VZCZCXRO9045
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHGP #0470/01 0470412
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 160412Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8805
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 000470 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INL/HSTC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KCRM KWMN SN
SUBJECT: CHILD SEX TOURISM LAW IMMINENT? 
 
REF: A. SINGAPORE 3614 
     ¶B. SINGAPORE 3090 
     ¶C. WILLETT-CLARK EMAILS 
 
Classified By: Economic/Political Counselor Laurent D. Charbonnet 
for reasons 1.4 (d) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary.  The GOS is preparing the legislative 
measures necessary to make child sex tourism 
extraterritorially illegal, according to a local NGO.  The 
timing of the changes remains uncertain, however, given 
Parliament's current focus on the budget.  Despite 
Parliament's current heavy workload, the NGO representative 
expressed hope that the government would enact the measures 
in the next few months, and noted that in the interim the 
Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Community 
Development, Youth and Sports clearly are preparing to 
implement the law. End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) Saleemah Ismail, Vice President of the National 
Committee for Unifem, Singapore (strictly protect), told 
Emboff on February 8 that Members of Parliament and the 
Ministry of Community Development, Youth, and Sports have 
confirmed to her that the government will soon make having 
sex with underage persons abroad an offense under Singapore 
law.  Ismail expected the government would amend the Penal 
Code to enact the measure, and would do so in conjunction 
with amendments raising the minimum age of consent for 
commercial sex to 18 and lifting the ban on oral sex.  Ismail 
said that Indranee Rajah, Member of Parliament for the ruling 
PAP and chair of the Parliamentary Committee for Law (who 
spoke at Unifem and Shared Hope International's joint 
trafficking conference in Singapore last April), told her 
that she had drafted the amendments and expected to formally 
propose them in Parliament soon. 
 
¶3. (C) Ismail noted that the government has been 
non-committal on when Parliament would entertain the proposed 
amendments, and speculated that the government's current 
focus on the budget (due to be completed by early March) and 
a possible general election in the next few months might 
prevent Parliament from addressing these matters until 
summer.  Ismail was hopeful, however, that the government 
would want to address these issues before an election, as the 
child sex tourism measure appears to have significant public 
support, and the lifting of the ban on oral sex would lend 
support to the government's assertion that Singapore is 
"loosening up."  The government had previously indicated it 
would announce the changes at the end of 2005, but the 
January 2006 sitting of Parliament was completely consumed by 
investigations into a corruption scandal in a local charity 
and the resulting fallout. 
 
¶4. (C) For its part, the Ministry of Community Development, 
Youth and Sports (MCYS) is preparing its public education 
campaign to spread the message that persons engaging in sex 
with children abroad will be prosecuted at home, according to 
Ismail, who said that the posters and other materials were 
already printed and ready for distribution.  (The campaign is 
also intended to fulfill the commitment made by all ASEAN 
leaders at their summit in 2004, to do more to raise 
awareness of child sex tourism.)  Ismail said that MCYS had 
contacted Unifem for advice on placement of the 
advertisements, and she noted that Unifem has prepared its 
own campaign to complement the government's and has offered 
to coordinate with MCYS to ensure that Unifem puts its ads in 
channels in which the government cannot pay for advertising 
services, such as online sex forums. 
 
¶5. (C) Ismail added that the Ministry of Home Affairs is also 
gearing up for the enforcement of the new law.  According to 
her, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) already has several 
undercover police officers working in Batam (the primary 
destination for Singaporean sex tourists and a location where 
around one-third of prostitutes are estimated to be underage) 
to gain an understanding of the environment.  Although they 
do not yet have the legal authority to act, Ismail said that 
the SPF has worked closely with the Batam police and has 
passed on to them any leads it discovers.  She said that the 
recent creation of Riau Islands province has given the Batam 
Police more autonomy to cooperate closely with the SPF 
without Jakarta's knowledge, and pointed to the recent bust 
of a baby-selling ring in Batam (the clients were Singaporean 
couples) as a case that the SPF actually investigated, but 
let the Batam police take full credit. 
 
¶6. (C) Comment: Adoption of an extraterritorial child sex 
tourism law has been a key USG recommendation for Singapore. 
If enacted, the law will mark a major success in our efforts 
to encourage the Singapore public and government to recognize 
that child prostitution and sex-trafficking are a serious 
 
SINGAPORE 00000470  002 OF 002 
 
 
problem in the region, and that Singapore has an important 
role to play in combating such crimes.  The education 
campaign that will follow the law's passage and resulting 
increase in awareness of significant legal penalties for such 
behavior likely will help deter Singaporeans engaging in the 
underage sex trade abroad. 
HERBOLD