RI maids dance to their own beat in Singapore

Fabio Scarpello, Contributor, Singapore

In media reports on Indonesian maids in Singapore, chances are they deal with death, abuse or violence. But it all sounds distant and alien to Mary, Ica, Etika and Enny, among about 30 others gathered outside City Plaza shopping center.

No one has a single bad experience to mention and no one has ever met any of their 93 compatriots that have died in the city- state during the past five years.

City Plaza is a popular shopping center in Paya Lebar, an area several MRT stops west of -- and quite a bit cheaper than -- the busy and elegant Orchard Road. Here, on their off time, the Indonesian community gathers, and if Nepalese, Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals can also be seen, clues to which nation has marked the territory are the nasi goreng (fried rice) and gado- gado food stalls just in front the of main entrance.

They are all women (an estimated 70 percent of Indonesian domestic workers here are women), all young and all working as maids, locally known as "foreign domestic workers". Big broad smiles and trendy clothes are the norm, together with a surprising detachment from the mother country that the travel cost alone cannot fully justify.

Mary from Sumatra has been home only once during the six years she has already spent in Singapore, and she is no exception. Enny left Indonesia five years ago, Etika four and Ica three. They all come from Central Java but none has been back since arriving here.

But Tina from Jakarta beats them all as she has been in Singapore for seven years without a break; unsurprisingly, she claims that "the memories of my family are starting to fade".

All say they miss their mothers, fathers and the rest of their families, but they are quick to add they have got used to being alone and they hope to stay in Singapore longer. As is customary, some send part of the wage back to pay for a sibling's education or for general help, but others declare they have cut the cord and broken every link with their families and their responsibilities.

"I have two brothers and my mother is sick. They all want money but I don't earn enough to support them all. If I sent some money it would not be enough for them and it would spoil my life here, so I don't. My mother is very angry with me but I have not been home for four years and maybe I will never go back," said Etika, her words echoed by several others.

Their work day is very long, with most starting at 7 a.m. and going all the way to 8 p.m. Others are not so lucky, required to work from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. Besides the usual housework (cleaning, washing, cooking, ironing) it is pretty common to have to look after children and sometimes the elderly. It is not so common but not unheard of to have to wash the family car as well.

While the average wage is S$350 per month, the employer's nationality and the maid's experience do matter, they said.

"Chinese Singaporeans are usually pretty good, but if you have just arrived you are probably going to get only S$200, while if you have been here a few years then you can get more," said Ica.

A few are luckier, like Tina, for example, who has just finished her contract and signed a new one for S$500.

"My new boss is an English lady, who has moved to Singapore on her own. She wanted someone that has been here long, knows her way around and speaks good English," she said with a beaming smile.

To get her new job, Tina went through the embassy that provides a helpful recruitment service, a route that all of them say is much better than the other options.

"Agencies charge a lot of money, some of them keep S$200 per month of your wage for the first six months of your work, this will leave you with only S$30."

There seem to be no complaints of the treatment they have received.

"Employers are generally very good and sometimes it is the maid's fault that she doesn't do her job properly," Indri said.

Her comment clashes with those of Chalief Akbar, head of information of the Indonesian Embassy.

"About 30 to 40 Indonesians maids each month take refuge at the shelter provided at the embassy for reasons that vary from lack of food, harassment, unpaid wages or violence," he said.

One way to explain the different perspective is that most of the abused maids are not allowed to leave their homes, with the employers often withholding their passports. It follows that unless something very grave happens, their stories, plight and pain are not shared with others. Another important factor to bear in mind is that the 28,000 accredited Indonesian maids are only part of the 70,000 believed to be in the city-state.

"Of this large illegal percentage, very little (information) surfaces," Chalief said.

But Mary, Ica, Etika and Enny do not know that, and their cheerfulness is a nice change from the many stories of abuse

"We like it here very much. We do lots of shopping, we have friends, some money and boyfriends," they said.

The chosen partners are usually manual workers from India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Nepal. The social divider with locals is quite marked and enforced by the law that forbids foreign maids from marrying a Singaporean man.

Tina explains the relationship very clearly: "Local people do not mix with us, they are good to work for but never become friends."

Then it is time to go dancing and the Mavar Dangdut -- a small daily club inside City Plaza -- comes to life. The beat is the latest playing in similar venues in Java. The lights are low, the music is loud and the smiles are plentiful. And the girls have not lost their rhythm.

From here, Jakarta seems much further than a one-hour flight.