Foreign Maids

Watched yesterday's evening news and the report about an Indonesian maid sentenced to life imprisonment for killing her employer's mother-in-law caught my attention. Last week, we have another maid sentenced to the same punishment for almost the same crime. I would say such happenings are not unexpected considering that we are ranked highly for being lousy foreign maid employers. What shocks me ,as the news is telecasted, is the response of the victim's son when asked how he feel about the punishment. If I am right, he said something like this,"We already know she won't die because she is under 18 at that time.... (Shaking his head and making a sound as if to say their desire to have her dead is not fulfilled).....". At first thought.... how can he have such thoughts. I admired his honesty on national TV though. But after further "analysis", it is understandable. It may not be a thirst for revenge, but rather, the unfairness (as he perceived) that she is getting away with the wrongdoing.... and she is appealing!! I thought the verdict is fair.... after knowing that she appealed (a.k.a. unwilling to accept consequence of her actions), I have less sympathy for her circumstances.

However, in my opinion, some (or more) fingers should be pointed at the employers, even if they are victims to some extent, as in the above cases. For the maid, what are the purposes of coming to a foreign land to work? Certainly not to commit some wrongdoings, get oneself in jail and thus no money to send home for their families. Some employers may like to say that they are not trained and too defient to be trained.... I got no idea how they conclude that their maid are supposed to be well-trained. If they are too defient, just send them back. These maid are young, less educated and basically alone in a different environment and culture. Employers in bringing them in for their service have every responsibility to take care or take charge of their well-being like their parents or older siblings. So potentially, if anything goes wrong, the one in charge must have been negligent in carrying out his/her responsibility. Or worse.... abusive behaviors.... I think that relevant errant employer can save legal fees and taxpayers' money and face the music as attentively as they listen to a seminar on "How Be A Millionaire??". Again, remember that if we have a lousy boss, we only face them (the most) 8 hours a day, 5 times a week. For maids, they are under the same roof with their employers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Preventable, but not prevented.... just a casual remark.

Needless to say (but I am still saying), most of the employers and maids do have happy working relationships.... but no one can deny that the statistics can be better. And just as the population is getting greyer, the foreign maid levy being decreased and more foreign maids are expected here, it is becoming more important for potential employers to ask themselves how professional and ethical are they as foreign maid employers. And if something like this happen again, news centre may reserve more space for the photos of the employers.

Please feel free to give your comments.