According to Josephine Teo, Second Minister for Home Affairs, open-concept massage parlors must comply with specific conditions so that they will not be used for vice, even if these parlors do not need licenses to operate.
The conditions are as follows: operating hours must only be from 7:00 in the morning until 10:30 at night, no areas or rooms for private massages, and the parlor’s entrances and windows cannot be hidden from view, as M. Peo explained in an answer to MP Yee Chia Hsing.
Massages are performed in clear sight of the public in open-concept massage parlors. Ms. Teo reiterated, however, that if the management of these parlors do not comply with these conditions st, the establishments run a higher risk and must then apply for a massage establishment license.
The question Mr. Yee asked concerned allowing massage parlors that have a low risk for vice to extend their hours of operation past 10:30pm, since this is the busiest time for this kind of establishment.
Ms. Teo relied that extending operating hours would necessitate an application for a license, as well as a request for longer hours. She further said that the time limits were put in place because some massage parlors are located near people’s homes. Ms. Teo said that police would be checking the establishment operator’s records of compliance with conditions set, as well as request for feedback from the communities where the parlors are located.
A netizen commented concerning how easy it is to resolve the questions brought up in Parliament