"Prescribing minimum employment terms and conditions will inevitably lead to rigidities and inconvenience for many households," Hawazi Daipi, senior parliamentary secretary to the ministry of manpower, told Parliament Wednesday.

AFP received a transcript of his remarks Thursday, Mar 9.

"For example, some households have elderly or infirm members with special needs who require constant attention, and may find it difficult to release the domestic worker for a prescribed period every week," he explained.

About 150,000 women work as maids in Singapore, most of them from impoverished villages in the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Their counterparts in Hong Kong, where an even larger number of maids work, are granted one day off every week and a day off on public holidays.

Daipi said the Ministry of Manpower agrees that all workers should receive adequate rest, and employers who do not provide it can be punished.

"As part of the work permit conditions, employers are held responsible for the well-being of their foreign domestic workers, including the provision of adequate rest," he said.

Violators can be fined up to S$5000 (US$3066) and jailed for up to six months.

One Filipina maid, who asked to be identified only as Chona, told AFP earlier this year that the contract she signed with an employment agency in Manila promised a salary of S$350 (US$215) and at least two days off every month.

But on arrival in Singapore, the agency here told her the salary would be $320 dollars with no days off -- for two years.

Her story bore a striking resemblance to the experiences of many other maids documented last year by New York-based Human Rights Watch in a report on Singapore's domestic helpers.

Based on in-depth interviews with 65 maids of various nationalities, the rights watchdog said Singapore's maids suffer abuses including physical and verbal aggression, threats, restrictions on movement, abuse by agents, exorbitant debt payments, long work hours and lack of rest days.

Singapore's ministry of manpower called the report a gross exaggeration and said foreign domestic workers receive full protection under local laws.

It said employers are required to provide adequate rest and meals, ensure work safety, proper housing and prompt salary payment. It stressed the government does not tolerate any abuse or exploitation, and said the domestics choose to work in Singapore because conditions are better than in their homelands.

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