SINGAPORE — When news anchor Zahara Abdul Lateef got furious with her 19-year-old Indonesian maid, she poured a jug of boiling water on her.
It burned Tutik Rinawati's chest and back and landed Lateef in prison for two months earlier this year. Indonesians were outraged by the case, which highlighted the plight of female servants in this wealthy Southeast Asian city-state.
Women from across Asia flock to Singapore to escape poverty but often wind up overworked and with no personal freedom.
Employers are encouraged to keep maids' passports so they can't run away. Some maids get no days off and are prohibited from leaving their employers' home.
Some women have been beaten and raped by employers. Some have fallen to their deaths while washing windows in high-rise apartments.
The phenomenon of falling maids has infuriated Indonesia, which in July temporarily banned its citizens from going to work in Singapore as laborers, saying more protections were needed for foreign workers. But the ban was not enforced and is no longer in place.
Hotma Panjaitan, a senior official at Indonesia's directorate of overseas labor, said Indonesia has "been stepping up the monitoring to improve their conditions." He did not elaborate.
Indonesian maids in Singapore have it much worse than their Filipino counterparts, who generally make better money because they speak English. Most Filipinos get Sunday off because their government brokered a deal with employment agencies in Singapore.
"I hate it here. But my family needs the money," said Yanti, a 22-year-old maid who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name. Yanti sleeps on a mat in a pantry off her employer's kitchen.
Employers can choose between single or married, Christian or Muslim, fat or thin. Maid agencies advertise prospects as "obedient."
Although maid abuse is a punishable offense, maltreated maids often do not know where to turn for protection. Yanti and others said that given the chance, they would rather work in Hong Kong, where maids earn more and are guaranteed a day off.
Singapore employs about 140,000 foreign maids, about 80,000 from the Philippines and the rest from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. For these countries, the money sent home is a welcome foreign currency boost.
Singapore profits too. Employers of maids pay a tax of $192 a month, which produces $330 million in annual revenue for the government.
