Food for thought for CLEAN Singapore.

Prostitution is permitted. Indeed that's one of the great ironies of Asia: prostitution is permitted in Singapore but is illegal in Bangkok. But pimping, soliciting and streetwalking are not permitted. Pimping can attract stiff penalties including lengthy jail terms. But prostitutes who are registered are quite able to work in licensed brothels that operate openly in Singapore's Designated Red-light Areas (DRAs), of which there are about six in which as many as 400 licensed brothels operate. The principal DRAs are located in Geylang, Flanders Square, Keong Saik Road and Desker Road. Additionally, escort services and private callgirls are permitted... Prostitutes are required to register and carry a Yellow Card supplied by the Government. It is the same size and in the same style as a national identity card and carries the holder's photograph and thumb print. Card holders are required to submit to a health check every two weeks.

Prostitution is apparent even on Orchard Road. The Orchard Towers complex, right on Singapore's premier shopping strip, has earned the moniker The Four Floors of Whores. It's not a DRA, but you wouldn't know it. It has several discos that cater mostly to a Filipino crowd. Massage parlours and KTV lounges that specialise in mainland Chinese prostitutes also operate from the building.

The Singapore Government bans movies such as Eyes Wide Shut and Lolita on account of their "pornographic" content. It bans magazines such as Playboy too. And yet pornographic DVDs are readily available in the city's many red-light districts. Sex toys and pornographic magazines too are sold most evenings from lean-to stalls along Desker Road in Singapore's Little India district. Indeed, Desker Road is the only place in Asia that I've seen child pornography available for sale. This in a red-light district that's licensed by the Government.

Some point to widespread rumours in Singapore that a prominent local political figure maintains a boyfriend across the causeway in the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru as one reason for the apparent liberalisation.

But that is what happens when you have the tight media controls that the Singapore Government insists upon: people create their own news and are willing to believe anything once the established media has lost its credibility.

More likely, it all points to the lengths to which Singapore will go to stay afloat, given that it is a small economy that's feeling the heat. The Nation Party received almost no coverage in the Government-controlled local media, but it was reported widely in the region.

And that's exactly what the Singapore Government seems to want: to appear disapproving of all this to the point of keeping homosexual acts banned, while making money from it on the side as visitors flock in to attend the festivities. It's hypocritical of course. But in Singapore, hypocrisy, at least, is not a crime.

So much for clean and green nation, suckaaaaas!!!