'STUDENTS IN SEX TRADE'

'Students in sex trade'

Friday, December 03, 2010 Penampang: The National Upko Women Symposium on Education heard, Thursday, of an established network targeting tertiary students from institutions of higher learning for the flesh trade in the State.

"I was told by well-informed sources that there is a pimp or mediator who gets in touch with the girls who are willing to offer such services.

It is like pressing the button for sex services.

"It is understood that the girls get paid in advance, ranging from RM100 to RM500 per session. They demand payment first for fear that they might be short-changed," Upko Women Movement Chief, Dr Jaina Sintian, said.

The topics of tertiary students' involvement in the flesh trade, teenage pregnancy, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and drug mules dominated the symposium.

Dr Jaina believed that some of these call girls, who are from suburban or rural areas, are from broken families.

"Don't judge them by their 'innocent' faces because they might be 'rotting' inside. A Sexually Transmitted Disease is like cancer which spreads.

Quite a number have sought treatment for STDs. They might not even know that they are bringing HIV to their village."

She said those involved in part-time prostitution complained that their parents did not give them enough money or were divorced.

So they (girls) could not get money from their fathers who had since remarried and raised new families. "Living in the city, they wanted to live like the Joneses with sophisticated handphones, laptops and what have you."

As a preventive measure, Dr Jaina suggested sex education through subjects like Moral Education, Civics and Nationhood Education and Religion, instead of making sex education a separate subject.

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Hamisa urges probe into 'students in vice' claim

December 05, 2010 Kota Kinabalu: The Ministry of Higher Learning Institutions has been urged to investigate a claim that some students are paying their way through college by prostituting part-time.

Tanjung Batu Assemblywoman Datuk Hamisa Samat said the problem need to be seriously looked into as it affects the good name of higher learning institutions and the concerned generation needs to be saved.

She said such claim had been highlighted before but since there was no effective action, the public did not know the severity of the problem.

"If no prevention measures are carried out, the social ill will worsen," she said, when commenting on the revelation by National Upko Wanita Chief Datin Dr Jaina Sintian at the party's convention on Thursday.

Jaina said most of the students involved were from broken homes.

Hamisa, who is also Kalabakan Umno Wanita Chief, said she fears that such problem could cause a rise of other social ills like baby dumping, HIV infection, AIDS and drug abuse.

In this respect, she said all quarters need to have an open mind and not be hasty in making denials just to safeguard their image and positions because a life of a university student is very challenging.

She said the students face not only pressure to complete their studies but to cover arising subsistence costs including buying books, laptops and Internet access, among others.

Hamisa said IPTs as respectable higher learning institutions that produce graduates to supply human capital for the nation's development should not be riddled with prostitution.

She also called on Women Development, Family and Community to pay serious attention to such issue because it involves female students that must be defended of their right and not only the poor and underprivileged people.

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UMS probes student prostitution claims

December 4, 2010, KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Vice Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Kamaruzaman Hj Ampon said they have yet to receive any reports about their students’ involvement in prostitution.

He said the university would nevertheless take the possibility of their students’ involvement seriously, and officers will be asked to monitor them.

He said the university will investigate and try to identify those, if any, involved.

Kamaruzaman conceded that it would be difficult to obtain evidence of students’ involvement in the flesh trade.

He said if there is evidence of any students’ involvement, disciplinary action will be taken by the university.

“We would investigate first before taking disciplinary action because students involved in part-time prostitution must have their own reasons for doing it…might be they do not have enough money to pay for the education fees,” he said.

He said the university would handle the problem discreetly and if they did it because of financial problem, the university is willing to offer a loan.

“How we handle the problem would depend on the seriousness of the cases. We want to ensure students can continue and finish their study.

“I would like to stress here that we are looking seriously into this matter and we will closely monitor our students,” he said

Kamaruzaman was commenting on Upko Women chief Dr Jaina Sintian’s claims that she had received information from well-informed sources that an established syndicate was luring tertiary students here into the flesh trade.

Dr Jaina said she was told that a pimp was getting in touch with the girls who were willing to offer sex services, and the girls earned up to RM500 per session.

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