Then times got tough. With her husband's salary not being "high enough", and to support her three children, she decided to stop being a housewife, and turned to a job she was familiar with, having once done it in China. To her family, Coco not her real name , 43, has been the boss of her own small, one-woman massage parlour for five years. Of late, Coco has had more to fear. Most recently available figures show the number of illegal massage parlours increasing by 40 per cent from to Vanessa Ho, who heads local sex worker rights group Project X, said that just by walking the ground, she had observed an increase in the number of targeted raids on massage parlours.
Along Lavender Street, which is in Mr Heng's ward, there are at least four recently-shuttered massage establishments. With signage still intact, they stand directly in front of the Bendemeer Light estate. A resident of four years there, Teresa, 38, has seen plenty of skimpily-dressed women openly walking around and hanging their clothes out to dry.
On nearby Cavan Road, raided by police just last month, a lone massage establishment can be found - and seemingly closed for good, with its interior left in disarray as seen through the glass door. Just issue everyone licences. But while ongoing attempts to shut down the illegal businesses are creating nervousness among their owners, eradicating the problem once and for all may be a challenge. Ho explained that with each raid, foreign workers lacking proper documentation will be deported and blacklisted from coming back.
Agents and pimps benefit the most because they earn new batches of agent fees. And the clients return for more. But what's next? Where will they be displaced to? And for how long more can we play this cat and mouse game? Coco agreed. All these operations are completely useless.
Local massage parlour owner Sonia also not her real name , 55, blamed the stiffer laws on these foreigners. A single mother, Sonia turned to the massage industry 20 years ago. She said that her employees offer "basic" sexual services of their own accord.
