Having downplayed the issue of sex trade in Malaysia, Bukit Aman gets rapped by the DAP.

Damansara Utama rep Yeo Bee Yin expressed feeling greatly disturbed by Bukit Aman’s response to the video ‘Trapped – The Underage Sex Industry In Malaysia’ where the Secret Societies, Gambling and Vice Division principal assistant director SAC Datuk Roslee Chik was quoted in the news portal saying that sex is not an “industry” but only “activities” as it is “not that big”.

She countered his statement saying that Havoscope, an international organization specializing in collecting global black market information estimates that the size of the black market value of prostitution in Malaysia amounted to USD 963 million.

“Is a RM 3 billion illegal sex trade market not big enough to be considered an “industry” to Bukit Aman?” she asked in a statement today.

She added that the Malaysian AIDS council and Malaysia AIDS Foundation identified sex workers as one of the four largest groups contributing to HIV infections in 2013.

“The problem of illegal sex trade should not to be taken lightly as described by Roslee by saying it is “not that big”. Such a lukewarm attitude towards the complex problem is not acceptable.”

The documentary included interviews with girls as young as 15 years old caught in Kuala Lumpur’s sex trade scene. They explained how they were either forced into that line of work as a result of poverty; others share how they were tricked into the business.

Despite the seriousness of the issue, Roslee Chik thought it apt to state that sex was not an industry here, because “industry would mean profits are as big as in Thailand where the sex industry in legal”.

Yeo Bee Yin urged Bukit Aman to focus on finding solutions to help foreign or local sex workers who are mostly underage and trapped in the web of human trafficking.

The United State’s ‘Trafficking in Persons Report’ downgraded Malaysia to Tier 3 for not complying with minimum standards to eliminate trafficking – and showing no significant efforts in doing so for two consecutive years.

The Damansara Utama rep also reminded Home Minister Zahid Hamidi of his announcement on July 10 on the formation of a high level committee on human trafficking as a response to the report.

“Any plans from the high-level committee yet?”

“It is two years late and is Putrajaya going to delay further?” she asked. -The Rocket