"Singapore is currently in the midst of its largest domestic COVID surge, with 192 cases directly linked to an outbreak centered around the country's karaoke lounges, known as KTVs."
asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/The-in…
asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/The-in…
"Most of these KTVs are not innocent family-friendly affairs: Like another outbreak in Taiwan earlier this year, they are fronts for illegal brothels run by organized crime cartels."
"It has exposed the pernicious role of organized vice enterprises in Singapore, and the institutional failure of the country's much-vaunted law enforcement to clamp down on them."
"Run behind the scenes by the same organized crime groups, these illegal brothels have become a normalized, even integral, part of many business dealings -- particularly among local and mainland Chinese business communities -- as well as serving as money laundering fronts."
"After closing down Geylang at the beginning of the pandemic, authorities did the same for KTVs. Then, without explanation, KTVs were allowed to reopen under the pretense of pivoting toward becoming "bistros" after August 2020."
"Questions are also being asked as to who signed off on the conversion of known KTV fronts into so-called bistros, something they were never designed to function as."
"Watching disingenuous ministers feign retrospective shock and surprise at how the latest outbreak occurred no longer cuts it."
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