Tougher penalties for maid abuse
Straits Times
April 21, 1998
BY Pang Gek Choo
STIFFER punishment now awaits employers who abuse their domestic
maids, whether the maids are Singaporeans or foreigners.
For certain offences, including hurting a maid or outraging her modesty, the maximum penalties an employer faces are one and a half times the general penalties laid down in the Penal Code.
The changes are contained in the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by Parliament yesterday. This, said Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, would send a "strong signal" to employers that the Government took a very "stern" view of maid abuse.
Maids are vulnerable, he said, because they live with their employers, depend on them for food and lodging, and are cut off from the rest of society most of the time.
From 80,000 in 1993, the number of foreign maids had now increased to more than 100,000 last year, he said.
And reports of maid abuse had nearly doubled, from 105 in 1994 to 192 last year. Of the 192, he added, 157 cases were substantiated with evidence. Most cases concerned hurting the maid or outraging her modesty.
Said the minister: "The great majority of employers treat their maids well, but a small minority behave as if their maids are slaves. They get upset easily when their maids do not meet their expectations."
Though the number of cases is small, such incidents must be curbed before they get out of hand, he added.
"Maid abuse runs counter to Singapore's aspiration to become a gracious, civil society. Abuse of foreign domestic maids can also damage our international image and bilateral relations," he said.