Rebutting: I WANT TO SHARE MY STORY, MY MUM WAS A MAID WORKING IN SINGAPORE
I couldn’t accept this article on how it tries to paint the fault to Singaporean employers, our government and Singaporean agencies. Honestly, I myself dislike this industry but when we see how local importing agencies and employers everywhere are being targeted, branded and comment in such ways showing exporting government and agencies are the saint, everyone else the devil. I just can’t help it but to refute them.
The main statement that light up my tempo was:
“Yesterday, I read on the web, 'When maids want out, who pays?'http://www.tnp.sg/content/when-maids-want-out-who-pays I actually laughed. I laughed not at the misery, but at the hopelessness of it all. I laughed at a government who makes laws to look good but doesn't have the people who care enough to do the right thing to enforce these laws. I laugh at the human condition, I laugh at poverty and misery and our inability to solve even a simple thing like the need for money. I laughed at the narrow mindedness of a people so trapped in their games. I laughed at the question of `who pays'.”
Such an arrogant statement from a player that benefits from those so call “government who makes laws to look good”. It is such law that government of employing countries cannot help foreign workers being exploited by agencies operated by their own countrymen. It is such human condition, poverty and misery that open the opportunity for you and your mother to exploit your Myanmar sisters.
Talk is cheap, let’s us work out to the public and show everyone how much you and your mother of terrifically strong women benefits from all these so call “helping your Myanmar” syndicate.
Loan by Salary Deduction: $3,600
Air-ticket Myanmar-SG: $ 94
Medical in Myanmar: $10
Tax in Myanmar: $ 25
Money to Maid: $ 500
SG Agency gross profit: $ 900
Balance (YOUR NETT PROFIT) $ 2,071
(Other cost are absorb by employers)
With a NETT profit of $2,071 from each and every Myanmar female you and your mother exploit and profit. With that kind of profit, exemplary exploitation, you have absolutely no rights to tell anyone how to treat their maids. Maids are being identified, mark, recruit and force to Singapore by their family each time you pay them $500. You knew the consequences of your action will result to unhappy maids that felt like slavery to them. It is funny how such action by you and your family are consider normal, no fuse and no issue.
After reading your statement:
“When I grew up, she came back, and the first thing she wanted to do was to make a maid agency. Why? Because she knew how cruel and greedy maid agencies were, and she wanted to change things. Not change the world, but just change things for all the people she touched.”
And with whatever honour and dignity left in your family, you should change it to reflex the truth:
“When I grew up, she came back, and the first thing she wanted to do was to make a maid agency. Why? Because she knew how cruel and greedy maid agencies were, and she wanted to change things for herself. Not change the world, but just change things for her family with all the people she can exploits.”
In your letter, you talk all about the financial problems that you and your family have. While you are trying to paint your mother being hardworking, you cannot denied her life in Singapore was “the” green pasture for her and through that she was able to educate you, finance her husband and all your family hierarchy. But your story about your family is far from being helpless and poor as you are trying to express. There are plenty of sad stories from Singaporean and other Myanmar national around with worst scenario than what your family had faced. So you can actually stop telling your sob stories to justify the human exploitation you and your family has been performing each and every single day of your life.
Your ignorant and arrogance about the “Who pays” topic show that you and your mother has absolutely no remorse, no regrets, lying and supercilious individuals. You can blame it all on fat greedy agent or government but it is because of people like you and your mother, Myanmar girls need to go for months without salary. If the girls refuse to pay or work, you and I both know very well what will be the predicament their family back in Myanmar, by your father and his boys. So please don’t come patronize us Singaporean when you just take the chance to exploit the fundamental of the original article and leaches on so you can paint it into a different picture.
To truly stop exploitation is to ensure 3 simple but yet impossible to accomplish due to greedy exporting government and exporting agencies:
1) Government of exporting countries does not exploit their own citizen with their local agencies, tax, processing fees and other costs. Which include setting up organization to justify more processing fees, pool funds and other gimmicks. (We have seen our fair share of government gimmicks here)
2) Agencies in exporting countries to be force to accept no more than 1.5 month placement fee.(0.5 goes to scout, 1.0 goes to agency)
3) Each and every citizen of any country must have the full right to travel overseas, even it is for work. Currently all exporting countries has regulation in their airport preventing their own citizen to travel for work if they travel for work without going to through agencies & their government organization. (If their system is really beneficial and good to the people, why would they want to circumvent it in the 1st place?)
So long these 3 basic fundamental can be achieve, all maids around the world can operate, work and behave like any other FT. Since no more hefty agencies fees and government tax system, worker (especially maids) can work without salary deduction, without contract, without paying additional fees for transfer. To succeed, agencies like “A Simple Myammar Girl” MUST stop or be stop from their operation of exploitation.
A Complex Singaporean Boy