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Mathew Pereira
Sports Editor
Be tough on maid abusers
November 28, 2008 Friday, 12:15 PM
Mathew Pereira wants zero tolerance for people who abuse maids.
IN TODAY'S papers, a Malaysian court sentenced a former flight attendant to 18 years in jail for scalding her Indonesian maid with hot water and hurting her with an iron, in one of the country's worst cases of domestic worker abuse. Now, that is what I call serious action. There should be zero tolerance for maid abuse. It is sad to hear that maids in Singapore would always prefer to work for expatriates than for Singaporeans - a real reflection on the state of affairs here. I cringe at the way some employers speak to their maids and that includes people I know (okay, I didn't want to use the word "friends"). I know them to be respectable, decent people but when they turn to their maids to talk to them, suddenly I see a side of them I have never seen before. They become curt, disrespectful, condescending creatures. But when the conversation with their maid is over, they morphe back into human beings. Something in them just seems to stop functioning temporarily. I am sure many of you would have noticed it too. Of course, a common retort to critical comments about Singaporean employers is - you are just not familiar with the mischief of maids. I know maids are no angels and we would get our fair share of dishonest, cruel maids, etc, when we hire them. They are after all a cross-section of their society. Just like we have crooks among us, there would be too in their society. My point is that even having factored this in, Singaporeans appear to be harsh employers. What are your views? Anyone wants to make suggestions on how the situation here can be improved other than resorting to still prison sentences like the 18 years' jail the Malaysian woman was given? Read 18 years jail for maid abuser in today's edition of The Straits Times. Tags: abuse, maid 
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It is a sad truth that many employers do not treat maids as humans. I have seen Signaporeans treating their maids like animals. May be it's high time that the 'kiasu' attitude be eliminated, as I see it as part of the problem. The woman who received 18 years is too well treated by the judge for what she did. If I were the judge I would have given her 20 years for each count! She's a 'wild animal' in essence, the human likeness is purely accidental.
Only one thing. No, three.. First.. JAIL. Second.. a hefty fine...which should be given in compensation to the maid. Third....to never ever again be allowed to employ a maid..directly oir indirectly. In short, there must be no maid allowed to be in the same house as the accused ever again.
The problem begins at MOM. They make it so cheap and easy for anyone to employ a maid . Hence, many employers actually think that they are buying a slave to kick around as they please. What about tripling the maid levy for a start so that employers who geniunely need domestic helpers will really appreciate the services of their maids.
It seems that the higher educated the employers are, the more vicious their method of torturing their maids.
What only 18 years jail. I thought it should be 80 years instead. Deserve it, no point crying idiot as it is too late!
I totally agree with you Mathew. The Malaysian,Sinaporean, HK, Indonesian becos these people treat their maids as if they are their slaves. Please bear in mind on your next birth you may end up being a maid and you will get the same treatment from your employer. What comes around goes around.
Always put your shoes in the maids, if your employer shout at you how would you feel in return. Remember maids are just human beings like you. Please respect one another, it does ot mean you pay them salary you can do what you like what if your employer does the same to you? Anybody who punish the maids will in return get a jail term and do not cry as it is uselss. Nobody will take sympathy on you becos you deserve it LOL !!
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