The Deception of Noi into Malaysia's Sex Trade

By Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women
December 1997

Noi is a 26 years old woman who has studied only at the primary school level. At present she is staying with her mother and sister in Saphanmai area, Bangkok. She earns her living by cooking food to order.

Three years ago, Noi decided to have a relationship with a man who she later discovered was already married. As a result, Noi became his minor wife. She tried to end the relationship but he became violent and abused her. Noi had to run away from him and went back to stay with her mother. However, he followed her to her mother's house and continue to abuse her.

Earlier this year (1997), Noi was approached by Jum, a friend of hers who lives nearby her house. Jum told her that she has a sister who married a Malaysian and opened a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur that was looking for several cooks. Furthermore, Jum said that the salary would be about 20,000-30,000 baht and if Noi worked hard she would receive extra pay. Since Noi was struggling to run away from her husband, she agreed to go. Noi felt she could trust Jum since Jum was her neighbor and she knew Jum's husband and daughter. She thought that Jum would not dare to cheat her.

Jum sent Noi on a tour bus to Hadyai and told Noi to contact one tour company there. The staff of that tour company sent her in a taxi to Malaysia. Since Noi did not have a passport, the taxi driver stopped the car at a restaurant where tour buses stop for their passengers to have something to eat. Noi was put on a tour bus and the bus driver handed her a passport which had photo of someone who was similar to her but with a different name - it appeared to be a Chinese name.

When the bus had almost reached Kuala Lumpur, it stopped at a petrol station. Noi was told to get off the bus and two Chinese men who were waiting for her there took Noi to Kuala Lumpur. When Noi noticed one of the men give money to the tour bus driver, she realized that she had been sold.

The two men drove their car around one building for half an hour. It seemed like an ordinary but quiet building since there were no people around. One of the men took Noi to the door and when it opened, she saw a narrow ladder leading to an upstairs floor. After seeing the ladder, Noi figured that she was in a brothel. The men locked in one small room on the second floor. That night one Chinese man who could speak Thai came to see her and asked whether she was ready for to sell herself. Noi was shocked and kept saying no.

The second night in her room, the same Chinese man raped her and threatened her by saying she would die there if she did not agree to work selling sex. He also explained that if she worked she might be able to go back home after she finished paying back her debt to him. The next morning, Noi decided to save her life and agreed to sell sex.

Noi's working hours were from 5 p.m. until 4 a.m. during which she had to provide sexual services to customers. If a customer wished to spend the night with her, she would have to provide these services after 4 a.m. Noi received only 18-40 Malaysian ringgit per customer. In contrast, the employer received 82-160 ringgit. After work, she and the other women there had to clean the brothel. If they finished quickly they had more time to sleep. The employer never allowed the women to go outside and they never ate more than two meals per day. They had no holidays, even during menstruation, because they were forced to take 4 pills per day to stop the menstrual cycle. In return for their hard work, they only received reports of their remaining debts.

Every Wednesday around 4 p.m., the employer called a meeting of all the women to give instructions and remind the women about the rules. Violations of the rules included talking to friend while working, not satisfying the customers (or having customers that complained), or eating while they were supposed to be working, etc. As punishment, the pimps would hit the women's hands with a salted stick until blood flowed or the women's fingers were broken.

If the women became ill, they could request treatment but at the prohibitive cost of 180 ringgit per treatment session. If a woman became pregnant, the employers forced her to have an abortion at the very high price of 2,000 ringgit.

Noi could only remain patient and wait until she paid off her debt, at which point she planned to return home. She did not consider trying to escape because she was afraid that she would be detained or killed like other women who had tried to flee.

After working at the brothel for nearly six months, she had a bit of luck when one of her regular customers felt sympathetic and allowed her to use the phone to contact her home. She had to make this phone call very carefully and it was very difficult to hide her activities from the employer. Finally, she succeeded and at the end of July 1997, Malaysian police, cooperating with Thai police, raid the brothel and rescued the women.