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Propaganda blitz for "Operation Geylang Clean Up" has begun!

Rogue Trader

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An undercurrent of fear in Geylang
<small class="clear">Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - 07:30
</small>Walter Sim and Nur Asyiqin Mohd Salleh
The Sunday Times

At dusk, like clockwork, streetwalkers in skimpy outfits emerge from alleyways. They flirt with men, both foreign and local, while being watched by minders on the alert for the police.

Off-corner massage parlours and hotels with hourly rates do a roaring trade. Nearby, peddlers sell sex drugs with names such as Super Magic and Tiger's Prestigious Life, while others deal in contraband cigarettes.

This is Geylang, Singapore's notorious red-light district and another foreign worker hot spot now in the spotlight after Police Commissioner Ng Joo Hee said last week that the area was a bigger concern than Little India, where last December's riot took place.


"If Singaporeans are irked by the littering, the noise and the jaywalking in Little India, they'll certainly and quickly sense that there exists a hint of lawlessness in Geylang," he told the Committee of Inquiry into the riot.


It is an area where disproportionately more crime and public order offences take place. Last year, Special Operations Command forces were deployed to Geylang on 41 occasions, compared with 16 in Little India.


Last Friday afternoon, auxiliary policemen were seen taking away illegal cigarettes which had been stowed in trash cans in an alley next to a Buddhist temple.


Crowds of hooligans, Mr Ng said, are not afraid of standing in the way of police work. He recalled how an officer was once beaten up when he tried to detain an illegal gambling stall operator.

Residents say some shops in Geylang are just fronts for criminal activities. Gambling dens, for instance, are set up in small rooms behind the main shop area, or up on the second floor.


Many businesses and residents The Sunday Times spoke to declined to give their full names or to be photographed, worried they might "offend someone".


Yet Geylang is also home to many migrant workers who reside in sometimes overcrowded shophouses offering cheap rent. Electrician Chai Zhi Yuan, 41, from Jiangsu, China, admits it could get "chaotic" at night and on weekends.


"I don't go out much as it can get very messy. Instead, my friends would come to my place for drinks," he said.

Bangladeshi construction worker Tarikul Islam, 20, also prefers to stay in at night "because there is a lot of trouble outside". Added compatriot Sakil Alam, 25: "Every week, I see fighting here, because of drinking. Maybe sometimes because of the girls."

And then there is the risk of being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"When I go out to buy food at night, the police often stop me and ask for my permit," said Mr Tarikul. "Maybe I am somewhere, not doing anything bad or causing trouble, but because they see me there, they think I'm also trouble."

Although MPs, grassroots activists and most residents are calling for Geylang to be cleaned up, the businesses - from coffee shops to KTV lounges and liquor shops - have a different perspective.


One provision shop owner said: "I really think no shop in Geylang will tell you, I want all this crime to stop. If they say that, they are lying. All these activities attract people, attract money."


Mr Teh Hock Koon, 50, who runs a bak kut teh stall in a coffee shop at the end of a row of brothels, told The Sunday Times: "The more 'complicated' an area is, the better it is to do business."


Since moving there a year ago, his takings have gone up by as much as 40 per cent.


Added a liquor wholesaler along Geylang Road: "Yes, police patrols will be good to bolster security, but it won't do us any good if the vice is completely stamped out either."


Already, five fast response squad cars are routinely deployed in Geylang every weekend - compared to three in Little India and one in most other estates. Two dozen uniformed officers conduct foot patrols, while plain-clothes police conduct checks on clubs and massage joints.


Mr Ng admitted that more could be done to enhance police presence in Geylang, and hopes to deploy 150 more officers there.


Retiree G. Goh, 62, who has lived in Geylang for over 50 years, said: "In the last decade, there were more foreigners coming. But they are not why there is crime now. There has always been crime in Geylang and the kings are your local fellows.


"The police who walk down the street will stop these foreigners, but they are all ikan bilis (small fish). The big fish, the whales, are all behind the scenes."




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Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

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Step into some parts of Geylang and you might think that you have just stepped into the set of a gangster movie.
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Streetwalkers openly parade in tight clothes despite the presence of surveillance cameras.
 

Rogue Trader

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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.

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

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

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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.

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[h=3]The 'promoters'[/h]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.

They haggle over price in front of camera. It did not bother them that the backlane was brightly-lit.

They also didn't mind that a surveillance camera was pointed in their direction from about 10m away.

With brazen disregard, the 10 streetwalkers, dressed in tank tops and hot pants, or tight dresses to accentuate their figures, went about their trade.

A Bangladeshi blocked our path and while pointing to a woman in denim hot pants and a lace-trimmed tank top, said: "Brother, come see first lah, see first."

Unlike working girls who congregate along Geylang Lorong 12, Jalan Suka and Talma Road, these women kept their hands to themselves.

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Rogue Trader

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[h=3]'The pharmacist'[/h]The telltale signs were obvious nearby - empty 90ml medicine bottles lying in drains along Lorong 9 Geylang. These small bottles used to contain codeine, a cough mixture that is abused by drug addicts.

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[h=3]The 'peddler'[/h]Whenever a passing motorcyclist flicked his bike's headlights, it was a signal that they had a customer for their contraband cigarettes, which are sold in packets or cartons.

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These transactions near the entrance of a backlane at Lorong 10 happened quickly. In less than a minute, the bikers or passers-by were off with their purchases.

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[h=3]More foreigners[/h]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."

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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There are more Indonesian women are working as prostitutes in Singapore in the last three years.

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"It is common knowledge that the gangsters and the crooks like to congregate in Geylang. So all in all, Geylang presents an ecosystem which is complex, and is tinged with a certain criminal undertone." Commissioner of Police Ng Joo Hee said.
 

KNNBNBCB

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on one hand ICA allow these PRC prostitutes to come in as tourist, MOM issue wok permits to them, MOE declare them as peidu mama. What irony.
 

Rogue Trader

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'If you have a daughter, you worry, worry, worry'

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<small class="clear">Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - 07:30
</small>Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh
The Sunday Times

Engineer John Yeo moved to Geylang as a newly-wed 15 years ago. Now a father of two, the 42-year-old cannot wait to move out.

He and his wife never used to mind walking down streets filled with sex workers, pirated CD sellers and gamblers.

As a young couple, they found it all novel and appealing.

"I didn't mind it. And my wife's even braver than me," he said.


"When we were younger, sometimes men would stop her to ask, 'How much?' She would scold them!"


Now, the couple have a 12-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter to worry about and they want to move into a "good neighbourhood".


They would have moved sooner, but his wife was retrenched and he was demoted some years ago and their plans were stalled.


Now they hope to leave for an HDB estate by the end of this year.


He recalled how his daughter was just eight years old when she asked him why there were so many women "waiting for a taxi" by the side of the road. "I was so shocked. I suddenly realised, this is not the place for children."


Mr Yeo, who declined to be photographed for fear of being stalked by "unsavoury characters" in the area, said he has seen Singaporean women who come for a meal in Geylang being propositioned by men.


"If I just had a son, I'd just tell him, don't do naughty things. But my daughter, what if she gets picked up?" he asked.


"Geylang is not the place for fathers with daughters to live. You will have a heart attack one day because you'll just worry, worry, worry."



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Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
 

laksaboy

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Engineer John Yeo moved to Geylang as a newly-wed 15 years ago. Now a father of two, the 42-year-old cannot wait to move out.

Sounds like Geylang is a fantastic place for bachelors to stay.

I'm sick and tired of family men and their noisy kids.
 

sleaguepunter

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Sounds like Geylang is a fantastic place for bachelors to stay.

I'm sick and tired of family men and their noisy kids.

Gayland and Guilemard have the cheapest freehold properties in sinkieland. Plenty of shoebox apartments in the area, great for single men to stay. Near town, easy access to food, drink, gamble joints and brothels.... where else in sinkieland give you so much for so little money????:biggrin:
 

Rogue Trader

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Of course... no Bordello Road spin is complete without blaming Sinkies and praising foreigners.....

Unfair to say foreign workers cause trouble in Geylang


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<small class="clear">Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - 07:30
</small>Amelia Tan
The Sunday Times

It is unfair to jump to the conclusion that foreign workers cause trouble in Geylang, said migrant rights groups.

They also believe an event like last December's Little India riot is less likely to happen in Geylang, as the workers who frequent the area gather in small pockets around the neighbourhood.

In contrast, hundreds congregate in popular spots in Little India such as the junction of Race Course Road and Hampshire Road where the riot took place.

"I think it is a difference in culture. South Asian workers find solidarity in numbers while the Chinese national workers are more independent," said Migrant Workers' Centre (MWC) executive director Bernard Menon.

He believes another key reason workers gather in smaller groups in Geylang is that there are hardly any large open fields in the area.

Instead, workers typically hang out in shaded areas at roadsides or in back alleys of shophouses.

And while Geylang has been a key gathering point for workers from China, not all visit the area. Others prefer to spend time in the heartlands, he said.

"They do not have to worry about not being understood, as many Singaporeans speak Mandarin. Most South Asian workers visit Little India because they know that the people there speak their language."

Staff from MWC and Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home), which both have offices in Geylang where foreign workers can get help with employment disputes, said they hardly hear and see foreign workers getting into fights in the area.

Home's executive director Jolovan Wham said: "It is unfair to think that much of the crime and violence in Geylang is caused by foreign workers. This is a place where there are brothels, pubs, karaoke lounges. There are pimps and gangsters everywhere."


'Safest place we've lived in so far'


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<small class="clear">Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - 07:30
</small>Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh
The Sunday Times

Some may see Geylang as an unruly spot in Singapore, but this well-travelled pair is unruffled by its reputation.

American expatriates Lisa and Michael Johnson moved into a row of refurbished shophouses in Lorong 24A back in 2011 - just a street from Lorong 24, where sex workers and their minders line the path.

But the couple, who have lived in America, Japan, India and China, say Singapore is where they have felt safest so far. "Even if this is the most dangerous place in Singapore, it's still a safe place to us," said Mrs Johnson.

Guns were a concern in America, she said, and crime more blatant and widespread outside Singapore. Here, the couple, who both work in finance, have seen police raids that sent crowds of women running past their home in high heels.

"The criminal activities here don't touch us.
We see police around and we know they're keeping control. We would never live in a place where we feel in danger," said Mrs Johnson.

They were drawn to Geylang's "culture, colour and chaos", she added, and moved there despite concerns expressed by Singaporean friends. "They'd say, do you know about the neighbourhood? What real estate agent dropped you there?" recalled Mrs Johnson, whose 19-year-old son, their only child, is studying overseas.

"They have this stereotype of the neighbourhood. But there's so much more to Geylang. Good food, lovely people. And it makes good dinner conversation."


 

chonburifc

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Might be a prelude to something bigger. Move out the entire red light district and replace with private condos leh? Pappies very good in this. Beach Road and Lavender and Kallang areas almost 7788 liaoz. Will not be surprise if GL goes.
 

blindswordsman

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Engineer John Yeo moved to Geylang as a newly-wed 15 years ago. Now a father of two, the 42-year-old cannot wait to move out.
"Geylang is not the place for fathers with daughters to live. You will have a heart attack one day because you'll just worry, worry, worry."

When WKS was at the helm of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Geylang deteriorated. Raids were infrequent and criminals there became bolder. Now Mr Big Nose seems to be moving slowly like tortoise too. Clean up Geylang now or let it rot further. You have a choice.

In the good old days, prostitution was conducted inside permitted f-shops by licensed women from boleh land. Now, it is free for all, Barbie dolls from all countries at the side walks. Learn from the Dutch. Control prostitution but eradicate the criminals and their nonsense.
 

jw5

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Geylang is fantastic and by far the most interesting place in Singapore. :wink:
 

da dick

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Geylang's property will soar after much clean up.

then the new "clean" business all go bankrupt one by one... just like what happen to joo chiat and tanjong katong. esp tanjong katong, u go there after 8PM , it's like a ghosttown
 

aerobwala

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Forget heard from who, the whole Geylang is to uproot and shift to Sungei Kadut side?
Is at one corner of Singapore near live firing area, swim across is JB and chicks only enter here in evening, return back to JB in dawn.
It integrated with horse racing activity there.

Taman Jurong. It's near the border so the chickens can be based in JB. Then it will be JB's problem instead of sinkieland's...
 
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