By Wan Ting Koh and Nigel Chin

Take a walk around the second floor of Boon Lay Shopping Centre and in less than a minute, you would find nine massage parlours along the same stretch.

Some offer traditional Thai massages while others advertise treatments that you would expect to see at hospitals, such as ovary and prostate care, rather than in the parlours’ dimly lit premises.

At the other end of the same floor is a FairPrice supermarket frequented by families with children. One shopper there, a 54-year-old insurance agent and father of two who only wanted to be known as Mr Lee, expressed disbelief when told of the number of massage parlours in the mall.

“I’m surprised that there are that many (massage parlours). I’ll be worried for my children if they were to walk past there… I don’t see a need to have so many parlours in this place,” he told Yahoo News Singapore.

Lee’s sentiment was echoed by 35-year-old Jackie Cheng, who runs a nearby mobile phone shop.

“I don’t understand why there are so many here… it’s not like this place has a lot of (human) traffic,” he said.

Over a few weeks in November, Yahoo News Singapore visited six heartland areas to observe the number of massage parlours there and the types of services they offered.

During a Parliamentary sitting on 4 November, several Members of Parliament (MPs) had raised their concerns about the high number of massage parlours in HDB estates. They were responding to efforts by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to clamp down on vice activities conducted in massage parlours, which include proposed amendments to the Massage Establishments Bill.

Foo Mee Har, MP for West Coast GRC, where the aforementioned shopping centre is located, said that “the proliferation of massage outlets in our HDB and residential estates is of significant concern for many residents”.

Residents are worried that “such outlets can be used as fronts for illicit vice activities, resulting in law and order and social problems”, Foo said.

Fatimah Lateef, MP for Marine Parade GRC, said, “I have come across seven such premises within one and a half blocks located near a private residential area and a secondary school… How did this happen? Should there be better coordination and oversight of this?”

Foo took issue with the way some of these parlours advertise their services.

“Many outlets make misleading claims about the efficacy of their massage treatments,” Foo said, pointing out treatment names such as “lymphoma detox”, “kidney-care treatment”, “ovary-care treatment” or “prostate care therapy”.

She cited a promotional pitch by one parlour, “Let our young, pretty and experienced masseuses bring back your energy, vitality and loosen up your pressure”.

View photos Massage parlours seen in Bukit Batok Central and West. (PHOTOS: Nigel Chin / Yahoo News Singapore) More

Touting amid stiff competition

Beyond Boon Lay, Yahoo News Singapore reporters found many massage parlours in other heartland areas.

In Jalan Bukit Merah Town Centre, six massage parlours were seen with a two-block radius, while in Serangoon North four massage parlours were seen located within a few blocks of each other.

Our reporters also found 13 parlours providing massage services across seven blocks outside Ang Mo Kio Hub, with two of them operating beyond midnight: Southern Spa Unisex and Zone Spa.

Most massage staff kept to their premises, but a few were found touting outside their outlets.

While some residents said there were many massage parlours, others pointed out that their presence was a result of high human traffic.

Yio Chu Kang resident Valerie Tan, 62, said there are “too many establishments” and this has led to fierce competition.

“They have foreigners offering services, I just say ‘No, thank you’,” Tan said.

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