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.