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updated 24 Dec 2010, 22:32
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Mon, May 10, 2010
The New Paper
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Young mamasans still 'unusual'
by Maureen Koh

Draw customers

The Singaporean became one when she was only 19 - unusual even by today's standards.

She told The New Paper on Sunday that it's the smaller clubs which use the younger mamasans to draw the customers.

This is because they go better with the younger mainland China girls who come to work as hostesses.

"These girls usually have no qualms about going all the way(that is, to have sex).

"The more established nightclubs still prefer to keep mamasans who are older," added Miss Ruhua, who works only two or three times a week at one of the top clubs on Havelock Road.

In the past, a mamasan's earnings could range from $3,000 to $30,000 a month, including a fixed salary, commission and tips.

Now, they depend mainly on bottle commission and tips, said Miss Ruhua, who was only 14 when she became a nightclub hostess - at one of the top clubs, noless.

A year later, she was pregnant, and at 16 she had a child with her then-boyfriend, who was three years older.

Miss Ruhua had to return to work just over a month after giving birth.

She said: "I was so broke that on the first day, I had to use the hongbao that was given for my baby's full-month celebrations."

Some younger mamasans today also don't "own" the girls, unlike in the past,when a mamasan would be assigned a certain number of girls to manage fully, she said.

Hostesses now can also have a choice of whom they want to work for. As a result, managing them can sometimes be trying for these young mamasans.

Ms Nina, 47, a mamasan at another top club, said: "Many of the girls these days come from mainland China. They are confident enough on their own, so they work as freelance hostesses."

She cited as example the case of Chinese national Li Hongyan, 24, whose naked body was found in the pool of a Sentosa Cove bungalow in March.

Miss Li was believed to have been moonlighting as a part-time karaoke hostess in a number of lounges on Havelock Road.

Shanghai-born mamasan Miss Wei-wei, 24, came here 11/2 years ago. She started working in a nightclub in Shanghai as hostess when she was 17, before moving to Macau two years later.

She said: "But the competition there was too tough, with some nightclubs even offering celebrity- lookalike hostesses to attract the customers."

When her contract with the Macau nightclub ended in 2008, Miss Wei-wei set her sights on Singapore.

One week into her job as a hostess, she hooked up with a prominent local businessman for three months.

She did not want to give more details about the relationship but admitted that it was to become her "lucky break".

Said Miss Wei-wei: "When he moved on to another girl, he recommended his business associates and friends to me."

 

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