Prostitution in Malaysia
Prostitution in Malaysia is restricted in all states despite it being widespread in the country. Related activities such as soliciting and brothels are illegal. In the two states of Terengganu and Kelantan, Muslims convicted of prostitution may be punishable with public caning. There were an estimated 150,000 prostitutes in Malaysia in 2014 and that the country's sex trade generated US$963 million. History For 200 years, except in wartime, prostitution was only apparent in small areas of George Town, Ipoh, Johor Bahru, Kuantan and Kuala Lumpur, serving loggers, tin miners and sailors. During the Japanese occupation of Malaya in the Second World War, the Japanese set up a number of brothels for their troops to "prevent the rape of local women by Japanese soldiers, to limit anti-Japanese resistance in the occupied area, to protect the soldiers from venereal disease and to avoid international disgrace". Many local women between 17 and 28 were forced to work in the brothels, employed as what were euphemistically termed "comfort women". Starting at the end of the 20th century, prostitution has spread over the rest of Malaysia, particularly in the form of massage parlours, and "health centres". Foreign prostitutes in Malaysia Originally the prostitutes were locals,