KUALA LUMPUR: Forty-nine Indian women were among thousands of foreign sex workers arrested in Malaysia this year for engaging in prostitution, says a report released Sunday that speaks of growing demand for prostitutes in this Southeast Asian nation.
The number was as high as 245 in 2008, up from only 18 in 2007, as per official statistics on foreign women prostitutes.
Police statistics show a consistent number of foreign women arrested since 2007 for prostitution.
A total of 4,379 women from China were arrested for the vice in 2007, more than half the total figure. This rose to 4,496 last year, while 4,329 were arrested as of October this year.
In 2007, 1,181 Indonesian women were nabbed, 1,389 in 2008, and 1,382 as of October.
"The demand for women from China is the highest as men find their fair skin and statuesque figures attractive," an unidentified source was quoted by the New Straits Times.
China is followed by women from Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam. India stands sixth on the list.
Commenting on the social phenomenon, Women's Aid Organisation vice president Vicky Alahakono said one of the reasons for this steady demand is apparently busy, career-chasing wives.
The wives were partly to blame for their men straying as they had unwittingly "abandoned" their husbands while trying to juggle careers and the household.
"Some husbands seek prostitutes to escape the dreariness of their daily lives by injecting some excitement into their mundane routines. It's like going out for dinner and having an exotic meal. Then, feeling full and satiated, they go home to the wife and kids," he said.
"There are also married couples who do not communicate well, especially when it comes to sexual intimacy."
A Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey last year showed that four in five Malaysians had sex on a weekly basis, and 35 percent three times or more in a week.
"Our men are head and shoulders above the rest of the world when it comes to frequency, but it has emerged that many are fulfilling their sexual desires with prostitutes, especially foreign ones," the newspaper said.