Buzz at suspected KTV outlet in Bugis despite ban on nightlife establishments
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...bugis-despite-ban-on-nightlife-establishments
Male patrons and a woman leave the secret KTV along North Bridge Road.
PUBLISHED
4 HOURS AGO
FacebookTwitter
SINGAPORE - Once the restaurants and shops on the ground floor close for business each night at 10.30pm, Bugis Point in North Bridge Road goes quiet.
After midnight, though, small groups of men and women occasionally stumble out from the side of the building, some visibly intoxicated, allegedly after a night out at a KTV lounge in the building.
Nightlife outlets such as discotheques and KTV lounges have been banned from operating since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but this outlet seems to be thriving.
On one weekday night, all the KTV rooms in the outlet seemed to be fully booked.
Patrons who spoke to The Straits Times on condition of anonymity said the KTV lounge - said to occupy six storeys of the building - has been in business for at least three months. Guests are vetted and granted entry "only by invitation", or if they are recognised by the counter manager.
SPH Brightcove Video
Responding to queries, a spokesman for the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) said on Thursday (Jan 20): "Pubs, bars, nightclubs, discotheques and karaoke lounges (collectively known as nightlife establishments) have not been allowed to operate in their original form since March 2020, as their activities pose a significantly higher risk of Covid-19 transmission.
"The cluster outbreak at pivoted nightlife establishments in 2021 reinforced this point.
"For errant pivoted nightlife establishments, breaches include allowing patrons to intermingle within the premises (for example, large group gatherings across multiple tables), providing alcohol after 10.30pm, allowing hostesses to masquerade as customers, and providing live entertainment (for example, live singing and dancing, playing of musical instruments) and games (for example, dice and billiards).
"The Government takes a strong stand against the breach of safe management measures (SMMs) and will continue to carry out firm enforcement actions against errant establishments."
Last July, a cluster of 253 Covid-19 cases emerged among a clutch of KTV outlets that had pivoted to be food and beverage outlets, after Vietnamese social hostesses frequented these lounges. Hostess services have been banned since 2020.
Last month, the police said 28 licensed and unlicensed public entertainment and nightlife outlets were found to have committed offences under the Public Entertainments Act, the Liquor Control (Supply and Consumption) Act 2015 and the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) (Control Order) Regulations 2020.
Investigations against 160 people, including staff, operators and patrons, are ongoing.
Illegal outlets station spotters and place closed-circuit TV cameras at strategic locations to keep an eye out for the authorities.
Mr Gary Haris, honorary secretary at the Association of Certified Security Agencies, said illegal KTV operators are now employing such measures to get ahead of any raid.
Aside from lookouts and CCTV cameras at the front of Bugis Point building, the hostesses from the KTV lounge there make use of a fire escape staircase to move from one level to another.
Patrons who stay well past midnight are able to leave discreetly via the fire-escape door.
Mr Haris, 43, told ST: "Most KTV lounges have started to go underground to evade the authorities... In order not to alert the building security, they try many ways to covertly enter and exit the KTV lounges."
Over the last few weeks, ST observed patrons of the KTV lounge entering the premises from 5pm onwards.
A female counter manager used a walkie-talkie to alert staff about guests arriving. A manned lift took them to the assigned floor.
Inside the KTV rooms, patrons and hostesses mingled freely as they drank, smoked and sang.
All the KTV rooms are on Levels 3 to 5 and there are between six and eight rooms on each floor.
There is a stage and a dance floor, the size of half a basketball court, on Level 6.
There is no digital SafeEntry check-in system at the ground level or in the KTV rooms, which are all monitored by CCTV cameras.
In the KTV rooms, there were between five and seven people, including hostesses who entertained the male guests by singing and playing drinking games. In return, the women were given tips.
KTV staff entered the rooms approximately every 20 minutes to check if more drinks and food were needed.
While most of the staff wore masks, the patrons and hostesses were often seen not wearing them.
The partying is known to go on till past midnight.
At closing time, the patrons and hostesses exit the building using a fire-escape exit door that can be opened only from the inside.
As at Tuesday, 870 F&B outlets have been fined for breaching SMMs, said the MSE.
They include pivoted nightlife establishments. More than 470 F&B outlets have been suspended in the same period.
