theSun | FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28 2008
news without borders
World’s oldest profession
livens up proceedings
MANY in the Dewan Rakyat sat
up on Tuesday when veteran
legislator Karpal Singh
(DAP-Bukit Gelugor)
popped the simple
question: why isn’t
the government
making prostitution
illegal instead of
merely talking
about the problems
associated with
Chor the world’s oldest
did not profession?
answer Why, indeed, seemed to
Karpal’s be on the puzzled faces of those
question, who looked expectantly at
and Lo’ Lo’ Deputy Home Minister Datuk
asked about Chor Chee Heung as he stood
assistance up to respond to Karpal’s query.
given to Why hasn’t there been a law
former against prostitution all these
prostitutes. years?
There was no
mistaking the all-round
disappointment
when Chor did not
quite answer the
question. He said
the government was
doing all it could to
mitigate the problem,
including tightening the
existing laws.
Karpal had asked the
supplementary question
after Chor had responded
with standard answers to the
original question from Mohd
Nizar Zakaria (BN-Parit) and
another follow-up question.
Mohd Nizar had asked the
deputy home minister for the
measures being undertaken to
eradicate prostitution, which
was becoming rampant and
affecting the country’s image.
Questions such as Nizar’s
had been asked many times
before and similar answers
– with slight variations,
depending on who is
responding – had been given.
In fact, a related question was
asked by Dr Lo’ Lo’ Mohamad
Ghazali (PAS-Titiwangsa)
just before Nizar’s question. She
wanted Deputy Women, Family
and Community Minister
Noriah Kasnon to tell her of
the type of assistance given to
prostitutes and “social escorts”
who had decided to abandon
their immoral ways of earning
The
Dewan Rakyat
this week
by Zainon Ahmad
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
a living.
Karpal, when asking his
question, said it is illegal for
a courtesan or a streetwalker
to solicit or seduce a man to
become her client and it is an
offence for some one to live on
the earnings of a prostitute but,
strangely, prostitution itself is
not a crime.
And, strangely, it is the same
in the other Asean countries.
While prostitution is not illegal
in India as well, the country is
trying to restrict it by limiting it
to certain areas. Ultimately, it
hopes to ban it completely.
That’s the hope of many
countries as well for a long,
long time.
Meanwhile, members
of the oldest profession in
Malaysia continue to ply their
trade almost unhindered and
probably because of that, and
also because they could not
cope, foreigners are flying in to
help take off the pressure.
It wasn’t such a boring
week after all. Three highlights
– if they can be termed as such
– were the decision by Deputy
Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi
Tuanku Jaafar over an allegation
by Karpal that Minister in the
Prime Minister’s Department
Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has misled
the House, the unity of the
Dewan against the decision of
Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald
Kiandee to disallow a debate
on Palestine, and the debate
on whether RM10 should not
be deducted from the salary of
Education Minister Datuk Seri
Hishammuddin Hussein for
failing to deliver on his promise
to build six more Chinese
schools.
Wan Junaidi took it upon
himself on Tuesday to give a
lengthy explanation on why
Nazri need not be referred to
the committee of rights and
privileges even though he had
misled the House.
He said the minister was
not fully informed and that he
had no reason beneficial to
himself to lie, unlike British
war minister John Profumo
in the 1960s who denied in
parliament of his relationship
with a prostitute, Christine
Keller, to protect himself.
In that episode of the week,
Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-
Puchong) earned a two-day
suspension (he had to ask for
the number of days after the
13
deputy speaker told him he
was suspended) because he
sided with his father, Karpal,
in rejecting the decision and
saying Wan Junaidi was biased.
It was a rare show of
solidarity on Wednesday when
the government backbenchers
and the opposition MPs stood
together to protest against the
deputy speaker’s decision to
reject the motion by Dr Mohd
Fuad Zakarshi (BN-Batu
Pahat) that the House debate
the blockade of the Gaza Strip
by Israeli military forces.
The motion to lop off RM10
from Hishammuddin’s salary
was moved by new opposition
chilli padi Teo Nie Ching
(DAP-Serdang) on the
grounds that he failed to fulfill
his promises.
Hishammuddin was not
in the House to listen to the
criticisms levelled at him,
unlike in the last parliament
when then transport minister
Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy,
a brave man, was in his seat
as the debate on the motion to
deduct RM10 from his salary
raged and he stoically took all
that the opposition members
could throw at him.
Despite the passionate
defence put up by Deputy
Education Minister Datuk
Dr Wee Ka Siong and the
backbenchers, despite the
rejection of the motion, the
fury with which the opposition
members attacked the minister
and his ministry left the
government with little choice
but to promise to make good on
what it said it would do.