Prostitution in Malaysia is restricted [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] in all states despite it being widespread in the country. For 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. The Japanese were then forced to rely on Indian customers. The Japanese smeared pig lard on their brothels to stop Malay Muslim men from coming near them and using love magic on them [ 11 ].
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 , [ 7 ] and "health centres". Originally the prostitutes were locals, but there has been an influx of foreign sex workers over the last 10 years.
Most of the women trafficked from China to Thailand and Malaysia are from ethnic minorities like the Dai ethnicity from areas like the from Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan province and they are trafficked by men of their own ethnicity.
In , the Anti-Vice, Gambling and Secret Societies divisions of the police arrested 12, prostitutes throughout the country, of which 9, were foreign nationals, including 5, Chinese, 2, Thais and 1, Indonesians. In , Malaysian police announced that half of the arrested prostitutes in a police raid in Kuala Lumpur were Iranians. Some Iranian women in Malaysia became prostitutes due to financial problems.
