Abuse, no Use (Personal)

October 25, 2009 at 1:37 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

For this week’s post, I would like to talk about a very serious problem that is plaguing foreign domestic workers, maid abuse. (the article was recently updated)

On the 22nd of Oct, Yahoo News posted an article of yet another case of maid abuse, probably one of the most serious in recent times. An Indonesian maid, Mautik Hani, was found tied up and locked inside a toilet for two days by her Malaysian employers. She was rescued by another Indonesian maid, who was hired as a temporary cleaner.

Upon her rescue, aside from being tied up, Hani’s body was found to be full of bruises. She even had an exposed bone from a severed wound on her right leg. Apparently she had been receiving abuse from her employers for two months.

Maid abuse is not just happening in Malaysia, Singaporeans have also been charged for mistreating or abusing their maids.

Maids or foreign domestic workers are a very common sight these days in modern Singapore. This is probably due to social stratification and the increase in the standard of living in Singapore. Almost every middle class household and above has a foreign domestic workers working for them.

The normal chores or tasks that a foreign domestic worker is required to do could range from, cleaning the house, to taking care of children or even taking care of the elderly. Their work day could start as early as 5am in the morning and only ends when they go to bed at 10 or 11pm at night. They do this diligently, day in day out, and for those who are lucky, they get a Sunday off. Although the law states that they are entitled to 1 off day a week, there isn’t any governing body to ensure that this is carried out. Despite all the work they are expected to do, their minimum wage ranges from $300-$400 a month depending on their country of origin. Because of their low education, most of them aren’t able to request for more.

We also have to remember that these foreign domestic workers, who are usually women, are mothers, sisters, wifes and daughters or someone back in their homeland. The fact that they need to leave their family to come all the way to Singapore to work means that they are in need of a steady income and are willing to work long hours for low pay.

The point I am making here is that, before we start abusing a foreign domestic worker for small mistakes they make, we should set aside our anger and let our morals guide us. After all, we are all human.

Have any of you witness and abuse?
Do share you views and maybe suggestions to improve the situation.

thank you

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