On foreign maids

I am writing in response to your report: “Maid’s day off: Most against idea, govt wants more feedback” (The Star, 18th June 2009). I am quite disappointed with the results of the poll.

My background is in medicine and we are constantly reminded to treat others as we would like to be treated. But it doesn’t matter whether you work in healthcare or not, this principle should apply to everyone we encounter. How would you feel if you have to live in the place you work everyday with no day-off at all? We all appreciate our days off on Saturdays and Sundays, do foreign maids not need them too? If this is not good enough for us, why is it an acceptable practice for foreign maids?

It is nice to learn that some employers take their maid out for shopping, but would be apprehensive about letting them go out on their own fearing that they would ‘mix with bad hats’. My goodness, if I was a teenager and my parents were to use that as an excuse to not let me go out, I would be so annoyed, wouldn’t you? May I remind you that maids are fully grown adults? Who are we to assume that they lack the judgment to choose their companies? Outright cruelty with foreign maids may be rare, subtle restrictions in freedom like these can be enough to be mentally draining for anyone, I would imagine.

I would even go as far as to suggest that we stop calling them ‘maid’. They are not here for employers to slave around. They are helpers who are here to assist with our daily chores. Poor and uneducated many of them may be, they still deserve the same rights and respect as with everyone else.

Gandhi once said “The measure of a country's greatness should be based on how well it cares for its most vulnerable populations”. Foreign maids often cannot advocate for themselves and their jobs are lowly regarded. It does appear that some are taking advantage of this to exploit them further. We must take action to protect those who cannot fend for themselves, and I think the cabinet is doing the right thing to consider a mandatory day off in a week for all maids. Treat others as you would like to be treated. If not, it might be your right that would be denied one day.

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