No licence to massage

In a three-day, island-wide operation that began last Friday and lasted until Sunday, scores of plain-clothes police officers conducted surprise checks on 129 massage parlours in the heartlands, of which 37 were caught operating without a valid licence.

In total, 77 foreign workers — from China, Malaysia and Thailand — were arrested for offences under either the Immigration Act or the Employment of Foreign Workers Act.

Operators of the other 92 parlours were also advised by the police to remove curtains and partitions that obstructed their shops from the view of the public.

They were also all issued reminders to register their businesses with the Police Licensing Division before the Aug 26 deadline.

If only one good thing could come out of this, it is that those jobs can now be filled up by Singaporeans like they should have been in the first place.

But it's not as easy as it seems? Do Singaporeans want to fill up those jobs anyway? And will there be enough job openings now that many of the massage parlours are closing down in response to this new ruling?