An increasing number of naive young girls from China are being tricked into forced prostitution in Malaysia, according to a local organisation which is regularly called to their rescue.

They are lured to Malaysia by the promise of well-paid jobs in factories and restaurants, says Michael Chong, head of the MCA public service and complaints department.

Syndicates in China place advertisements in newspapers offering salaries of up to RM3,800 a month, he told AFP .

"These girls, who earn about RM380 a month in their home town, as nurses or other steady jobs, of course get excited at the prospect and end up coming here. They are all naive."

When they arrive in Malaysia they are passed o­n to local agents who take away their passports and tell them they have to work as prostitutes to repay their travel expenses of up to RM32,000, Chong said.

Six women from China told the Malay Mail recently of how their nightmare developed from that moment o­n.

Forced to service

They were locked in a budget hotel room and forced to service customers.

"When I refused to do it at first, I was slapped. The man told me if I didn't work, I would be starved to death and never return to China," said 25-year-old identified o­nly as Wern.

The women said that when they tried to use excuses, saying they were ill or menstruating, they were beaten up or burnt with cigarette butts.

The six girls hatched a desperate plan to flee. They unscrewed the grilles of their bedroom window, tied bedsheets to form a rope and escaped, o­ne girl spraining her ankle in the process.

Chong says this sort of scenario is quite common.

"They are locked up 24 hours a day, it's very hard for them to escape. When they do, they end up having to jump out of windows. I know four girls who had to climb out of a 27th storey window o­nce.

"Then they get into a taxi and beg the driver to take them to their embassy. Luckily, the taxi drivers all know about me, and they say 'I will send you to Michael Chong instead'".

"Last year we received 173 cases of Chinese nationals being cheated in Malaysia," Chong said. "Most of them said they were forced into prostitution.

"We have had 14 cases this month so far. The situation is going from bad to worse."

Special committee

Concern over the rising trend of foreigners involved in vice has led the government to set up a committee to study ways of combatting the problem.

The home ministry revealed last week that more than 5,100 foreigners involved in prostitution were deported last year.

The deportations included 2,155 Indonesians, 1,230 Chinese, 946 Thais, 298 Vietnamese, 189 Filipinos, 138 Uzbeks and 125 Cambodians.

When asked why China seemed to be a hotspot for the trade, he said it was due to demand.

"In the past, it was girls from Thailand. Now they are very scared of HIV, so they turned to Indonesian girls. But Filipinos can't speak Chinese, and it's quite difficult for them to come here.

"Singaporean girls are very rich, so the best place is China. They are beautiful, tall and fair, so the clients here like them," he said. - AFP