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

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Aglance-Cambodia-Falun Gong
Falun Gong members deported
JP/11/ASEAN

Falun Gong members deported

CAMBODIA: Phnom Penh's national police chief has admitted for the
first time that two Chinese Falun Gong members were arrested and
deported earlier this month, but claimed the police did not know
they were under UN protection.

Gen. Hok Lundy told reporters on Wednesday that the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Phnom Penh did not
inform local authorities that asylum seekers Li Guojun and his
wife Zhang Xinyi were under its protection.

Hok Lundy's comments are the first public acknowledgment by a
Cambodian official that the couple were forcibly returned to
China. Hok Lundy had said last week that he had "no knowledge" of
the couple's arrest.

According to Falun Gong activists in New York the couple were
arrested on Aug. 2 and deported on Aug. 9 to China. They had
arrived in Cambodia in 1998 from China. --AP

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Aglance-Vietnam-US MIAs
Remains of American MIA found in Vietnam
JP/11/ASEAN

Remains of American MIA found in Vietnam

VIETNAM: A group of Vietnamese scrap metal scavengers has found
two sets of human remains in the wreckage of a helicopter in
southern Vietnam, along with papers indicating at least one may
have been an American pilot, officials said on Thursday.

The 10 scavengers discovered the remains in the wreckage of
the helicopter several meters below a rice field in Long Thuan
village in Long An province, a provincial official said.

One set of remains was found in the front seat of the
helicopter, along with a dog tag, personal papers and an ID card
with a photograph and name, a village official said. A photo of
the U.S. military ID showed that it belonged to a 2nd Lieutenant.

Another smaller set of remains with no dog tag or personal
papers was found in the back seat, said the official, who spoke
on condition of anonymity. --AP

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Aglance-Malaysia-family feud
Father wants to return home
JP/11/ASEAN

Father wants to return home

MALAYSIA: A 71-year-old Malaysian pensioner asked a court to
demand that his three sons let him back into the family home and
look after him, newspapers reported Thursday.

Former steamroller driver A. Kuppusamy filed papers in the
High Court seeking an order that he be given food, clothing,
medical assistance and other daily requirements by his sons, who
threw him out claiming he had abused their mother for 30 years,
The Star newspaper reported.

Documents filed in the case described a family feud that had
been raging for more than a decade.

In an affidavit, Kuppusamy said his family started locking him
out whenever he left their house in Kuala Lumpur and only let him
in at night or when neighbors begged them to relent, The New
Straits Times newspaper reported. --AP