Flames Of The Underworld
By Ignatius Stephen

Bandar Seri Begawan - "HEY, sir!" The woman's voice came from across the street. It was still dark.

You could make out three figures along the shop pavement opposite. It was well past midnight. There was nobody around. Everything was closed.

"Sir, do you have a minute?" she asked again. Your curiosity aroused you to go across. You really had not foreseen this.

Two were women and the other was a man. As you approached, you could make them out more. One woman was young and other was fat and older. The younger one, perhaps about 25 seemed quite shy. She kept hiding the lower part of her face with a white scarf as she looked around in a furtive manner and seemed anxious that no one should recognise her.

She was dressed simply in a plain dull brown sarong and an ordinary white top. Not at all dressed to kill. In fact, a simple kampong lass, you tended to think. Poor girl, she seemed embarrassed; a reluctant participant' in the transaction that followed.

The older woman was bolder. She surveyed you from head to -foot. You felt that you were some sort of merchandise put out on sale.

The man, on the other hand, just stood silent. He tried to give the impression of a mere onlooker. You were returning that night to your car after meeting a visiting foreign journalist who had booked into the hotel nearby.

We talked and when you finally left it was really late. We hadn't met for ages and there was a lot to catch up. And time passed quickly. And now this unexpected encounter in the street in Brunei was somewhat intriguing.

And the older woman didn't waste much time. She went straight to the point.

"You want woman? You want her?" she asked, pointing to the young woman.

At this, the girl visibly cringed. It was very obvious that this game was something new to her.

Nevertheless, the fat mama continued, "If you want her $100 only." In her breathless enthusiasm, she spoke a pitch too high. Obviously taken aback, you looked at them: The pushy pimp and her hard sell, the man trying to look unconcerned, who was perhaps the mastermind, and the young woman attempting her best to hide her confusion.

A most unlikely sales team, you couldn't help thinking. Now, how do you get out of this situation without appearing to be rude? You do not have, for sure, much pity for the mama-san nor for the man who obviously was a procurer lying low. But you do feel a tinge for the young woman who perhaps is not aware of what she was getting into.

In fact you try to suppress your downright hostility for the two hustlers who, it appeared, to be the dastardly characters trying to live on immoral earnings.

But you do not have the time to give them a lecture on morality nor to alert the authorities. So you move on saying, "Well, next time." To your relief there is no hassle. "Ok, "says the woman glumly.

And as a parting shot, she shouts as you rapidly move off, "We'll wait for you tomorrow. Same time, same place."

You thank your lucky stars. Unlike in certain parts of Bangkok or elsewhere where they would pester you to no end, it is soft sell here.

Nevertheless, the problem is beginning to manifest itself in Brunei although it remains mostly manageable.

The flames of the underworld is only starting to lick the surface although given the circumstance the embers could burst into full fire anytime soon.

As the country progresses it is inescapable that it would carry the less desirable aspects of modern day trends, which include prostitution and other vices.

But with the few exceptions, local females have been spared.

The encounter outside the hotel is one sign. And there are already rumours of isolated incidents of local girls soliciting. .

Unemployment is another factor. But good family upbringing and a sound religious education enhancing sound morals could help to arrest the slide.

Even in an affluent conservative country like Japan, young girls are starting to ply the trade.

A shocked Japanese social research worker writes, "Tonight I saw it again. Japanese high school girls trying to sell sex.

The girls can get big sums of money for doing this, the incentive is of course the money. The girls wore the garment that has totally taken over the kimono's popularity; the miniskirt.

"Foreigners who come to Japan for a short period of time won't notice this.

"If you go to Thailand, you will see fat old Germans and Norwegians on the beach with Thai children on their laps.

Foreigners are disgusted by this. For example the high AIDS rate, unemployment, crime and so on are results of such decadence.

Reading this, Brunei, so far spared, should keep a look out. But money, like in Japan and everywhere else, is very often the lure.

And with our habit of getting easy money and the growing sense of materialism, our young are only one step away from the underworld. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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