SINGAPORE: It was during National Service when “Michael” had his first taste of KTV revelry.
“We were so into sex … so hyper,” he recalled. “In camp … (we’d) keep discussing, ‘Weekend … go where?’”
It is a common origins story among regulars at KTVs — not the family-friendly karaoke clubs but the bars where, in Michael’s words, “definitely you can get (a girl), even if you’re not handsome”.
And the girls he is referring to are hostesses, paid companions who drink and talk with male customers.
Insiders estimate that before COVID-19, there were at least 600 of these bars operating in Singapore. Then they were shut, together with other nightlife outlets.
A KTV bar shuttered during the pandemic.
Now with the resumption of nightlife businesses from this week, all eyes are on the industry to see whether it can bounce back.
But there remains considerable uncertainty about the future of KTVs in particular. Hostess services, which are at the heart of these bars, have not been allowed since the onset of the pandemic.
The programme Undercover Asia finds out more about Singapore’s adults-only KTV world — what went on before and what still goes on behind closed doors.
With all the alcohol and bevies of women, a picture of hedonistic excesses might come to mind.
But according to the regulars Undercover Asia spoke to, the KTV system is governed by strict rules. Hostesses are disciplined timekeepers, for example, as they flit in and out of multiple rooms each night, spending 15 minutes with each customer at any one stretch.
With hostesses entertaining customers, there is not always a lot of singing in the rooms.
What they do during that time depends on the type of KTV in which the hostess is operating.
At low-end KTVs, the women will only drink with customers and make conversation, and the tip would be around S$30. “They’d listen to your complaints, and then (the most) you can do (is) ask them (out) for supper,” said Michael. “After that, bye-bye.”
At the opposite end of the spectrum, women who drink and socialise with business clients can expect S$500 to S$600 per tip.
Michael said he has witnessed KTV high rollers even splurge tens of thousands of dollars on the room, drinks and hostess tips — all to impress their business companions.
Enter the high rollers.
“Chatting with somebody who’s really rich isn’t easy, so all these girls … are really smart,” he said. “You talk to (the business companion), make him feel very comfortable, I clinch the deal — your tip will be S$2,000 instead of S$600.”
The amount a hostess can earn also depends on her age, he added. “Usually, at all these high-end (lounges) … if you still look good, dress (well), maybe you can — (at the) maximum — stay until (age) 25,” he said. “Then you drop a tier.”
At mid-tier KTVs, the average market rate for a tip is S$50, and a hostess could bring in S$300 worth of tips in a night. What this S$50 buys a customer — such as a touch (and where exactly), a kiss, or more — depends on the lounge, said another regular, “Luke”.
But the KTVs are not brothels, according to the regulars. Although some hostesses may choose to offer sex for money to the men they favour, any such encounters take place off duty and outside the KTV setting.
What a customer gets for his tip depends on the KTV.
Within the confines of the bar, the experience is “like a paid date of sorts”, said Luke.
“First, you start with some toasts, (then) you sweet-talk the girl. And when alcohol makes (everyone) loosened up … the lady will ask you the golden question: ‘Do you want to go somewhere more intimate?’”
What “excites” the men, he added, is that “they don’t know whether they’ll be able to bring the hostess to a hotel room at the end of the session”.
A hostess might have “six or seven people” eyeing her in a night — all willing to pay the same price — reckoned Michael. “She’ll choose the one she has better feelings (for),” he said. For men looking for sex, his advice is “it’s better to camp (out) in Geylang”.
The faint prospects for sex aside, the appeal of KTVs lies in companionship for some men.
“Not every man is … handsome. Not every man is … charismatic or rich,” said Luke. “Where are you going to fill that void? They need an avenue where they can find another half, who’s willing to sit with (them).
“We can't stand being lonely.”
Michael concurred. “When your heart’s broken, who’d you like to talk to — same gender or opposite sex?” he cited. “(You) go (to the) KTV to have someone hugging you, telling you, ‘Don’t worry, next time will be better.’”
In fact, he met his current wife of four years at a KTV, after his first marriage ended in divorce.
But not everyone has had a happy ending.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 “KTV cluster” last July, the police came down hard on KTVs offering singing and hostess services — both illegal at the time.
“Denise” was swept up during the enforcement checks and arrested a week after the outbreak for working illegally. She shared her story with local non-governmental organisation Project X just before she was deported back to Vietnam.
As the main breadwinner in her family of seven, she had gone to Ho Chi Minh City in 2019 to work in a bar. But she was enticed to come to Singapore by an online recruiter.
“I wanted to make enough money so that when I have children, they can go to university, have a career and not do a dishonest job like (mine),” she told Project X.
Besides online channels, Ho Chi Minh City’s bars, massage parlours and cafes are perfect hunting grounds for recruiters — sometimes former KTV hostesses — looking to lure poor rural women with the promise of earning a small fortune within 30 days.
“Working at KTV in Singapore, they can earn five to 10 times more than in Vietnam,” said manager Pham Truong Son of the Tinh Than Foundation, which works with marginalised communities in Ho Chi Minh City.
“Moreover, when they go to Singapore, no one knows who they are. Their families don’t know what they’re doing.”
Son noted that ever since Singapore and Vietnam started 30-day visa-free travel nearly two decades ago, there has been a trend involving young women from the Mekong Delta provinces who come to Ho Chi Minh City before transiting to Singapore.
“There are always glamorous stories told by people who moved to Singapore to work,” he said.
Thus, many of these hostesses in Singapore arrived on short-term passes that allowed them to stay in the country for 30 days but not to work.
The recruiters in Vietnam partner with brokers in Singapore who also can be former hostesses. For between S$1,000 and S$3,000, they will provide women with a tourist package that includes the flight, money for an airport taxi, a cheap place to stay and a S$700 one-day-only cash loan.
This is, according to research fellow Nicolas Lainez from the Research Institute for Development, so they can pass muster during Singapore’s border checks. He spent six months conducting field research in Singapore in 2015 — and learnt the tricks of the trade from living with a Vietnamese mama-san and her girls.
“They can be asked by ICA (Immigration and Checkpoint Authority) officials to show that they have enough money,” he said. “If there’s a suspicion, they ask (the women) to open their luggage. If they carry many sexy clothes … (enough) for a month, that’s very suspicious, and they might be rejected.”
To circumvent this, the women often bought a one-week return ticket. “If they are asked by an ICA officer, they say, ‘I’m just coming here for a week. You see my luggage — there’s almost nothing,’” he said.
Paying for this immigration package once would buy women membership into a “discount club” of sorts. For instance, said Lainez, a woman on this package would stay a month in Singapore, repay the broker after 10 days and any other money she makes for the remaining 20 days would be her profit.
Three months later, she would return to Singapore.
“She only needs to make a phone call or send a message to the broker … and the broker would provide the ticket, show money and accommodation at a much lower price than the immigration package,” he said. “It will be S$150 or S$200 for the ticket, and accommodation is always S$10 a day.”
Before the pandemic, hostesses could apply for the work permit for performing artistes, which allowed them to work in public entertainment outlets like bars and lounges. Valid for up to six months, it is only for jobs related to stage performance, such as singing and dancing.
However, a parliamentary reply last July from the Manpower Ministry disclosed that fewer than 50 foreign hostesses in Singapore’s nightlife outlets held valid work passes. In comparison, some insiders estimate that there were at least 3,000 hostesses employed in KTVs before the pandemic.
But working outside the law means the hostesses can be vulnerable.
Former KTV hostess ‘Wendy’ has had customers try to take her clothes off. Some would hold her down, and not let her go.
“I will shout, and if there are friends working together, they will help us and pull him out,” she said.
Executive director of Project X Vanessa Ho also highlighted cases where women were made to drink so much alcohol that they blacked out. “Some of them come to us and say … they don’t know what happened the night before and ask for an STI check … there is no recourse,” she said.
The pandemic and forced closure of such KTV lounges has only made the situation worse for the women. For one, it has driven KTVs underground.
Despite regular KTV activities like singing and hostessing being banned, Undercover Asia understands that demand for hostesses is still going strong – far outstripping supply.
“The mass arrests of short-term visit passholders left a vacuum in the industry,” said Ho. “The demand won’t go away just because there aren’t any more hostesses in Singapore.”
Another longtime KTV regular “Julian” has noticed a shift in business operations since the height of the pandemic: While some KTV bars masquerade as bistros, others have moved into industrial and residential areas, with information being shared via Telegram chat groups.
These underground KTVs, he said, operate in office spaces, landed properties, condominiums and even HDB flats.
“The moment you’re in, you can see over 10,000 members,” he said, adding that he is “not surprised” that messages are still being posted “so openly” on platforms despite the services offered being illegal.
“Even before COVID, these avenues of discussion of such sensitive topics have been around,” he said. “Even in this period now, I don't think anything would really deter them.”
A new business model that has gained popularity recently – hostessing one-on-one at private homes. This is known as “outcall hostessing”, which is more lucrative – but also more dangerous.
“In the KTVs, you can still run away and shout for help,” said Julian. “But imagine you’re walking into a house unit of a person – she’s entirely helpless.”
“If a lady agrees to go, she’d better be damn sure she can protect herself.”
Some women, said Project X’s Ho, have also had to resort to full-service sex work, which might mean they may not know how to negotiate condom use. Since the pandemic, Project X has stepped up their efforts to reach out to these women.
Nightlife establishments – including KTVs - were given the green light to reopen from Apr 19. But hostessing services are still banned.
However, it is still too early to tell what the industry would look like after reopening – and is it time to overhaul the industry?
“We often think about how we can protect the businesses,” said Ho. “But we never thought about the hostesses and waitresses in these spaces.”
“How do we protect the workers when nightlife opens again, and how do we protect the workers who have been forced underground?”
Continue reading...
“We were so into sex … so hyper,” he recalled. “In camp … (we’d) keep discussing, ‘Weekend … go where?’”
It is a common origins story among regulars at KTVs — not the family-friendly karaoke clubs but the bars where, in Michael’s words, “definitely you can get (a girl), even if you’re not handsome”.
And the girls he is referring to are hostesses, paid companions who drink and talk with male customers.
Insiders estimate that before COVID-19, there were at least 600 of these bars operating in Singapore. Then they were shut, together with other nightlife outlets.
A KTV bar shuttered during the pandemic.
Now with the resumption of nightlife businesses from this week, all eyes are on the industry to see whether it can bounce back.
But there remains considerable uncertainty about the future of KTVs in particular. Hostess services, which are at the heart of these bars, have not been allowed since the onset of the pandemic.
The programme Undercover Asia finds out more about Singapore’s adults-only KTV world — what went on before and what still goes on behind closed doors.
THE KTV PLAYBOOK
With all the alcohol and bevies of women, a picture of hedonistic excesses might come to mind.
But according to the regulars Undercover Asia spoke to, the KTV system is governed by strict rules. Hostesses are disciplined timekeepers, for example, as they flit in and out of multiple rooms each night, spending 15 minutes with each customer at any one stretch.
With hostesses entertaining customers, there is not always a lot of singing in the rooms.
What they do during that time depends on the type of KTV in which the hostess is operating.
At low-end KTVs, the women will only drink with customers and make conversation, and the tip would be around S$30. “They’d listen to your complaints, and then (the most) you can do (is) ask them (out) for supper,” said Michael. “After that, bye-bye.”
At the opposite end of the spectrum, women who drink and socialise with business clients can expect S$500 to S$600 per tip.
Michael said he has witnessed KTV high rollers even splurge tens of thousands of dollars on the room, drinks and hostess tips — all to impress their business companions.
Enter the high rollers.
“Chatting with somebody who’s really rich isn’t easy, so all these girls … are really smart,” he said. “You talk to (the business companion), make him feel very comfortable, I clinch the deal — your tip will be S$2,000 instead of S$600.”
The amount a hostess can earn also depends on her age, he added. “Usually, at all these high-end (lounges) … if you still look good, dress (well), maybe you can — (at the) maximum — stay until (age) 25,” he said. “Then you drop a tier.”
At mid-tier KTVs, the average market rate for a tip is S$50, and a hostess could bring in S$300 worth of tips in a night. What this S$50 buys a customer — such as a touch (and where exactly), a kiss, or more — depends on the lounge, said another regular, “Luke”.
But the KTVs are not brothels, according to the regulars. Although some hostesses may choose to offer sex for money to the men they favour, any such encounters take place off duty and outside the KTV setting.
What a customer gets for his tip depends on the KTV.
Within the confines of the bar, the experience is “like a paid date of sorts”, said Luke.
“First, you start with some toasts, (then) you sweet-talk the girl. And when alcohol makes (everyone) loosened up … the lady will ask you the golden question: ‘Do you want to go somewhere more intimate?’”
What “excites” the men, he added, is that “they don’t know whether they’ll be able to bring the hostess to a hotel room at the end of the session”.
A hostess might have “six or seven people” eyeing her in a night — all willing to pay the same price — reckoned Michael. “She’ll choose the one she has better feelings (for),” he said. For men looking for sex, his advice is “it’s better to camp (out) in Geylang”.
The faint prospects for sex aside, the appeal of KTVs lies in companionship for some men.
“Not every man is … handsome. Not every man is … charismatic or rich,” said Luke. “Where are you going to fill that void? They need an avenue where they can find another half, who’s willing to sit with (them).
“We can't stand being lonely.”
Michael concurred. “When your heart’s broken, who’d you like to talk to — same gender or opposite sex?” he cited. “(You) go (to the) KTV to have someone hugging you, telling you, ‘Don’t worry, next time will be better.’”
In fact, he met his current wife of four years at a KTV, after his first marriage ended in divorce.
THE LABOUR SUPPLY
But not everyone has had a happy ending.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 “KTV cluster” last July, the police came down hard on KTVs offering singing and hostess services — both illegal at the time.
“Denise” was swept up during the enforcement checks and arrested a week after the outbreak for working illegally. She shared her story with local non-governmental organisation Project X just before she was deported back to Vietnam.
As the main breadwinner in her family of seven, she had gone to Ho Chi Minh City in 2019 to work in a bar. But she was enticed to come to Singapore by an online recruiter.
“I wanted to make enough money so that when I have children, they can go to university, have a career and not do a dishonest job like (mine),” she told Project X.
Besides online channels, Ho Chi Minh City’s bars, massage parlours and cafes are perfect hunting grounds for recruiters — sometimes former KTV hostesses — looking to lure poor rural women with the promise of earning a small fortune within 30 days.
“Working at KTV in Singapore, they can earn five to 10 times more than in Vietnam,” said manager Pham Truong Son of the Tinh Than Foundation, which works with marginalised communities in Ho Chi Minh City.
“Moreover, when they go to Singapore, no one knows who they are. Their families don’t know what they’re doing.”
Son noted that ever since Singapore and Vietnam started 30-day visa-free travel nearly two decades ago, there has been a trend involving young women from the Mekong Delta provinces who come to Ho Chi Minh City before transiting to Singapore.
“There are always glamorous stories told by people who moved to Singapore to work,” he said.
Thus, many of these hostesses in Singapore arrived on short-term passes that allowed them to stay in the country for 30 days but not to work.
The recruiters in Vietnam partner with brokers in Singapore who also can be former hostesses. For between S$1,000 and S$3,000, they will provide women with a tourist package that includes the flight, money for an airport taxi, a cheap place to stay and a S$700 one-day-only cash loan.
This is, according to research fellow Nicolas Lainez from the Research Institute for Development, so they can pass muster during Singapore’s border checks. He spent six months conducting field research in Singapore in 2015 — and learnt the tricks of the trade from living with a Vietnamese mama-san and her girls.
“They can be asked by ICA (Immigration and Checkpoint Authority) officials to show that they have enough money,” he said. “If there’s a suspicion, they ask (the women) to open their luggage. If they carry many sexy clothes … (enough) for a month, that’s very suspicious, and they might be rejected.”
To circumvent this, the women often bought a one-week return ticket. “If they are asked by an ICA officer, they say, ‘I’m just coming here for a week. You see my luggage — there’s almost nothing,’” he said.
Paying for this immigration package once would buy women membership into a “discount club” of sorts. For instance, said Lainez, a woman on this package would stay a month in Singapore, repay the broker after 10 days and any other money she makes for the remaining 20 days would be her profit.
Three months later, she would return to Singapore.
“She only needs to make a phone call or send a message to the broker … and the broker would provide the ticket, show money and accommodation at a much lower price than the immigration package,” he said. “It will be S$150 or S$200 for the ticket, and accommodation is always S$10 a day.”
Before the pandemic, hostesses could apply for the work permit for performing artistes, which allowed them to work in public entertainment outlets like bars and lounges. Valid for up to six months, it is only for jobs related to stage performance, such as singing and dancing.
However, a parliamentary reply last July from the Manpower Ministry disclosed that fewer than 50 foreign hostesses in Singapore’s nightlife outlets held valid work passes. In comparison, some insiders estimate that there were at least 3,000 hostesses employed in KTVs before the pandemic.
GOING UNDERGROUND
But working outside the law means the hostesses can be vulnerable.
Former KTV hostess ‘Wendy’ has had customers try to take her clothes off. Some would hold her down, and not let her go.
“I will shout, and if there are friends working together, they will help us and pull him out,” she said.
Executive director of Project X Vanessa Ho also highlighted cases where women were made to drink so much alcohol that they blacked out. “Some of them come to us and say … they don’t know what happened the night before and ask for an STI check … there is no recourse,” she said.
The pandemic and forced closure of such KTV lounges has only made the situation worse for the women. For one, it has driven KTVs underground.
Despite regular KTV activities like singing and hostessing being banned, Undercover Asia understands that demand for hostesses is still going strong – far outstripping supply.
“The mass arrests of short-term visit passholders left a vacuum in the industry,” said Ho. “The demand won’t go away just because there aren’t any more hostesses in Singapore.”
Another longtime KTV regular “Julian” has noticed a shift in business operations since the height of the pandemic: While some KTV bars masquerade as bistros, others have moved into industrial and residential areas, with information being shared via Telegram chat groups.
These underground KTVs, he said, operate in office spaces, landed properties, condominiums and even HDB flats.
“The moment you’re in, you can see over 10,000 members,” he said, adding that he is “not surprised” that messages are still being posted “so openly” on platforms despite the services offered being illegal.
“Even before COVID, these avenues of discussion of such sensitive topics have been around,” he said. “Even in this period now, I don't think anything would really deter them.”
A new business model that has gained popularity recently – hostessing one-on-one at private homes. This is known as “outcall hostessing”, which is more lucrative – but also more dangerous.
“In the KTVs, you can still run away and shout for help,” said Julian. “But imagine you’re walking into a house unit of a person – she’s entirely helpless.”
“If a lady agrees to go, she’d better be damn sure she can protect herself.”
Some women, said Project X’s Ho, have also had to resort to full-service sex work, which might mean they may not know how to negotiate condom use. Since the pandemic, Project X has stepped up their efforts to reach out to these women.
Nightlife establishments – including KTVs - were given the green light to reopen from Apr 19. But hostessing services are still banned.
However, it is still too early to tell what the industry would look like after reopening – and is it time to overhaul the industry?
“We often think about how we can protect the businesses,” said Ho. “But we never thought about the hostesses and waitresses in these spaces.”
“How do we protect the workers when nightlife opens again, and how do we protect the workers who have been forced underground?”
Continue reading...