Maid abuse

Maid abuse is the maltreatment or neglect of a person hired as a domestic worker, especially by the employer or by a household member of the employer. It is any act or failure to act that results in harm to that employee.[1] It takes on numerous forms, including physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse. The majority of perpetrators tend to be female employers and their children.[2] These acts may be committed for a variety of reasons, including to instil fear in the victim, discipline them, or act in a way desired by the abuser.[1]

The United States Human Trafficking Hotline describes maid abuse as a form of human trafficking— it is “force, fraud, or coercion to maintain control over the worker and to cause the worker to believe that he or she has no other choice but to continue with the work,” they stated.[3] Although it can occur anywhere, it is most commonly experienced amongst domestic workers in the Middle East and Asia.[4]

Prevalence

Maid abuse is a global phenomenon but is much more prominent in the Middle East and Asia. Mistreatment of foreign domestic workers is not uncommon and is widely detailed.[4][5][6]

Legislation

Hong Kong
Main article: Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong § Employment regulations

Singapore

Foreign domestic workers, who have come to the country seeking employment, are at high risk of abuse. As maids are the only migrant workers not protected under the country's Singapore’s Employment Act, many end up in abusive situations. This is amplified due to the fact that foreign domestic worker contracts in Singapore lack live-out options; foreign maids reside in the same residence as their employers.[7] They are at risk of physical abuse,[8][9] invasion of privacy, and sexual assault (including rape).[10][11]

Nevertheless, it is against the law in Singapore to abuse a foreign domestic worker. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) says that perpetrators face severe penalties; if convicted, the perpetrator may face prison time, caning, or be fined as much as $20,000 (USD).[12] The perpetrator will also be banned from further employment of foreign domestic workers.[13]

Malaysia

In Malaysia, abused foreign domestic workers can obtain visas so that they may stay in the country to pursue legal complaints; the same is true in the United States.[14]

Notable cases
  • On 2 December 2001, 19-year-old Indonesian maid Muawanatul Chasanah was found beaten to death in her house of employment in Chai Chee, Singapore. Her employer, Ng Hua Chye, was arrested and charged with her murder.[15] It was revealed in Ng's 2-day trial that Ng had repeatedly punched, kicked and whipped the maid and even used burning cigarette butts and/or boiling hot water to burn the maid due to her supposed poor working performance and her stealing the food of Ng's infant daughter. He was sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison, along with 12 strokes of the cane.[16]
  • On 28 May 2002, Indonesian maid Sundarti Supriyanto killed her employer Angie Ng and Ng's daughter Crystal Poh, and set fire on Ng's Bukit Merah office in Singapore. Sundarti recounted that she was severely abused by Ng for minor mistakes, and even starved for days by Ng. It made her endured too much humiliation until she finally lost her control and fatally stabbed Ng (and her daughter) in a frenzied attack. The High Court of Singapore accepted that she indeed suffered from maid abuse and was not of her right mind when she was gravely provoked into committing the crime and lost control; therefore they acquitted Sundarti of murder and instead sentenced her to life imprisonment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.[17][18][19]
  • Erwiana Sulistyaningsih was an Indonesian maid who was abused by her employer over a period of 8 months in Hong Kong. In 2014, Time magazine included her on its list of the 100 Most Powerful People.[20]
  • On 26 July 2016, in Singapore, Myanmar maid Piang Ngaih Don was killed by her employer, 41-year-old Gaiyathiri Murugayan. Murugayan was sentenced to 30 years in prison on 22 June 2021. She had earlier pleaded guilty to 28 charges out of a total of 115 relating to the murder and abuse of the maid, who worked for her family for a few months. The murder charge was reduced to the next highest charge of culpable homicide as Gaiyathiri was suffering from a mental disorder at the time she murdered Piang, meaning she would not be sentenced to death (which was the mandatory penalty for murder in Singapore). The prosecution sought a life sentence for the convicted maid killer, and while judge See Kee Oon did not hand out a life term, he agreed by saying that the conduct of Gaiyathiri were an abhorrence and outrage to human and public conscience. Gaiyathiri's mother (also charged with murder) and husband, who also abused the maid, were pending trial as of July 2021.[21]
  • In February 2018, Indonesian maid Adelina Lisao died in Penang, Malaysia after facing numerous abuses including having to sleep outdoors with the household's dog. Although initially rescued, it proved to be too late as she died of organ failure at a hospital the next day.[22] Her employers were initially detained, but was controversially acquitted by a Malaysian court, resulting in a strain of relations between Indonesia and Malaysia.[23][24]
  • On 06 Dec 2021, Aye Aye Naing, a maid from Myanmar, was sentenced to 30 weeks' jail for abusing her elderly employer over a period of seven months, who was also bedridden.[25]

See also

References
  1. "ClinicalKey". www.clinicalkey.com. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  2. Cheung, J. T. K.; Tsoi, V. W. Y.; Wong, K. H. K.; Chung, R. Y. (2019-01-01). "Abuse and depression among Filipino foreign domestic helpers. A cross-sectional survey in Hong Kong". Public Health. 166: 121–127. doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2018.09.020. ISSN 1476-5616. PMID 30476780. S2CID 53760079.
  3. "Domestic Work". National Human Trafficking Hotline. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  4. Donovan, Louise (25 April 2021). "Domestic Workers in Gulf Countries Vent Woes on TikTok". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  5. Ben Westcott and Katie Hunt (2017-11-28). "Most Singapore foreign domestic workers exploited, survey says". CNN. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  6. "Half of Singaporeans think domestic helpers should be paid less than SGD 600 a month". YouGov: What the world thinks. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  7. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Singapore domestic workers 'suffer exploitation and abuse' | DW | 28.03.2019". DW.COM. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  8. "Woman on trial for abusing maid; asked her to shower in front of her, assaulted her privates". CNA. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  9. "Woman asked maid to punch herself 50 times, strike her teeth with meat pounder until they 'dropped'". CNA. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  10. "Man gets jail, caning for raping maid after asking her for massage". CNA. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  11. hermes (2016-11-15). "First conviction in Singapore of employer raping maid". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  12. Goh, Gerome (2020-06-22). "Maid Abuse in Singapore: Getting Help and Legal Penalties". SingaporeLegalAdvice.com. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  13. "Abuse and ill-treatment of a foreign domestic worker". Ministry of Manpower Singapore. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  14. "Swept Under the Rug". Human Rights Watch. 2006-07-27. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  15. "Public Prosecutor v Ng Hua Chye" (PDF). 2002-07-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. "Plight of the maid: report lifts lid on global suffering". The Independent. 2009-04-01. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  17. "Public Prosecutor v Sundarti Supriyanto" (PDF). Supreme Court judgements. 24 September 2004. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  18. "SURPRISE VERDICT: MAID WHO KILLED BOSS GETS LIFE". Facebook. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  19. Dewi Anggraeni (2006). Dreamseekers: Indonesian Women as Domestic Workers in Asia. ISBN 9789793780283. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  20. "Mimpi Kuliah Akuntansi, Erwiana Malah Sengsara Jadi TKI..." (in Indonesian). Kompas.com. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  21. hermesauto (2021-06-22). "30 years' jail for woman who starved and tortured Myanmar maid to death". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  22. "100 Women: Maid dies in Malaysia after being left to 'sleep outside with dog'". BBC News. BBC News. 14 February 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  23. "Anger as Malaysian cleared of murdering Indonesian maid". France 24. France 24. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  24. "Jalan Panjang Mencari Keadilan untuk Adelina Lisao, Buruh Migran yang Tewas Disika Majikan di Malaysia Halaman all". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). 9 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  25. Lam, Lydia (6 December 2021). "Maid jailed for abusing 76-year-old bedridden woman by striking her mouth, pulling her hair". CNA. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  26. Anjumin, Ersie (29 December 2021). "Former Masterchef Malaysia finalist, husband charged with killing maid | New Straits Times". NST Online. New Straits Times. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
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