S'pore to crack down on maid abuse

S'pore to crack down on maid abuse

SINGAPORE: The island state promised Indonesia on Thursday it would act to prevent the abuse of foreign maids working in the city-state.

Singapore Labor Minister Lee Boon Yang told his Indonesian counterpart, Jacob Nua Wea, that the government will monitor employment agencies that hire out maids, offer maids additional training and require employers to take an orientation course.

These initiatives were announced earlier this month after a string of brutal beatings sparked a debate over the treatment of maids in Singapore. Many of the victims were Indonesian.

Nua Wea said Jakarta will better regulate Indonesian recruiters who send maids to Singapore and provide the maids with better training.

Some 140,000 maids are employed in Singapore, with about 80,000 coming from the Philippines and the rest from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. --AP