A blind masseur demonstrates a foot massage in accordance with the SOP.
KUCHING (Dec 4): Reflexology centers and massage parlours are facing the burden of having to bear the heavy cost of sending home their foreign employees if the reopening of their business is further delayed.
“So far, many practitioners’ employees, including foreign masseurs, will have their work visas expire soon,” said Kuching Health Merchants Association, Kuching Traditional Medical Association, Traditional Herbal Medicine and Chinese Medicine Practitioners Association and Mazhong Tai Chinese Medicine Practitioners Association in a joint statement.
“They (employees) have no money to return to their home country, and risk overstaying their visas. In the current situation, the cost of returning foreign masseurs to China is about RM10,000, which many owners cannot afford,” they added.
Housing and Local Govermment Minister Dato Sri Sim Kui Hian’s comment on whether the massage parlors should be reopened, and Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah’s recent meeting with blind masseurs and practitioners has not helped to ease the situation but instead caused a lot of “unhappiness and regret”, the groups said.
At the moment, there are more than 2,000 massage parlours in Sarawak and are unable to operate.
“The practitioners, masseurs, family members, and their employees were all badly impacted by the CMCO restrictions. Their business overhead costs such as shop rent, salaries, utility bills, and living expenses all need to be settled immediately, or many practitioners will be forced to lay off their employees. Some will face bankruptcy and many local people will lose their jobs,” the groups said in the statement.
“On the contrary, there has been no Covid-19 positive case cluster from massage parlours in Malaysia, not to mention Sarawak so far, and no known cases of massage parlours being fined for not complying with the standard operating procedures (SOP).”
“Massage parlours in some areas of West Malaysia have been open since July, followed by Sabah until now. These practitioners and their massage parlours have been following the strict SOPs and the relevant ministry’s instructions during the MCO and CMCO periods.”
The group is now appealing to the state’s local government agencies and the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) to consider allowing massage parlours to resume business.
They also hope to have a dialogue meeting with the state government on countermeasures apart from providing justifications for their current critical conditions.
“If the government has to order the closure of massage parlours, the government should consider providing relief like what they did for the other industries, like hawkers.
“Ultimately, we are asking for the government to listen and understand the difficulties we are facing now due to the unprecedented situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We know Gabungan Parti Sarawak government has done a good job and is successful in containing the spread of Covid-19 virus in Sarawak. We appreciate that and are very thankful for the able and prompt government actions.
“We are eager to return to our regular life and earning our living once again like before,” they added.