`Syndicates exploiting Indian girls in Malaysia’

KUALA LUMPUR - Syndicates are targeting Indian teenaged girls, luring them to take pictures or videos of themselves, blackmailing them into having sex and forcing some into prostitution, an official of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) has alleged.

C. Sivarajah, youth secretary of the MIC, the country’s largest party of ethnic Indians, claimed that his findings revealed that groups were targeting schoolgirls as young as 16, promising them love and marriage before duping them into posing naked.

“After taking their nude pictures and videos, the girls were made to do whatever the guy wanted. Otherwise, their pictures would be uploaded on the Internet or circulated to others,” he told the New Straits Times in an interview.

The syndicates were local, mostly based in Rawang, Selangor, with one or two in Johor state, where the presence of the ethnic Indians is high.

Malaysia is home to 2.1 million Indians, a bulk of them Tamils, who settled here during the British era.

MIC is a constituent of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional. Based on its findings, the MIC youth wing said it had received cases of girls being forced into prostitution after their nude pictures were taken.

Sivarajah said the youth wing had tried to help the victims by approaching and negotiating with the men who took the pictures.

“But by the time the victims came to us for help, it would have been too late and their pictures would already be circulating via MMS (multimedia messaging service).”

He added that there have been cases of parents complaining that police allegedly did not take their complaints seriously.

“We urge the police to take this matter seriously. We are willing to work with anyone who can help solve this issue, which is increasingly becoming a big problem among young people today.

“It is not difficult to trace or hunt the men behind the pictures and videos. The question is, are the authorities willing to do it?”

Sivarajah said parents should warn their children of such dangers and tactics by unscrupulous men who prey on vulnerable women.