Singapore acts on maid abuse

Singapore acts on maid abuse

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore's government is backing a bill in
parliament proposing an increase of up to 10 and a half years in
jail for employers who abuse their maids, a newspaper reported
yesterday.

The bill to be debated in parliament next month will send a
"very, very strong signal to employers" that they are responsible
for their maids' welfare, Labor Minister Lee Boon Yang was quoted
as saying in the Sunday Times.

The new bill follows a spate of highly publicized maid abuse
cases, the latest involving a 15-year-old Indonesian maid who was
forced by her employers, including a 13-year-old boy, to eat dog
feces.

Statistics for 1997 are unavailable, but police have been
quoted as saying the number of molestation cases involving maids
rose to 100 in 1996, from 65 a year earlier.