08, 2009
They pray...
FOR weeks, the security guards at a factory off Woodlands Road saw lights and heard strange noises at the Kwong Hou Sua cemetery across the road.
They could not make out who or what was responsible for this and wondered if the place was haunted.
Had the exhumation of the graves after the cemetery was marked for redevelopment six months ago upset the spirits?
Typically, there was a more mundane explanation.
It wasn't ghosts that were making things go bump in the night but sex workers plying their trade.
The women had been servicing male workers from the Kranji industrial area for at least two months.
Mr Maung Khine, 32, a machinist from Myanmar, found out about the open-air brothel by accident.
He had stumbled on the vice den while searching for durians nearby.
Mr Khine told The New Paper on Sunday: 'My colleagues have been coming (for the girls' services) for the past two months.
He felt this was not wise as the area was a former cemetery, and such activities might bring bad luck if they offended the spirits.
Since last month, the bulk of exhumation work has been completed.
...do their make-up...
What's left are gaping holes and broken tombstones in some areas of the former cemetery.
The rest of the field has been filled with fresh soil and flattened.
The women usually appeared at around 5pm and trudged up the dirt path towards the cemetery.
They set up camp near a few durian trees, a 15-minute walk from the main road.
The women then made offerings at a make-shift altar - a pot of incense perched on an old fish tank - before dolling up and putting on their make-up.
Their changing room was whatever cover the bushes and trees could give them.
Their makeshift brothel was a few plastic chairs beneath some durian trees.
Only bamboo poles, wooden boards and canvas sheets offered them some privacy as they plied their trade.
The women, who appeared to be in their 30s, would sit on plastic chairs and wait for their customers, reported Lianhe Wanbao on 28 May.
The Chinese newspaper had been alerted by a member of the public who was offering incense at a nearby temple when he saw a couple walking towards the cemetery.
...then wait here for clients --PICTURES: LIANHE WANBAO
Curious, he followed them and, to his surprise, found them having sex.
Security guards from a nearby factory verified that they had heard strange noises and saw lights coming from the former cemetery.
One guard, who declined to be named, said: 'We thought at first that it was some supernatural disturbance. It sounded eerie. It's so dark that we are not able to see anything.'
The guard added that high fences were put up to secure a worksite near the cemetery that had been designated for the Downtown line depot.
According to Lianhe Wanbao, up to seven or eight women would go to the site at any one time.
Deserted
When The New Paper on Sunday visited the area on Thursday evening, it was deserted.
The chairs, cardboards and canvas sheets had been removed.
According to a site supervisor for the Downtown line depot who declined to be named, the authorities cleared the area on the same day the news appeared in Lianhe Wanbao.
He said that he has not seen the prostitutes since last week.
It's unclear if the women were Singaporeans or foreigners, but Lianhe Wanbao reported that they could be factory workers.
A source told the paper that after their shift ended, the women would head to the cemetery to earn extra money.
The women also showed up during weekends after the construction workers were paid as they would have better business, the source added.
When Lianhe Wanbao was staking out the cemetery, a worker showed up at 8.30pm.
Using light from his handphone, he checked out the faces of each of the women before he picked one and they vanished into the darkness.
Sex workers 'haunt' former cemetery
Guards nearby spooked by lights and noises in the night
By Elysa Chen and Zaihan Mohamed Yusof
June 08, 2009
They pray...
FOR weeks, the security guards at a factory off Woodlands Road saw lights and heard strange noises at the Kwong Hou Sua cemetery across the road.
They could not make out who or what was responsible for this and wondered if the place was haunted.
Had the exhumation of the graves after the cemetery was marked for redevelopment six months ago upset the spirits?
Typically, there was a more mundane explanation.
It wasn't ghosts that were making things go bump in the night but sex workers plying their trade.
The women had been servicing male workers from the Kranji industrial area for at least two months.
Mr Maung Khine, 32, a machinist from Myanmar, found out about the open-air brothel by accident.
He had stumbled on the vice den while searching for durians nearby.
Mr Khine told The New Paper on Sunday: 'My colleagues have been coming (for the girls' services) for the past two months.
He felt this was not wise as the area was a former cemetery, and such activities might bring bad luck if they offended the spirits.
Since last month, the bulk of exhumation work has been completed.
...do their make-up...
What's left are gaping holes and broken tombstones in some areas of the former cemetery.
The rest of the field has been filled with fresh soil and flattened.
The women usually appeared at around 5pm and trudged up the dirt path towards the cemetery.
They set up camp near a few durian trees, a 15-minute walk from the main road.
The women then made offerings at a make-shift altar - a pot of incense perched on an old fish tank - before dolling up and putting on their make-up.
Their changing room was whatever cover the bushes and trees could give them.
Their makeshift brothel was a few plastic chairs beneath some durian trees.
Only bamboo poles, wooden boards and canvas sheets offered them some privacy as they plied their trade.
The women, who appeared to be in their 30s, would sit on plastic chairs and wait for their customers, reported Lianhe Wanbao on 28 May.
The Chinese newspaper had been alerted by a member of the public who was offering incense at a nearby temple when he saw a couple walking towards the cemetery.
...then wait here for clients --PICTURES: LIANHE WANBAO
Curious, he followed them and, to his surprise, found them having sex.
Security guards from a nearby factory verified that they had heard strange noises and saw lights coming from the former cemetery.
One guard, who declined to be named, said: 'We thought at first that it was some supernatural disturbance. It sounded eerie. It's so dark that we are not able to see anything.'
The guard added that high fences were put up to secure a worksite near the cemetery that had been designated for the Downtown line depot.
According to Lianhe Wanbao, up to seven or eight women would go to the site at any one time.
Deserted
When The New Paper on Sunday visited the area on Thursday evening, it was deserted.
The chairs, cardboards and canvas sheets had been removed.
According to a site supervisor for the Downtown line depot who declined to be named, the authorities cleared the area on the same day the news appeared in Lianhe Wanbao.
He said that he has not seen the prostitutes since last week.
It's unclear if the women were Singaporeans or foreigners, but Lianhe Wanbao reported that they could be factory workers.
A source told the paper that after their shift ended, the women would head to the cemetery to earn extra money.
The women also showed up during weekends after the construction workers were paid as they would have better business, the source added.
When Lianhe Wanbao was staking out the cemetery, a worker showed up at 8.30pm.
Using light from his handphone, he checked out the faces of each of the women before he picked one and they vanished into the darkness.
