12/08/2005
singapore defends its record against hrw
the human rights watch group, hrw, has published a report condemning singapore's record of maid abuses and the lack of legislations to protect them. this has elicited a strong response from the mom who protested that the report is a gross exaggeration and the conditions for maids are improving.
no matter how much we shout about how good we are, if we think it is reasonable to give maids one off day in a month, this tells very badly on the values we placed on decency. even when we work 5 and 1/2 days with 1 and 1/2 days off we are already complaining. and we can argue that it is ok for maids to work 29 days out of 30/31 days. how are we going to defend our position as being reasonable and a fair and kind employer who treats another human decently?
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4 comments:
Hi Redbean
I go out for a walk each morning and along the road I live in, 7 out 10 homes will have their maids washing their cars before the owners drive to work. I notice also that mostly the same car are being washed each morning, which makes me ask why they need their cars washed everyday? Apart from issue of saving water and thus the environment, surely this is the case of asking someone in your employment to do quite unnecessary chores.
The maid of the house opposite mine wakes up at around 6 am, works all day until approximately 11 pm at night when the lights go out. In the afternoon, under the 12 o'clock sun I frequently see the maid pulling grass from the lawn, sweeping the yard, bathing the dog or washing the car. It does appear that every minute of her day is occupied in doing something or other. On top of all that she get shouted at frequently. This maid does not get a day off. She works 365 days a year!!!
I hope this case is not the norm, I am quite certain that there must be some employers in Singapore who treat their maids with more respect.
hi anonymous,
did you manage to create your blog?
as for maids, some of the employers are just too much. they want to make every cent of their money worth. probably they have a schdule for the maids to work. and yes, from 6am to 12 midnight.
this is what we are lacking in social grace, compassion and how to treat another human decently.
there is no need to wash the car everyday, maybe a morning swipe to get the dew off. but for those with covered car parks, this is not even necessary. but the maid must do something. so wash everyday.
we need to learn and show a little kindness. the top must show the way.
Hi Redbean, thanks for your help. Created my blog at http://speedwing-travel.blogspot.com/
Btw, how do I have your blog as a link on mine?
Compassion and kindness is greatly needed in this " money grabbing, materialistic world " of ours. I guess people are so busy trying to earn a decent living they have lost sight of thes qualities.
ha good. you would have to go into the template and insert in, or type it in. if got problem, let me know.
i will link yours to mine. we can slowly build up our community by interlinking our blogs.
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