Cheak Hong Ian S10032102F

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Foreign domestic workers: are they more than just workers?




Transcript:

Foreign domestic workers: are they more than just workers? Having employed 2 maids before and having very good working relationships with them, I have never seen the foreign domestic workforce to be a marginalized portion of society. At least, not until the newspaper reports on maid abuse by employers came out. With the increasing amount of reports on incidents related to this issue and after listening to a rather dramatic recount of a maid’s miserable treatment in Singapore at a school conference, I remain unshaken in my belief that Singaporeans may not be all that bad!

Surely, someone whom you pay to stay with you and help take care of the household chores is more than just an employee, even much more than a ‘hand’ that does the work? I thought I’d get to understand the relationships of other Singaporeans with their maids.



Cheak: Hello and we are here with Wella, who’s going to tell us more about her maid Wella, say ‘Hi’ to everyone out there!

Wella: Hi everyone!

Cheak: Okay, Wella, can you tell me your age and what you do for a living?

Wella: I’m 18, turning 19 soon and I’m a student currently at Ngee Ann Polytechnic doing Mass Comm.

Cheak: Oh! Cool! So Wella, I hear you have a maid?

Wella: Yes.

Cheak: What’s her name?

Wella: We call her ‘Ku’ for short.

Cheak: Okay, and what’s her nationality?

Wella: She’s from Indonesia.

Cheak: So Wella, could you please describe your relationship with your maid.

Wella: My relationship with my maid is something like a sibling kind of relationship.

Cheak: Oh.

Wella: Something like a friend or sister kind of relationship.

Cheak: Oh, so she’s more than just a worker? A ‘hand’ that does the work?

Wella: Yup. My family treats her as one of us.

Cheak: Alright. So could you tell me certain instances of your interaction with her?

Wella: Supposing I come home late from school and I don’t want my parents to know how late I come back, you know, we just kind of like ‘pakat’. I’ll say (something to her) like, “ I came back at 8 okay? Not 9 o’clock.” That kind of thing.

Cheak: Oh okay.

Wella: And if she falls asleep when she’s not supposed to, I will kind of cover up for her. Yeah.

Cheak: Oh okay. So it’s a ‘give-and-take’ relationship, so to speak?

Wella: Yeah.

Cheak: Okay! Wella, could you also tell me whether there have been any conflicts between you and the maid.

Wella: Not so much of conflicts. More on misunderstandings sometimes because of the language barrier.

Cheak: Oh okay.

Wella: Sometimes she doesn’t understand what I’m trying to tell her so I’ll feel frustrated. But we still have to work it out somehow. I’ll show her through actions rather than giving instructions verbally.

Cheak: Okay, so, have you ever shouted at your maid?

Wella: Never.

Cheak: Have your parents ever shouted at the maid?

Wella: My mum, more often perhaps.

Cheak: Okay, but no violence right?

Wella: Definitely not!

Cheak: Okay! So basically your maid is just one of your family?

Wella: Yup! Very much!

Cheak: Cool! Interesting! Thank you very much Wella!

Wella: Okay thank you!


Wella is not alone in her experiences with maids. Both the maids whom my family employed were very hardworking and cheerful. It almost seemed like they enjoyed serving the family tirelessly. One of them even wept as badly as the rest of us when my Grandad passed away. Also, a ll the people whom I surveyed, ranging from taxi drivers to architects to retirees to students to lecturers, have had good experiences with their maids and treat them as family. Some are so attached to their maids that they even give the maids farewell gifts when their contracts expire, sending them back to their home countries with fat red packets, jewelry and even handphones to keep in contact with them.

From this, I conclude that maid abuse is probably comparable to domestic violence. This is because foreign domestic workers are more than just employees: they are part of the family. Abusing one’s maid is akin to abusing one’s sister or mother or niece or daughter.

This has been Cheak Hong Ian for Com Issues. Good day!