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Anger at Indonesian maids-for-sale ads
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Online ads in Singapore offering Indonesian maids-for-sale were yesterday condemned as “unjust and demeaning,” in a rare flare-up of tensions between the neighbors over domestic helpers.
Singapore is home to almost 250,000 maids, mostly from poor parts of Indonesia or the Philippines, who head to the wealthy city-state to earn higher salaries than they can back home. While Indonesia regularly protests about abuse and exploitation of helpers in Malaysia and parts of the Middle East, complaints about treatment of maids in Singapore are less common.
However reports that Indonesian helpers were being offered for sale in the city-state on online marketplace Carousell quickly drew condemnation from rights groups.
The adverts under the user name “maid.recruitment” reportedly offered the services of several helpers from Indonesia, while some ads indicated maids had been “sold.”
The posts on the e-commerce site, which operates in several Asian countries and describes itself as “a simple way to sell the clutter in your life,” have now been removed.
Wahyu Susilo, executive director of Indonesian NGO Migrant Care, said, “This is very unjust and demeaning to the migrant workers’ dignity.”
Singapore’s labor ministry said it was aware maids were being “marketed inappropriately” on Singapore-headquartered Carousell, and the adverts were taken down and an investigation launched.
“Advertising (foreign domestic workers) like commodities is unacceptable and an offense” under local laws, a ministry statement said.
Employment agencies found guilty of such practices will have their licences revoked or suspended.
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