Singapore steps up effort to protect housemaids
Singapore steps up effort to protect housemaids
Alexa Olesen, Associated Press, Singapore
Singapore's government detailed new measures to prevent the abuse of household staff following the death of an Indonesian maid that a top official said sparked "revulsion" throughout the city- state.
The reforms do not, however, bring maids under legislation that protects the basic rights of workers in Singapore.
The measures follow the conviction of a Singaporean man who was accused of beating his 19-year-old Indonesian maid to death.
Ng Hua Chye, 47, was sentenced to 18 1/2 years in prison by a court that heard how he starved the maid, beat her with the handle of a hammer and scalded her with hot water.
Singapore's minister of state for education and manpower said Thursday that the incident had greatly shaken Singapore's self- image and had prompted people to ask how such a such a thing could happen in a "civilized" and "educated" society.
"Outrage from the public, the press, and the government is appropriate and spontaneous and it speaks of a sense of recoil and revulsion," said Ng Eng Hen, according to a transcript of his remarks released by the Ministry of Manpower on Friday.
In response to that outcry, Singapore's government will introduce a compulsory orientation course for first-time employers of foreign domestic workers and require that all maid agencies be accredited by the government, the minister was quoted as saying.
The government does not, however, plan to bring maids under the Employment Act, the basic law regulating the conditions of workers in Singapore, the ministry said Friday in response to questions from The Associated Press about the new measures.
"The government has resisted calls for imposing standard terms on employers because it is not practical to regulate specific aspects of domestic work including hours of work, rest day work and work on public holidays," it said in a statement.
Women from across Asia flock to Singapore to escape poverty but often wind up overworked and with no personal freedom.
Employers are encouraged to keep maids' passports so they can't run away. Many maids get no days off and are prohibited from leaving their employers' home without permission. Some sleep on kitchen floors.
Singapore, a wealthy country of 4 million people, employs about 140,000 foreign maids, mostly from the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.
According to the Manpower Ministry, there were 157 reported cases of maid abuse in 1997, 89 in 1998, 82 in 1999, 87 in 2000, and 41 last year.