Making an honest living: Zakaria and his staff massaging patrons of his massage parlour in Alor Setar, Kedah.
GEORGE TOWN: The blind therapist community is calling for a separate licence for them so that they won’t be affected by the ban on renewals of permits for massage parlours in Kedah.
National Council for the Blind Malaysia consultant Moses Choo said while there are not that many blind masseurs in Kedah, the ban will affect their livelihood.
“From my knowledge, there are around 20 or more of them, and they have built their clientele there.
“Relocating would mean starting all over again, which is difficult for them.
“I believe they (the authorities) should provide them with a special licence and not under the same category as regular massage parlours.
“There is currently no proper licence for blind masseurs,” he said.
Choo added that there were now some 3,000 to 4,000 blind therapists in Malaysia.
“The population is quite big, with the majority of them in Kuala Lumpur.
“They operate differently and usually are quite strict when it comes to carrying out their tasks,” he said.
Zakaria Hanafiah, 49, who runs a massage parlour in Alor Setar, said he was only issued a temporary licence by the authorities to operate.
“There have been no issues so far, but now I am worried.
“The thought of having to shut down or not being able to get a licence renewed is worrying,” he added.
Zakaria said there were 10 blind masseurs in his shop, and they are all skilled operators who have been trained.
“There is also another shop operated by blind therapists in Alor Setar and a few more in Sungai Petani,” he said.
St Nicholas’ Home Penang general manager Carmen Chew said massage skills are among the types of vocational training provided to the blind and visually impaired at the centre.
“We do have some visually impaired masseurs working at massage centres in Kedah.
“We hope that the enforcement in Kedah can show leniency towards blind therapists as this is their opportunity to earn a living,” she said.
Chew said the home here offers massage courses certified by Sistem Latihan Dual Nasional (SLDN) to the visually impaired in Malaysia.
“They are required to undergo 18 months of massage training.
“We encourage them to undertake their internship in our wellness centre for a year to gain other soft skills such as communications, customer service, time management, and marketing.
“After the internship, we encourage them to get a job at massage centres in Penang or at their hometowns, empowering them to earn a living and be independent,” she added.
