Sex services in Malaysia are often very discreet to avoid getting into trouble with the authorities. Some sex workers would approach customers on the streets in the middle of a city while others were brave enough to promote their services through an anonymous DS (dark side) account on Twitter.
However, since sex work is illegal in Malaysia, if one is not careful, they’d risk getting arrested for immoral acts. Unfortunately for these groups of people, they were caught by local religious authorities and even tried to run away from them. Watch:
Ops Cegah Pondan sekitar Ipoh minggu lepas
5 orang pondan dari negara Thailand telah ditahan utk pengesahan identiti & siasatan awal.
2 orang lelaki jg turut ditahan bg tujuan dokumentasi & kemudian dilepaskan dgn jaminan penguatkuasa agama.
📹 Bahagian Penguatkuasaan, JAIPk pic.twitter.com/eYt0pTlyAT
— VIRAL PERAK (@viralperak) December 6, 2023
A couple of days ago, the Perak Islamic Religious Department (JAIPK) posted a video on their official Facebook page of their “Op Cegah Pondan (Operation Transgender Prevention)” that was conducted by the Syariah Law Enforcement Division last week. In the video posted above, officers were seen chasing down transgender individuals, believed to be sex workers, who were walking around the streets of Ipoh late at night.
According to the caption, a total of 5 transwomen from Thailand were detained for identity verification and preliminary investigations. The video also showed the authorities raiding the trans women’s apartment unit in the area. It was said that 2 men were also taken into custody that evening for documentation purposes before the religious authorities released them. The men’s relations with the detained trans women were not specified.
As for the trans individuals, they were put behind bars at the nearest police station. The caption in the video stated that a man who wears women’s clothes and acts like a woman in any public place for the purpose of immorality is an offence, according to Section 55 of the Perak Syariah Criminal Enactment. If found guilty, one could be fined not more than RM1,000 or imprisoned for a period not exceeding 6 months or both.
In a separate operation, the religious authorities also raided an illegal massage parlour in Gunung Rapat. The now-closed-down business was reportedly run by a Muslim woman who employed 5 other Muslim women as masseuses. 2 nude male customers were also taken into custody during the raid as seen in the video above.
All arrests were brought back to the station for further investigation under Section 54 (Khalwat) and Section 29 (Inciting Immorality) of the Syariah Criminal Enactment 1992. If found guilty, they can be fined RM5,000, or three years in prison, or both.
Sources: Facebook (1)(2), AstroAwani
