Why Are Foreign Maids So Common in Singapore? | ASIAN BOSS
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มิ.ย. 2024
- Having a maid is often seen as a luxury only reserved for the wealthy. But in Singapore, roughly 1 in 5 households hire maids, or “helpers,” as they’re known locally. Now considered a necessity for a well-functioning household, Singaporeans reap the benefits of hiring foreign helpers from nearby Southeast Asian countries. Yet time after time, news stories shed light on the abuses helpers experience from their Singaporean families. But are these cases really the norm? How do ordinary Singaporeans actually think about these foreign domestic workers? We hit the streets of Singapore to find out more.
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The lady in black top. I respect her to be so brilliantly straight forward
Indeed
her voice is incredible
Plus shes pretty cute too.
@@hansteichmann she is
Same here 😁
*The way she laughed after saying “From all the third world countries” when asked where the helpers might come from I found absolutely despicable......*
Yeah that was disgusting
Yeah Third world countries term isn't even relevant in this era anymore, does she still live in cold war i era?
She will put in hell
I almost cry, seeing her said my country names and laugh in such a disrespectful way.
That's the sad truth, East Asians, westerners, Arabs usually see southeast Asians as unskilled labor from 3rd world countries.
But instead of getting triggered, how about you convert that anger into a drive to better your own countries and prove them wrong yourselves? Think about why is it always the ethnic Chinese of SEA that are the richest and most educated ones instead of the natives?
Being a snowflake does not solve anything I'm afraid.
Should have interviewed maids, helpers themselves..
Yep, though I suspect most wouldn't want to compromise their jobs.
Nope. They wont. For the record, i agreed with you.
@v Kim
One person at 3:14 mentioned many maids usually come out on the weekends, likely cause the parents arent working those days and can spend more time at home. If Singapore is like Hong Kong, then many maids are also given permission go buy groceries and run certain errands, its not that rare to see them leave the home where theyre working. But its obviously still much more convenient to interview a random passerby Singaporian than specifically look for maids.
@Tong X
Im replying to Kim who claims the maids are never allowed to leave the home, which isnt true cause theyre often given tasks where they NEED to leave the home such as buying groceries.
@v Kim They're not. Helpers in Singapore are given Sundays off. So you see crowds of them shopping and eating and hanging out in large groups on the weekend.
I think a documentary should be done about what happens after they go back. The "maid" that took care of me used her salary to earn a diploma in healthcare and became a medical worker in the US. Today she sends me photos of her beautiful house in Canada. One of my recent helpers sent me WhatsApp of her new hair salon which she set up in her 50s.
While not all helpers turned out that well. I visited many of them on my trip to the Philippines a few years ago. It is sad to see how even though they had saved a lot, many of them get cheated by relatives including their children. It is really sad when I see my helper who worked so hard to save up money lose it all by their children who spend it on useless degrees, material goods and other things.
Several years back the local newspaper in Singapore ran a feature of a helper/maid who started on a diploma course here after having worked here for a long time, but couldn't complete her studies here as local immigration laws limited how long she could renew her work permit until (18 years). She eventually transferred to a private school in her native Philippines and completed her studies there
Sad but true :(
There are those who we label as “One day millionaires.” Thinking that the money that their loved ones earned from years of hard work just grows on trees abroad. 🤦🏻♂️ Trying to look rich in the eyes of others or public concept.
Still have to pay more
I had a chat w a friend of mine who used to be my room mate when we were OFWs in Dubai, 20 years ago. From a very humble job she had, she rose up to a good enough position to be able to accumulate enough wealth for her family back home to buy multiple real estate and live in luxury. In 2018, she finally left Dubai and returned to the country..only to learn that all her hard-earned money remittances that was meant to be her retirement nest egg was squandered away by both her immediate family and in-laws. The multiple properties were listed under her parents/sibling’s name, and they also sold it without her knowledge. It reminds me of the Aesop fables on the ant and the grasshopper. OFWs need to be smarter abt investing their hard-earned income so they can finally reap the fruits of all that hardship. The reality is, they become the cash cow of families they left behind..and when they return, they go back to hard circumstances, and worse, familial ties have weakened with the years they werent around to sustain it.
I'm an Indonesian and in elementary school I used to live in a town with higher rate of women going abroad to be a migrant worker. One thing that people might sometimes forget is that most of those migrant workers have families back in their countries. They have children.
Some of my friends' mothers were migrant workers. Some of my friends were lucky enough to be taken care of by their grandparents or close relatives, but I also got to see how some of them were 'forced' be more mature like doing all of the household chores and taking care of younger sibling because their mothers were abroad and their fathers were also busy working. Their family struggled financially, the money that the husbands made wasn't enough, so the wives became a migrant worker to help support their family. Why women? Because the demand for maids are high and they usually prefer women.
Last year I got to attend an event with ex-migrant workers where they share their experience. A lot of them were abused, some were underpaid. One of them told how her boss forbid her to come home and took her passport so she had to run away and begged for help to the embassy. One of the saddest stories I heard was from the husband of an ex-migrant worker on how his wife was physically abused, r*ped, and got pregnant by her boss, and when the boss' wife found out the maid was sent back home without getting paid.
So if you happen to have a maid or planning to hire one, whether it's from other country or not, please treat them with no less respect and let them keep communicating with their families. They are someone's mother, someone's daughter, someone's wife, and most importantly they are also a human.
Yep, they are someone's precious daughter.
@Stefaníe kek gk tau aja gmn kinerja pemerintah kita , yg aneh" gtuan mending lgsg ditinggal pergi aja
I felt horror when I heard of a girl from Myanmar that was tortured and killed by a couple in Singapore.
I really like that older gentleman, he have such a calm demeanor and is well-spoken. :)
We would usually refer this well spoken oriental gentlemen as 'Unker' LOL
Like a Uni professor
Very true, he actually reminds me of a well respected professor at my place.
Used to be a Vice principal
i can feel also that old man was a good communicator. he wa a good diplomat. i admired him the way he answer.
As someone from Hong Kong where hiring maids is extremely common, I find it quite offensive that the woman with child laughed (perhaps in a mocking tone) after mentioning third world countries. I do not take pride at coming from a relatively more developed area, nor do I find it funny that the maids come from less developed places. The fact they have to go overseas to work as maid is the opposite of funny.
Looking down on someone is not going to earn one any respect, it is in reality a sign of insecurity and lack of confidence.
yep its also normal and even customary in the philippines among the upper and upper middle class to hire maids, we just started exporting them there cuz they heard they could get paid more there through different currency conversion and higher minimum wage norms even if u guys dont think its that much. i say this because i myself have distant local relatives in hong kong since im from the chinese filipino community where its very very common to have a maid or even a family driver and if ur rich enough, a security guard or pool cleaner or gardener... or if ur one of the billionaire families or noble political families, personal bodyguards...
Yup that woman is idiot she thinks she is superior
Can't agree more.
This is the reality in Singapore. Classism exists, especially with education. There are even news of students commiting suicide after realizing they are going ITE.
That's why I like hongkongers most..
The Philippines government need to do better and stop having our Filipino brothers and sisters have to go abroad to seek a better life.
I was talking to a barber the other day from the Philippines and she said said was one of 11 children and it was common to have large families. When you have a birthrate like that the country will never get ahead. Job creation will never be enough to keep up with the population increase.
It was very cruel from Americans to give Filipinos independence. It is like abandoning small children.
lt is the responsibilty of the goverment and they should be held responsible for it. this is an outrage for the Filipino people.
@@mety9042 Philippines is a beautiful country with smart, hard working people. Are there people living in poverty and garbage, absolutely but that doesn't define us. Philippines has been dealt with a bad card after attaining our freedom from Spain which colonized the islands for more than 3 century, came the Americans & Japanese. I'm not into oppressed Olympics but simply would like to highlight the backdrop of why Philippines is what it is now. Having a women president is not the answer.
I think the country should implement a Universal Basic Income and Universal Healthcare to start to address the abject poverty.
@@mred3608 Abject poverty is definitely a problem. When a society are living under these condition it is hard to move forward. I think if Philippines have Universal Basic Income and it doesn't even have to be that much it will at least allow the people to have a floor to stand on and have Universal Healthcare will help a great deal.
I am originally Filipino...now Canadian. I worked in the Middle East for 5 years (office job) and saw first-hand how domestic workers were treated cruelly by employers in the Gulf. Our apartment was next door to the Overseas Workers Authority in Dubai, where they have alloted a room full of bunk-beds as a makeshift shelter for the domestic help who fled abusive employers' homes. They sold snacks and little things they could make just so they can afford to buy their return air tickets to re-join their families. I salute Singapore for treating my fellow Filipinos well...and having this discussion on behalf of domestic helpers' plight. At least they are treated well, unlike in other countries (or so I have heard).
Lol say what?
Agreed I know that indonesians maid who were sent to the middle east suffered anoot more compared to singapore
Sexual assault and physical abuse with cheated payment is too common in the middle east
As a Singaporean, I have learnt something. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
May Sharma I knew a Pinoy who online who worked in Saudi Arabia as a nurse.
1 in 5 households with helpers, and they couldn't get a single interview with anyone who has actual helpers and can explain the "issues"?
Those households probably refused due to various reasons, lest their helper snitched on them.
The young man in white said he has maid.
If they are too busy to riase their kids, why would they have time for a random interview?
True
They dont really go outside that often. Only if its really necessary like for buying groceries or smthing
As a Singaporean, it’s true that a significant number of us have maids at home. In most households, both parents are usually busy working for the whole day. There is no one to care for the children and the elderly. The maids here usually are the ones taking care of the children. From my personal experience, my family and my relatives treat our maids well. We make sure they are properly fed, we bring them together with us to expensive restaurants. My relatives have a maid who has been with them for over seven years and she is essentially already part of the family, celebrating her birthdays and stuff.
News about maids being mistreated is not uncommon here, unfortunately. There was a news article from some time back (but left a deep impression on me) where the employer only allowed the maid to eat bread everyday. This caused the maid to become very sickly. I remember being really shocked about it.
There are also news where there are maids who mistreat the elderly and the children. I myself went through this before. I had been pushed and ignored and had my possessions stolen when my parents were working. I remember looking forward to my parents coming home because then would the food be good. I was young and didn’t even know that her actions were wrong. But then again, maids are people. There will be the good and then there will be the bad. If her work attitude is poor, there is a possibility the employer’s attitude towards her was poor too. Or maybe they’re just plain bad.
Then there are the maids that are angels. There are news where the maids would fight off burglars to protect the children. There was also a recent Straits time article where the maid had pushed her employer’s child out of the way from an incoming car. In the end, she got hit. That was heartbreaking to read.
Maids are a large part of our Singaporean working culture. We have become reliant on them to keep the house tidy, taking care of the young and old. I’ve been told by my parents that the maids we hired before went back to open shops with the money or became full-time housewives. I haven’t done my research, but I assume that although the pay may be considered low here, the cost of living here is ridiculously high (SG is one of the most expensive cities in the world), so the pay should be considered decent back in their countries.
Just my personal opinions.
Bertia Bertia verg well said
I actually know someone who is unfortunate enough to have one of those maids that mistreat them.
Bertha Bertha. What you said in context are all quite true. I have lived and resided in SG for almost 25 years since 1990 but is back here in PH. I consider SG as my second home and left a gazillion of friends there till today. Filipino maids have been in SG since the 70’s and have been part and parcel of the SG household. Their contribution expect ally to the weening of the children and new generation there is tremendous. In the early 90’s not many Singaporeans were fluent in English and were unsophisticated in their appearances. The maids helped a lot in teaching English and grooming the children as parents were mostly both employed and working almost 24/7 to make ends meet. The Filipino maids were the surrogate mothers that even brought their wards with them during Sunday personal breaks to church and Jalan-jalan or outings. That bond will have a lasting impression on the new generation as being brought up from toddler age to adolescents before the nannies tearfully went back home.
have maid is somethig like Luxury to me 😅🤣 in our city we dont have maids just the one who are wealthy rich
+ many helpers insist on eating only after the family has eaten/eating at a separate table and it’s so heartwarming when the family insists back that the helpers eat with them 🥺
White girl calls them Maids. The Singaporeans call them helpers.
But Singaporeans make the headlines for abusing domestic helpers.
Those white girls definitely treats them better than those lying singaporeans.
trust me most singaporeans call them maid. i am singaporean btw. they call them ''helper'' only when they are interviewed.
@@Samngchaoyu???? I am singaporean and most ppl around me call them helpers.... let's agree that people can differ within a population
@@93hothead lmao those girls are singaporeans/pr
This is sickening. I look forward to the day when maids from Indonesia and Philippines don't need to leave their countries anymore.
It’s a way for them to make money, without these jobs life may be even harder for them.
In fact many Indonesians and Filipinos themselves use maids.
Most indonesian low worker only gain 1.5 to 2.1 per month while min wage for main outsea like in sg or china have minimum 7 mil to 15 milion rupiah, its a long road to go
I wish. But the country's economy is very dependent from the domestic helper's salaries (dollars).
i too, look forward to the day indonesian and phillipines governments wake up and start caring for their citizens.
Amen, it's getting crowded here.
can't believe the chick said ThiRtY DoLLArs
interviewer: a month?
white chick: yEH PRoBaly.
oke...
Yikes, so is that how much she expects to pay the foreign helper she’s employing?
She's British, what you expect...
WILL THORBURN that’s exactly what I thought, and she is intending on hiring one as well (apparently). Just a bunch of dumb bitches
she was only a kid :/ and not even singaporean, i doubt she knows much about average salaries in singapore
Bunny1412
$30 a month
a month has 30 days
that’s a dollar a day
you can buy an icecream for a dollar in singa, surely she knows that
I have a feeling that the helpers are raising the family better than themselves. I had a helper from Philippines before I think she went back to Philipines 7years ago and I have nothing bad to say about her. I called her Titi. She is loving and caring and I considered her as my own mother. She is special to me. I hope she gets to see her children grow up healthily. All the memories ,🥰
sorry to ask, but do u know about the pay? idk if the rates they said in the video were accurate
@@sahayeda5220 oh the average helper's salary here in Malaysia,is approximately
RM 1600 ($385.17) and above. She said to me that's more than a lot. Not only she does speak English she also a better cook (considering im Muslim) she always said to me that she respects my belief, therefore she always bought the Halal ingredients
You are lucky that you got a loving and caring helper and also I am happy your family treated her well.. 😊. Fellow Filipina here
FanGirl Yuuki Filipino Ako Pero sa totoo lang nahihiya Ako sa ginawa nila 😭
@@unknownfuture4589 ok ka lang ba? bat ka nahihiya sa mga domestic helper? gago? brain dead ka ba?
I love the first interviewee. She's very level-headed.
And much respect to her esp. when she implored her fellow Singaporeans to not treat their helpers as somewhat like an ''invisible underclass''.
But honestly, are you sure that she's not treating domestic helpers as well? Politically correct answers are all I hear in this video
@@rachelloong7547 It's understood as nested that we can't judge any deeper than what's being shown in the video. Otherwise, then, too bad.
Thank you Asian Boss. With this video, you are sparking a conversation. I'm also glad that most of our Singaporean brothers and sisters interviewed here are positive, respectful and empathetic towards domestic helpers esp. to my fellow Filipinos.
I have a cousin who's currently working as a domestic helper in Singapore where she takes care of 2 children. From the stories I have heard from her, the family/employer she's with is kind, though sometimes could get tough with the 2 kids she's taking care of. She also got to travel a lot of places here in Asia because her employer would also bring her whenever they go on vacation.
My cousin saw the hardships and hard work of her employer just to earn and provide well to their family. She knows/felt the sacrifice her employer is doing like when their more time would be spent more on work than their children.
She wanted to return here in the Philippines, but she couldn't as the kids became very close to her heart. She takes care of them as her own.
Now, her own daughter is now on Senior High School and it seems that she has more reasons to stay but I am confident and grateful that she's fine with the family she's with.
Indeed, I salute my fellow Filipinos and our Singaporean friends for the hard work and sacrifices you're doing for the sake of your family's future. It may be shown in your different ways but it's all rooted in love.
You're very articulate. What you shared touched my heart. Thank you, @Justin Nagac! Peace and abundance to all.
Im a Filipino I feel sad about this content.. thats why OFW is considered hero in our country coz thats what they go through just to provide a stable life for their family....
What's OFW?
THE PHILIPPINES NEED TO GO SOCIALISM
@다이아나다이아나 I used to think of that before but now... I realized how bad it is to generalize people because that is how we just saw the picture without knowing anything about each individual... I knew women that got pregnant (with consent or a rape victim) and did not abort (because abortion is illegal In here) and will decide to go abroad to provide for their kid because if they stay here in Philippines with low paying jobs, they will just suffer. I also knew women going back to school and leave their kids to pursue education and to reach higher achievements and salary in the future.
Because if you look closely, nowadays... a normal Filipino family needs both mother and father to work for the families needs now and it is really rare to see full time household wife.
@@nathanielmills4678 ofw overseas Filipino worker Filipinos who work abroad! They are called pH modern heroes because they sacrifice to leave their FAM behind just to give them a good life economy wise so they can have the opportunity to better their status in life one day
Some do good while some FAM who is left behind well u know it's life ✌✌✌
I am a Filipino (now Canadian), but I do agree that people should not be having more kids than they can afford. I get funny questions from my countrymen asking me why we only chose to have 1 child...and even told me I was 'being stingy'. I would say, the Philippines should stop branding OFWs as 'heroes' and encouraging this diaspora of cheap labour to keep the economy afloat. If the government knows the predicament they face each and everyday of their lives living as domestic or lowly-paid workers abroad, they wouldn't want that for their own children. They should have a moral concern on how we are being typecast as 'cheap labour country' too...as whatever $s that contributes to the country's coffers is NOT AT ALL WORTH the downgrading of respect the rest of the world now views our people. I am saying this not because I am a Filipino...but I wd say thsi honestly: our people are one of the world's most artistically talented, hard-working, diligent and big-hearted race. But our downfall is we covet material goods more than our respect as people...and it shows how everyone turns a blind eye that this phenomenon is happening. Everyone turns a blind eye that our own moms are doing servitude just so we can afford to buy the latest iPhones and flatscreen TVs.
In the case of Philippine domestic workers they certainly have it better in Singapore than in Saudi Arabia. In Singapore, even if they're ignored by most of the middle class, the working class Singaporeans respect them. A lot of hawker vendors and store owners even learn tagalog so they can pal around and attract filipino customers on sunday markets (the day off of most domestic workers). In Singapore they're just ignored. In Saudi, they're likely abused.
The maids from "all the Third World countries" who find themselves in Singapore are by and large the lucky ones. The unlucky ones find themselves working for highly entitled families in places like Kuwait and the Gulf generally.
The unlucky ones are stuck in these "Third world countries" and are unemployed or working for 50 cents an hour
Yep, The unlucky ones that end up in Islamic countries of the Middle East Countries (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, etc...). Many end up being treated as indentured servants which is a form of modern-day slavery with their passports taken and at times not paid for their work. The families in those Islamic countries treat many of the domestic help worse than animals which the host countries have little to no laws protecting these people.
Third World? Are they living in Cold War I era?
@@Slenderman63323 visit my oage
@@polster2 this is not common at all in Turkey. Never heard of Asian domestic workers. Common in Syria though
Im so thankful that there's lot of people who really appreciate how domestic worker is important. Its not easy to be a house helper/a maid/a servant/slave whatever some people called it. But this is a tough job you know, You take care of other children while you can't take care with your
own children (mothers sacrife),its not easy to flush the poop of others and not easy to clean the bowl with lot of mess of pee all over it. Its not easy to clean the mess of others,its not easy to cook ,to do laundry,to do ironing and especially its not so easy to "blend/mix" with your employers attitude/character, how can you make them satisfy with your work how can you get there trust, how can you get there respect. Its not easy being a Domestic worker,Its lot of sacrife and patience .
But this work I'm proud off. I bring my sibling to college and I really thankful with this field I chosed.
Its a blessing not curse.
Being a domestic worker is not you are brainless but its showed that you're strong and have ability to face the difficulty in life.
After all there's no difference with rich and poor they have the same smell of FART and POOP 💩
😁😊
Huge respect for ya 🙌
@@vn8197 thank you sir! 😍
I am proud of every Filipino domestic helper. I am not ashamed of them. ❤️ To all Filipino domestic helpers, you are an inspiration. It takes humility to accept the work that you do. And not everyone is humble enough to do such a thing! I salute you all! 👏🏼💕
Very humble enough... We must be proud of them as Filipinos .. They go through different country with different culture. Many Nationalities look down on them and failed to give them importance. Many Singaporeans treats them as a lesser being.. They feel superior.....
@Chika I agree with you on this as well.
@ᜆ᜔ᜐᜒᜃ yes..but sometimes they dont have much choice. Most come from really desperate circumstances. Most came from nothing…marry and have kids early to escape the humdrum hardship..live in scrap housing, see their kids hungry and malnourished. What choice do they have?
You're stupid.
Filipinos should not be proud of Filipino maids. It's a lowly occupation comparable to prostitution because they exchange their dignity by slaving, getting abused and taken advantage of.
@ocean I called her stupid because she is making fake salutations to people who take low desperate jobs. Maids have brought nothing but shame and false identity to Filipinas in general.
FYI a benevolent politician had already come and his name was Rodrigo Duterte. He fought richer nations for OFWs most especially Filipinas maids. Now you can dream until the crows turn white but nobody like Duterte will lead the country. Not even the weak Marcos Jr nor any Dilawan will fight the way Duterte fought for the poor and taken advantage
I have so much respect for people who go overseas to better their lives.We all have different talent and skillsets, someone with a low paying job does not make him/her a lesser person than someone with a highpaying job or vice versa , we have different roles and contribute to society in our own little way, cheers!
I’m a Filipino, and a lot of Filipinos go abroad, not just maids, but doctors, nurses, engineers, architects, accountants, and stuff
We are like in 2019 already and at this age I think respecting and treating others equally should be something we all must do.
I really appreciate other people respecting our Ethinic group
Yes, as a Filipino, There is a Lot of Filipinos Going Abroad Like my Father, and Mother Leaving the Family Behind, and Hoping by the End of the Next Administration, Being an OFW will be Obsolete thanks to Rapid Automation that Replaces Human with Robot Workers Like Tesla Optimus by Elon Musk Across the World, In Which it is Accelerated by the Pandemic and Labor Shortage, and More and Better Job Opportunities in Our Country, and by this time, There will be More Filipinos Leaving the Country for Tourism than Work.
Why they go abroad? Because ur country is poor..low pay
I find it sad that Filipinos have to resort to leaving their country just to have a better life.
hey even most of us indonesians on the higher rate economy have at least 1 helper for their house, it's as common here.
Dhia Anjaini are they foreign domestic helpers, or locals?
locals
Kalobeast 55 usually local from villages outside the city. However, as the economy improves, it is expected that most homes would not be able to afford a maid anymore in the near future. It’s hard to live without them around if you’re already used to it, however, I’m glad if they find a better paying job too. Source: Indonesian with busy parents who grew up taken care by maids
intan ratna sari well that's the same in the philippines, funny thing is the domestic helpers working in Singapore will have a domestic helper back home..
Kalobeast 55 does that mean the wages of the maids back home are less than half the wage they earn in Singapore? How much would their wage be for a month?
The questions asked seems to be guiding the interviewee to a certain types of answer. I’ve maid since I was a kid and was brought up by my maid. My siblings and I refer to our maid as kak kak, which means sister, and we never looked down or mistreated our maids. They are like our family members. When they left to go back home, we cried and exchange contacts and told them if they ever needed help to contact us. There are news on maid being abused, but there are also a fair share of news where maids abused elderly and young children. There were also a few cases where the maids murdered the employers. There are news where families tries to apply citizenships for the maids, and leaving inheritance for their maids. The salary mentioned are minimum wages, many will actually increase their maids salaries. And most of the expenses of the maid is provided for, please do not compare their salaries to locals (does your boss provides for all your expenses and accommodation) Please do a non biased interview and not such an half ass interview in order to clickbait viewers and create unnecessary misunderstanding between countries.
feel like this should have been the comment with the most reactions, since he was able to give a much broader and more neutral perspective on this foreigner domestic helper situation in Singapore.
This is right. The video is not standing on a neutral ground, and it is a biased based interview. Sadly some people are not well informed and are easily convinced by just one video they saw on the internet. Just like they are nice and rude people from all countries. One, or a few individuals do not represent all of the population.
@@yr7109 That's the point of these street interviews by Asian Boss though. They're not getting expert opinions, they're getting the opinions of every-day people. It also shows that the general population is not well informed on their own issues. I find it interesting to see the different viewpoints by average people on these kind of subjects. Asian Boss also has one-on-on autobiographical interviews that go more in-depth on important topics as well, for those who are into that.
I am Singaporean and I find the maid system exploitative. It's great your family has a good relationship with your maid but your case is far from usual. surveys have found that a significant number of maids go for long periods without off days. And even when they are paid and receive their stipulated off days, the amount of compensation is far below what most Singaporeans would tolerate. Meanwhile, they occupy a low status in a society extremely dependent on them.
I hope you keep the good relationship you have with your maid but bear in mind that the majority of maids are not so lucky.
this comment needs to go to the top
It's getting nearer! Can't wait for Asian Boss Malaysia >
This was really not a well done out video. Certain people interviewed, the questions asked, and the way the whole video was put together seem to lack depth in the topic.
the title should have been "what do singaporeans know about maids" lol
Bianca Aletti Are you unfamiliar with this channel? This format is a street interview so OFCOURSE they get random peoples opinions. Not sure what you were expecting here the questions seemed very focused on the videos subject as well
It's a street interview so they really are picking random people they can find to participate in the interview.
Asian Boss interviews are purposely aimed to suit a narrative. Don't think too much about it. Treat it as entertainment, like their interviews with porn stars.
More in-depth journalism should be done, but this is a TH-cam video to give you a touch of what people think about things.
Thank you Asian Boss for going into this topic, something that I’ve been hoping to see more often on social media channels. I think there are many questions that still need to be addressed though, as not all the interviewees are fully informed on the position of domestic help in Singapore (that said, interviews are meant to be about a person’s value judgement, so it’s perfectly alright as long as comments are not inflammatory).
To many other countries, hiring a domestic help seems arbitrary. But to Singapore, it is a necessity, or perceived as one because we lack manpower, so available human resources must be expended to the max., aka increasing productivity is key. Hence, the long schooling and working hours basically make having domestic help very very useful. Imagine this - you wake up at 6.30am, maybe send your kids to school, then report to work by 8/9am, work throughout the day until 5pm (if you have a regular job, lucky you), you get back home by 6pm, eat dinner, and then clear the work you have to do for the evening, whilst making sure your kids have finished their work and are ready to conquer the next day. For the kids themselves, it’s basically school from 7-2/3pm, then after-school activities till 6/7/much later in the evening, then you head home, eat dinner and shower and power through your homework and revision. It is not so much laziness but convenience and the fast pace of life that necessitates help to do the chores in the house.
There is actually a minimum wage already in place for domestic helpers of SGD 550. But even that is meagre. However, this minimum wage of SGD 550 only is already quite meagre, seeing that inflation and cost of living is on the rise in Singapore.
More importantly, I think campaigns and awareness and rules and regulations will all be for naught if Singaporeans in general do not open their minds to and accept these domestic workers, as well as all foreign workers who come to SG to work in fact, as people like themselves who are simply earning a living. Maybe it’s because the culture of domestic help has been passed down from generation to generation, and the stigma surrounding domestic help persists despite becoming less and less with each generation. In the past, these domestic help were viewed as servants, rich Asian families had many of them in their property, and because of the lack of rules and regulation, they were often mistreated and under-payed, but treatment varied quite drastically from one household to the next, depending on the attitude of the employer.
So in all honesty, the best way to change the treatment of domestic helps in the LONG RUN is to educate your kids and not discriminate against these helpers, nor withhold their basic rights as employees and violate the MOM’s rules behind their backs.
That said, most middle-aged and younger Singaporeans tend to be more appreciative and treat their domestic helps very well, and even like family for those who have grown up with a particular person.
Regardless of social class and status, or nationality, I hope that everyone can simply exercise respect and treat others like how you want to be treated, exercising basic human decency. Sounds cliche, but please...
I’m an American and I find it odd how middle class families hire maids in other countries. In the United States, only rich people hire maids.
As a US citizen who lived in SG for a while I find the whole maid thing odd. I think Singaporeans work super hard but many other countries do too. Most don’t have maids. Very wealthy families in other countries do but they don’t always live in-house. Personally, I grew up with a nanny because both my parents worked but she didn’t clean for us and she was paid WAY more than the maids in SG for doing and working less. I wish people would pay their maids way more or not have one.
Megan K the supply of maids essentially sets the market rate which happens to be cheap for Singaporeans vs their income so that it is common.
I’m sure it would be more common in other countries if it were possible to get cheap labour.
@Porco Rosso Yea but, that's not everyday people, that's huge organisations, these are working class families, treating people like dirt.
@@aarxnw Dude, the abuse on helpers are only a minority. Most of them live good lives (at least from what I can see in Hong Kong), and I think they bring a diversity to a city as homogenous as HK. Surprise, helpers have rights and protection too!!
candy pop I’m not saying that because it’s huge organisations that it’s okay, or even if it is a farming family in the US, my point was I believe that huge organisations get power hungry and then they turn to inhumane tactics to continue growing further out of greed, but anyone who treats anyone like dirt is awful, I believe that the majority of people wouldn’t treat them negatively though. Although the people’s body language and the way they were smiling about the comments that are made or the way they stated how a lot of people would class them as dirt, I believe that there was a little bit of their own opinion behind the comments they were making..
How about south korea the cost of living also is very expensive yet still have time to do the household chores and take care their children.
very intelligent and well spoken people in this interview!
vv typical Singaporeans
that's education for you
Singapore is one of most educated populations in the world with over 96% literacy rate among the population. Also Singapore is rated in the top 5 education systems in the world.
agreed. it so nice to hear their well thought opinion
It's Singapore - that's the norm.
That laugh though after saying "third world countries",come on people we just all want to put food on the table after all no one is immortal in this world!!!
And she said that and laughed in front of her young daughter...
@16Y6C44 LIM SI YU
That's a condenscending laugh, don't wiggle your way out of there.
Yeah I'm like the level of scorn in her is disgusting
Even China and India are third world countries. Simply facts. Don't know why she laughs tho... Maybe just felt awkward?
@@eloy618 China is not a third world country....
Im indonesian raised in singapore, my family brought our helper back in jkt to sg, salary was $550, but she lived in our condo, food and transportation were always on us, so she didnt spend much money on her own, and could save some to be sent back home.
@Renata M Considering minimum wage in Indonesia is only around $250, even for fresh grads, being able to work overseas is a great opportunity for them to make money.
@Renata M it's actually ok since she have her basic necessities she needs
@Renata M you are being stupid, nobody force them to work as a helper in the first place.
@Renata M yo stfu, they know the pay they getting, they come from poor countries, and coming to Singapore allow them to earn more than their shitty countries can even provide.
@Renata M no way I'm going to pay more than 500-600$ a month, that's already 20-30% of most regular income in SG, unless you're upper middle class
I am South Korean. I don't get this. Because we have no maid culture.
Thank you for interviewing singaporean people to find out their thoughts on domestic helper. Im from the Philippines and my mother is also working from overseas(Hongkong) and were lucky that my mom's employer is kind but the way she treated there is not equal like their food is different from the food of his employer. Thats the only issue for me but her work there is not that hard. Im very thankful to my mom's employer for being kind and i already finish my studies bcos of my mom's hardwork. If the family of my mom's employer visit here in our courty, i will tour them here without spending any money and treat them like our family and they are very welcome here. I will return all the kindness they gave to my mom.
To all singaporean or any other countries that reading this, please treat them equally bcos the kindness you gave to your helper or maid will be paid more of something
that you wasnt expecting.
Thank you, you are very kind person with a heart. I know that the family of your helper are already greatful to your family. Maybe some of us were unlucky that we are born poor but we never blame anyone of that especially our parent because they live in the province before. The good thing of being poor is were striving hard to get out of poverty and now little by little our background in life is changing.
You should visit Philippines someday. Philippines is a wonderful place to travel. And the people there are hospitable and there is no language barrier bcos all of us can speak english as well.
you are candidate for next philippines president
Out of curiosity, what did you study?
I have visited Singapore and found them to have very odd lives, they work very long hours, little time to relax or enjoy life, people asked me if I would consider living there, no thanks a lot.
andlufds i agree with it. When all my friends and most ppl said they want to live in Singapore, I was surprised lol . Ppl in SG look like robots in my view
@@chocopie7890 countries like singapore are good place to work, study, or earn money but not for living or retiring. once u have lots of money, u live cheaply as noble elites in a poor "third world" country actually...
xXxSkyViperxXx may be for u. I dun even want to earn money in Singapore cuz i dun like everything about SG. To earn money, I would choose other developed countries except Singapore.
Exactly..
Wow! thanks for sharing this. I definitely have to do more research on the work culture in Singapore because I plan on relocating to Singapore in 2 to 3 years. Definitely have to look into this more before making that decision
My mother was a domestic worker in Singapore back in the 90s and all of her employers were fortunately very kind people. The first was a local and the second was a foreigner. Both of them were really kind people and the foreign employer ended up being my godmother.
Most helper don't have to pay electricity, water, WiFi, food, rent in SG, income, medical, etc.
This is one of a good perspective and very insightful video.
Asian boss i truly respect about the content that you try to bring up to the surface.
And i truly believe each video that has been sent to the world will eventually our very own eyes on how should be able to maintain our environment and eventually create a better system for our friend and family and for the people who live in the third world country.
We still have a lot of homework to do and because of that i truly be encouraged by the message that you guys try to give back to us.
I will do whatever i can to make my environment especially my society to be a better to live on.
Thank u asian boss.
I really appreciate this.
Nice topic~Thanks for sharing💕
we just love our helper so much she's been live with us since I was a Baby until now , I'm 29 years old now and she was like a 2nd mother to me since her Family abandoned her and they're just want to take her money and now it's our turn to take care of her she can live with us as long as she want to and I remember when I share my very first Salary to my parents and her , and she's non stop saying how proud she is with me ♡
Visited Singapore recently and saw this Singaporean slapped her Filipino helper when I was riding the MRT. I knew she was Filipina so I asked "Does this lady hit you a lot?" in our language. She just looked at me desperately. I didn't lay a finger on the Singaporean, but I wish I did. Although, I conveyed the message clear not to hit her again.
I've worked as a Maid and at the same time taking care an elderly woman. I've worked in Middle East (Lebanon) . I only slept for 4-2 hours. I've worked there for almost 2 years and I don't have day offs. And I ate left over foods, sometimes a week or month old food from the fridge. And I slept in the kitchen and sometimes on floor in the room of the elderly woman Im taking care. I liked it in the room because there's heater. Unlike in the kitchen, im Freezing to death especially during winter. I don't have winter clothes and enough blanket. I wore 4-5 layers of clothes to make myself warm.
. The reason why I've worked there because a friend told it. We will work there as a caregiver. When we arrived there, it was different. I will work as a Maid and at the same time as a caregiver. At first I was shocked, I asked helped to our Phil. embassy there and here in the Philippines. But nothing happened . . I have mobile phone but the Agency took it when they discovered that I'm asking help. I don't have phone for 8 months. My only way to talked to my family back home is to call them once a month in a shop. Every time I send my salary. Only time that I could go out only to send the money.
My experience there was so horrible. I was nearly raped and experienced sexual assaults.
BTW: my salary WAS USD 200.. Equivalent to php 10,000 before. (The slary that they've told us wasn't followed and for three months I don't have salary. The agency took it as my processing fee going there).
* Although my salary was not much. Still it helped my family. Part of it was used for my father . Also
Some of it, was used to pay my fees for Taking up a Licensure Examination and some I've used to took up a training for a brighter future.
********
(after Middle East)
I also worked in Singapore not as Domestic Helper.
** I came from the Philippines and I have relatives working as Domestic helpers abroad.
MAIN REASONS
1., Their salary back home wasn't enough to support their families. I guess a Maid's minimum salary is around 110 SGD. If the boss is generous, you could have a higher salary of SGD 250.
2. The Salary in SGD as DH is almost the same with those working in Government here as a cleaner or guard.
3. Some DH are professionals Back home.
To name a few, Teachers, Nurses, etc.
SOME chosen to be a DH in order to gain experiences in Child care, elderly care and at the same time as Domestic helper. WHY? TO HAVE A Brighter FUTURE TO GO IN OTHER Countries SUCH AS Canada and European countries.
4. WHY SINGAPORE?
A. They pay the Philippine Agency lower than going to HK. Although the Salary in HK is higher than in Singapore. There's no termination in Singapore.
B. NO TERMINATION : IN Singapore, they don't terminate Domestic HELPERS unlike in HK.
HOW termination works? Once you terminate your contract with your employer. You will go to the partner agency of your Philippine agency in Hong Kong.
The Partner agency will "HELP YOU" find new employer.
Once they found new employer, you will pay them back. The payment is equivalent to 2-3 months salary.
5. WHY WORK AS A MAID?
food is free. 😁 . They could save up their salaries.
Lucky for Others that has food allowance. While others had no Food allowance but could cook their foods. Still others weren't not lucky as them, they eat left over foods or only eat a piece of bread of a cup of noodles for the entire day's strength 💪. Because the left over foods were preferred to throw it or given to pets.
* * * Hoping these will enlighten all of you.
Don't looked down to Domestic Helpers lower than your favorite pet because they are working and sacrificing everything for their family. Please treat them well.
You don't know what they are going through.
Once their employers are out of sight, they are crying 😢 because of maltreatment of some employers, they miss their families and even going through family problems.
If you have a Nice Maid, be nice to them.
Thank you for giving time on reading my short comment.
* ** I am not working now as a Maid. I'm lucky to practice my profession.
Thank you for sharing your story. I hear you and hope your words reach all who share in your experiences so they can know they are not alone. May God bless you for all you have endured and overcome. I salute you with honour, humanity, and respect.
Most people in Singapore treat their maids with kindness, some even regard them as family. In rare cases, there are maids who are abused.. Conversely, (very rare) some maids abuse their employer’s children as a way of venting their anger etc.. I had a relative whose maid fed their child her urine and often beat him.. This caused the child to have health problems & the parents only found out late after )”: Well this is only a small minority of cases, it is still a very scary thought. My mother often said before that she is too scared to leave us (her kids) in someone else’s hands.
Agree. I feel it is really rare for Singaporeans to abuse their helpers, instead many treat them like family or friends, we dine together, sleep in the same rooms. However, conversely, do our helpers treat us the same way? In most occasion, we tend to empathise with the minorities, helpers in this case, but many Singaporean families are actually victims of these helpers.
My helper recently asked to go back to her hometown for 2 weeks. 1 week through, she borrowed $1k (SGD) from us, saying she needs this sum of money for her dad's medical fees. We lent her the money and after, she ghosted on us, not returning to work as agreed previously and also not willing to pay back the money she loaned. 3 weeks later, she contacted us, saying she is currently pregnant and would want to borrow an additional $500 to support herself during this pregnancy. Without returning the $1k, and refusing to complete her contract, she threatened saying that if we do not lend her the another $500 she will be unable to pay us back the $1k.
My helper worked with us for 6 years, we trusted her but such situation still happen. Such events where helpers ghost on their employer while scamming sums of money is not unusual here, but why is this not being talked about? Singaporean employers is forced to face the reality that we are unable to get back the money. There are no terms or contract that protect employers in such situation.
I have a helper which stayed with us for roughly 10-12 years. She was treated as family by us, given the same amount and type of food as us and she was never mistreated. My parents don’t even raise their voice at her. So I’m a little surprised when I hear about such news on the internet.
Yes, it looks like Singapore is exploiting people. It does not seem that there is a minimum wage concept down there.
i think its more likely maids abuse the child/elderly as compared to the other way round. Apparently when I was young, my maid use to hit me when I pee on the bed (I was around 3yo). My parents only found out after installing CCTVs in the house. My friend had a similar experience. I hear less stories about maids being abused though, even my own maid( I have about 4 different maids growing up) said Singapore is actually a preferred place to work at since other countries like HK or middles east treat their maids alot worse
This was very interesting! It really raises awareness and also encourages us viewers to have a broader understanding and perspective, also through this platform the journey of 'unlearning what we have learnt' has been pleasant. Thankyou Asian Boss.
My sister is an OFW and used to be a helper in Singapore for 5 years. Her first employer who happened to be a Korean family, didn't treat her well unlike the second Singaporean family who treated her like a family. Now, she's in Brazil working the same job, however she wished to be back in SG because treatment and salary-wise, Singaporeans treat their helpers better than in any other countries. Thanks for the interview. The old gentleman is very kind and educated, same goes to the young man wearing shades. They have better mindset than the rest of the interviewees. I hope someday, my country the Philippines will stop sending maids abroad.I know it's far fetch, but Im pretty sure we can do it.
Unfortunately, Korean people generally don’t treat people from southeast Asian countries well.
Great video! Please follow up with a part 2 interviewing maids. That would be very nice to hear their point of view
30 dollars per month? Seriously, what kind of bubble are you living in...
Porco Rosso wow, maid in Singapore is that cheap? Only 600 to 700? My parents in beijing pay our maid roughly 1000 USD per month. And we also provide food, a bed and everything.
They are barely teenagers , what do you expect..
hooka where is your parents maid from?
@@laocongge your parents so rich
@@The_SeoulJourner lol and which domestic helper speak chinese and korean ? they are probably train months in lang
I used to have a lot of maids and I only remember one of them who actually did a really good job. She was also really nice and would tell me jokes. But her contract ended soon before I knew it and I cried my eyes out. Though I hope she and her family is happy right now because a few months before she left, she told my family that she renovated her house back at her home country using the money and was able to provide for her parents, husband and son. My parents pay her almost $1000 per month because of her hard work which is how she was able to provide for her family
when i was younger, i used to have a domestic helper,named aseh and she was my best friend! my sister and i as well as my domestic helper slept in the same room and we always miss sleep because we keep talking about songs and dramas!😂 my family respected domestic workers and my parents will scold me if i ever demanded from aseh ,my parents also allowed her to hang out on sundays,buy a phone and also follow us for our overseas trips! bibik aseh introduced me to indonesian dramas and songs which shaped my childhood!i miss her so much and i lost contact with her:((
Oh where you from though?
Melly Yuniarti i'm from singapore!✊
Helpers are pretty common in Brazil too. For an insight, I recommend watching the movie THE SECOND MOTHER (2015).
In the movie, parents are so busy with their own life that the helper end up gaining more respect from their kid.
That’s interesting! Will watch it
there's a US equivalent with scarlett johanson i forgot the title i think is called "the nanny" or smthn?
Hello Brazil friends ✌✌💃💃💃
@@sahayeda5220 yap it's nanny in the Us
It it's a girl in US it's called nanny if it's a guy it's the pacifier 💃💃✌✌
I never had a maid when I was living in SG (im expat) but problem I notice was: family that treated the maid like a sub-human/children being raised by the maid and not the parents. Many many times we've seen maid know more about the child than the mother/father combine. This is very sad.
It's also common in indonesia to have maid its like every 1 in 10 (Or prolly more) people i know have at least one maid and a driver
someone who car3s it's the same in the philippines but they are locals not domestic.
But in this interview, they're talking about foreign maids not local maids.
@@jokocahyono6918 but still MAID
Well, I've heard of Singaporean employers asking their maids to help massage their entire family's legs and backs every night. That's...even if that's not really abuse, it's not nice thing to ask your maid to do right?
I am currently writing my bachelor's thesis about foreign domestic workers in Finland! What a coincidence that Asian Boss released a video about the same topic
In Indonesia, I grew up with 2-3 house helps and a chauffeur. Pretty much they cleaned the house, did the laundry, and probably heat up the food if not cooking once-twice a week. My parents raised us not to be dependent on the maid, so when I left my country at the age of 16 I am already used to all chores. I never once raised my voice at them nor hurt them in any way because my mom would beat the hell out of us. Now every time I go back home, I always feel weird having the house helps around
4:20 , i want to have conversation with the old man, he seems really intelligent and i will probably learn a lot from him.
Helpers here in Shanghai, which we call them 阿姨(auntie), are actually quite well paid. They usually earn more money than newly graduated college student. On the other hand, they don’t have social assurance (pay for your medic care and retirement).
福圆 china should take over Singapore
@@Be-457 why?
@@Be-457 No, we should not.
I've heard of some stories of mistreatment towards maids where I live; their phones get taken away upon arrival, not allowed to meet with their friends let alone be provided off-days, verbal abuse, passports taken away... Almost everytime there's a runaway case in the newspapers it's usually about the maids.
Even the pay. My grandmother complained when our maid's monthly pay was alot more than our previous ones, saying it's too much, etc. Here, as full time maids, their pay is actually equivalent to local employees that work part time.
Atm we don't really have one. Our former maid went home for the holidays and did have intentions to come back, but her family did not let her and basically changed her sim card. Barely a third of my family believed this; the rest are actually thinking she cheated us out of our money and consider her distrustful.
Thank you for touching on Singapore! Maids are very common here because childcare is expensive, and both parents have to work to support the family (Living in Singapore is very expensive). Up till about 4 years ago our family had maids from Indonesia. We really treat them like family and I still remember them. One particular maid stayed with us for at least 6 years or more, and she stayed with us so much that she could even speak Mandarin.
Unfortunately we do see cases where maids were abused or when maid lose their temper. The government has been kinder to them by giving them one day of rest (they're free to go out) as of 4 years ago, so I do feel maids are getting better treatment, but maybe more should be done.
Only one day of rest a month is not enough.
I am a Singaporean and I used to have a helper at home as my family had 4 children. I had two different helpers at different parts of my childhood. The first was the one who spend most of my childhood with and she spent many years with us, getting along with us all. Later on, she had to go back to get married and we got a new helper. But the second one not only argued with my parents, they later found out she had stolen over $1000 from them. They sent her back and we didn't get a new helper. Overall, helper and employees all play a part of having a good relationship to get along. My parents had always made the maid eat the dinner she cook for us first so that she will have the energy to take care of us when we ate later on. Treating and respecting the maid is important, and visa versa.
I’m sure your parents made the maid try the food first because your parents didn’t trust the maid and thought she could put poison in the food.
They don't have to pay housing and food in SGD. Their pay is up to them to use eg. send home or spend in SG. They don't pay income tax in SG.
but is it enough tho. considering the workload
Aiyah many keyboard warriors here dunno the truth one lah. No need waste time convincing them.
bad WOMEN ! that what u are😜
Why should they pay an income tax when the pay is too low.
@@luxielle since when is free housing and food a right? Do citizens get free housing and food? Then why should foreign workers? The rent, food, electricity etc are all included in the wage. Its the same as why companies offer lesser income if they have great benefits. They don't work from 6am to 9pm, if you have a maid, you would know this. When the kids are at school, all they do is some housework and the rest of the time would be their free time. What are you saying is most families that hire maid have 2kids and 2 elders which is simply not true.
Singapore is actually very desirable destination for Filipino workers (compared say to Saudi Arabia). But one problem the domestic workers face is that they often never marry and never have children. They spend majority of their time in the employer's home. So as one of the interviewed persons suggested, it would help if the workers had some other point of contact in SG other than their employer.
My friend's Filipina maid was love scammed by Nigerian scammer pretending to be an American ship captain on social media.
I am so thankful for the response of the Singaporeans on the way they treat their helpers now a days , were treating with respect and compassion as equal as everyone else because we are all humans. As I, have been with so many Filipino domestic helper friends in Singapore, even the moment that when I was there and walked arouhd the entire city, met and communicate with them as I encountered most of my fellow countrymen, and seeing how they are striving so hard just to provide for their family in our country. I believe that this generation of Singaporeans are educated enough on this kind of issues. And one last thing, I do hope that they will have salary increase.
God bless you Singapore!
Majulah Singapura!
I’m in Singapore for a month now and I have to say that I was absolutely disgusted by the questions their agency asks employers and the way people allow themselves to treat these god send women!!! I’m so happy to see this is being talked about
Just wanna share our experience when we went to SG with my family (14 members).
I thought I was the only one who felt it but after sharing to my mom that I think the locals there stare at us in a weird way (that type where you look at people from head to toe), she agreed. Idk, they seemed grumpy.
In comparison, we had similar experience when we visited HK. Sadly, I kinda had a grasp of how our beloved Overseas Filipino Workers are being looked down upon abroad.
It’s the same in South Korea, I had two girls there give me a judgmental side eye.
This made me shed a tear for those workers who are taken for granted.
One of my sister in law is working in Singapore as maid, when I asked about her daily life in overseas it seems hard, but she really appreciated her employer for they treat her like one of the family members and the responsibility they put on her sounds like they called her as big boss in the family , so my reason of respect to the Singaporean is higher than my expectation to our daughter's with love and happiness salute you all from north east India,.
Tbh I'd find it kind of weird having someone cook and clean and raise your children for you just because you can afford to. I'm sure these maids would rather be with their own families.
My friend has a Japanese opare living I his house taking care of his 9 year old daughter. Its actually cheaper than childcare.
All my friends have helpers because their parents don't have enough time to take care of them. I'm from hk not Singapore though
It's a common practice in some places! I'm honestly fine with it since it's inevitable that your parents/relatives would get busy but they would rather have someone at home to take care of you and maintain the house in their place rather than just leave you alone and unattended. (Especially when you're still too young!) You get to employ someone plus you can make a friend in the process! 😊 Though the downside of this is that some helpers aren't trustworthy. The home is a pretty private place and they can possibly do more harm than good ) :
We dont have time. Basiclly. Seems like youre lazy, not good enough to do housework, but the reality people work at office 8-5 and barely make times with kids / having me time even exercise. All expanse to hire maid cheaper than buy food+coin laundry+daycare everyday. And home always neat and clean.
I believe it's a cultural thing. I grew up in a family of eight and both parents worked fulltime , but us kids cleaned our own house, did our own laundry , took turns cooking or buying dinner etc. etc.. I think it made us a closer family , also more independent and responsible.
8:33 THIS. So many people just think "Oh it's worth more in their home so we can meet that bare minimum that doesn't make us seem abusive but is enough to make us feel good about paying them"
tbh i think the wage is reasonable considering food and lodging is covered for so most of the salary can be saved up. i grew up with a domestic helper and she could buy land and much more back in the philippines and now she has married to an australian and living well in australia now(: till this day my family and her still exchange calls and she really was like family to me.
Wow I love the lady wearing black sunnies holding her daughter. She has a great way of thinking.... setting a good example for their kids, by treating our helpers well. She is soo right!! # love asian boss. Asian boss, You guys are super informative 👍
some of these maids who work overseas actually have maids of their own back home..which better explain the other girl's statement about earning money than taking care of the household.
I doubt so. 350 Singaporean dollar is small for Philippines standard of wage actually. A factory worker can earn as much tbh
No, they do not mostly.. They pass the duties most of the time to the grandparents of the kids or guardians that are willing to take care of the child/children
doesnt make any sense that someone whos willing to work as a maid has a maid at her own home lol. having your own maid in the philippines is something the upper and upper middle class has... and you won't find any of them ever stooping to that work because they themselves are the ones who sometimes underpay these people...
Ridiculous! Show us the proof where you got that information.
In the Philippines a lot of professional people like teachers go to other countries to become maids. This shouldn't happen. Philippines has a lot of potential to be one of the top economy and Filipinos are very competitive people but due to corruption a lot have to make sacrifices. Sacrifices which the Filipinos doesn't deserve to do. Wish for all the corrupt politicians to rot in *Hell* !
I once had a maid from the philippines , and she was one of the nicest maids i've ever had. Sadly she's gone back to her home country . Love from malaysia.
Guys, just be more understanding with those 2 teens girls. They probably just 12-13. In that age, it's normal that you not familiar with family living expenses. You even don't know how much your parents have to spent for a month.
Not true. I knew my helpers was earning hundreds only when i was 10-12.
Those Kids r just sheltered.
@@RonLarhz Good for you to have that sense of compassion in early age but If you've been raised in that values, It should also reflects on your adult life, simply by not judging others that different with you.
@@els7002
Having sense of reality has nthg to do about judging others. Lmao.
Btw, aint u judging me now?what a joke.
@@RonLarhz Having sense of reality means you fully realise that in reality every human being is different, different up bringing, background etc. With that kind realisation, it should prevents us to literally judging others by the differences. But yeah, that's your view in life. That's your right. I'm not judging you. If you feel in that way. My bad, forgive my wrong word choices.
nah but saying 30 is like.. she has no idea what anything costs
Used to live in Indonesia before moving to America. We had 4 helpers and two drivers. I miss them. My family treated them so well.
in my country, Vietnam, it's not so easy to find a maid who fits your requirements. if the salary isn't good enough, they may leave and find another family. the family also sometimes give them gifts or extra money for special holidays cuz people think if the maid isn't happy about the family they can do sth bad for their children.
Not sure why I feel personally attacked by this video even though I'm not a maid myself
Cause your ppl are the maids lol
@@Timothee_Chalamet_CMBYN Probably that's why
Same. In the gulf countries "the country of maids" is another name for Indonesia huh, I remember an Arab guy told me when he came to jkt he seemed surprised and didn't expect jkt would be that modern and civilised, cause all they about Indonesia is just the maids.
@Ayy lmao uh yeah ? why do you think you know more about me than myself ?
lol...I can somewhat relate...im filipino.. and not even a maid myself.. yes I felt a tinge of being personally attacked, but as reality sets in..I found out that other corporate,modern day office jobs from which I am currently working on can be a form of modern day slavery inasmuch as the maids do in singapore...hopefully I can get myself out of this rat race and take my own sense of financial freedom
I liked the second last person way of thinking and being open about the thoughts and the elderly man too
2:34 30 $ ? Man thats insulting. Yeah she may not have no idea how much the wage is, but thats like 1/20 of the maid salary.
Johan Bee she’s only like...10 or 11 years old?? My younger brother (Primary School) thinks my flight to Europe is $100. Kids don’t really know how much things cost, since their pocket money is only $2.
So far, I see angmohs treat their maids quite generously (of course will have exceptions)
Happy Leaf are you faded? The girl is clearly atleast 18 since she is most likely studying there as at university. She didn’t meant it as an insult, she’s just clearly spoilt and has 0 contact with reality
proxi how does she look 18 are u like stupid or stupid
She probably don't have any idea about it cause she seems unsure.
some people in my country actually get paid that... at least maybe for half the month...
I'm from northeast India and there are a lot of women who went overseas especially Singapore to work as helper. They are look down by the society because these people are mainly from the countryside or people who come from poor family background who doesn't get the chance to higher education. I heard about this one girl who works in Singapore as a helper, she saved up some of her salary so that she could donate it to an orphanage whenever she comes home, massive respect to her.
Half of my friends are currently working in Singapore as maids, mostly from the Philippines. If you watch the movie, "iloilo," you will definitely understand. Great video by the way.
Pretty sure the rates for maids at the moment are like 600/ 700SGD. That's honestly pretty decent considering, housing, food, utilities, bills are all covered throughout the time here. I as a Singaporean can barely get such a good deal at 18. Lower wage full time jobs for adult Singaporeans earns you like 1200 before CPF deductions, no housing , no food, no bill coverage. You end up with barely a few dollars in disposable income. If you are single (ie. Supporting only yourself) food costs itself is 400 if you eat at hawker centers everyday, renting a room in a non prime area public housing is upwards of 800, phone and travel expenses are usually 100 a month. All these are conservative expense numbers. Not to mention technically, we have a slightly more than 10% homeless rate in the city state according to latest stat board numbers
I am Indonesian who happens to live in Singapore. Maids are actually very common among middle income Indonesians back home as well (the bourgeoisie families even employ personal attendants and security officers at home) and they are paid much less and the employees' treatment may not be better back at home.
There's nothing wrong with it. It is a job! It does not call for a negative spotlight. They should be proud of who they are, although it is unfortunate that the misinformed would try to put a stigma on it.
It's a noble job. But getting dirt wages is a bit too much!
Nothing wrong with the job, just the exploitative methods by the employers are what’s wrong here
A living wage should be the bare minimum of any job that takes that much derivative measures
You should do an interview in the philippines on their opinions regarding their overseas workers.
In the Philippines, we also have maids too. I live in Baguio City and I grew up with our maid since my dad and mom have works. We call our maid ‘manang’ or in ilocano term ‘older sister’ and in tagalog they call maids ‘Yaya’ but I’m more comfortable with calling her ‘manang’. A lot of my friends have maids also and all maids here in the Philippines are just very caring and I am proud to have our maid up until now.
The guy @ 3:55 is actually true, the reason why foreigners choose filipino workers is because we speak english fluently or if not fluent, at least people understand our accent and the way others speak with english language with filipino accent is more understandable and it’s easy for foreigners in foreign countries like Singapore to understand us.
I'm currently visiting my sister in Indonesia. She has two maids and a nanny. The helpers are hired locally. The usual pay for a nanny starts from SGD300 a month although she pays her nanny SGD400 which is considered higher. My sister treats her nanny like family as she's been with the family for 4 years and even learnt to converse in English during this time. When they go out for meals, my sister lets her nanny choose her meals and eat with them. Most families here don't do that or they will give the nannies leftovers. So my sister's nanny is definitely treated a lot more humanely than most others and that's because my sister and her husband grew up in NZ where we view all humans equally and more compassionately. I always said to her as nice as the help is, I don't think I could ever live the way she does as I wouldn't be able to handle the huge gap between us and the help. It's really sad to see how a lot of helpers are treated here.
I've personally gone through more than 10 and probably closer to 20 maids from all different sort of nationalities, none of them left, I fired all of them... they all have one thing in common, they start nice because I am very nice and I feed them whatever I eat which is whatever they cook no matter cost of meal, if i buy import fruit they get some too, and I've never scolded any maid not even once even with some extreme misbehavior I am still calm with them because I understand its hard work as I do all those work myself when I don't have a maid. (they usually last from 3month~2years until they completely treat me like a paying slave, and some even scold me)
the problem is when you are nice to them for too long, for my case I don't even cut their salary when they want a day off, and soon enough they don't even make excuses anymore, and are absent for more than 10 days a month every month. the most extreme one literally showed up one day a week if i'm lucky (these are all full time maids), then they also start stealing from me and damage my house bcause they just don't care. Eventually I need to fire them because I am too nice, my friends told me I can't be nice to these people otherwise they just turn around and bite you and now that i treat them a little more harsh I find it very true. I never have a problem anymore when i started cutting their pay if they take leave (i tell them if you don't have a medical certificate from a clinic or hospital I don't really care how sick you are i am cutting your pay, and same for other leave excuses, i need to see evidence) and guess what, none of them every take leaves anymore for more than 3 years now, not even once.
Now i just do all the chores myself because its tiresome to teach new maids regularly how you want things to be done, and its just annoying so I prefer to just do it myself...
Japan is more notorious for being workaholics, unpaid overtime, etc. and they have no need of maids. Singapore actually will be fine without maids but like rich people, I'm pretty sure most Singaporeans would like to take advantage of having someone do the chores for you without breaking the bank like you would in Japan, USA, etc.
@@jonirojonironin5353 ^ exactly, everyone should do their chores like how normal people do it. These people just want slaves. Exploitation, because it's easily available.
This grandfa is so nice i love this grandfa treating Filipino maid most human bcz most singaporean are not treating us well and it's sad
I like the fact that the interviewer asked the important questions regarding the helper culture in Singapore.
I cant be more thankful for every house helper we had in our house coz b/c of them our life was easier
So they helped us and we helped them to provide a better future to them and their families
She really had the audacity to laugh when she mentioned third world countries...
Lol.. And she forgot that the countries she mentioned are developing countries.... Countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.... And when these countries develop into First World they certainly would'nt hesitate to wage war or bully their neighboring smaller countries especially Singapore which is very small.... In the last days the LAST will be first and the FIRST will be last.... Singaporeans might be laughing now but not for long...
@@kevintroy2540 i'm not sure about the Philippines developing now though. because when you say developing countries these countries don't have that much people suffering from poverty, lack of any kind of stablisment, people living in streets, graveyards, ect. weak quality of buildings or some infractures. lack of transportation system. and corrupt government, others... as much as i like to say that Philippines is now a developing these examples i listed is still painfully obvious in my country. and i believe that Philippines does have so much advantage of being a developing country again but the non stop corruption of higher government officials and several tradegy that occured in our country and ruined some beneficial things makes harder for us to be back and it's kind of sad when i learned that the Philippines was used to be a developing country with Japan back on 1900s and many of other foreign people used to work here as a maids, gardeners, and others to Filipinos and have a really good economy. but when WW2 happened well the rest is history. and Manila which is used to be a busiest transport for trading in Southeast Asian was the second most destroyed city (1. Warsaw, Poland) and we're left behind Japan and now we're still stock in Third World.
@@voldemortthenoselessfreak2126 That's why it's called developing cause it is still on its way to improvement. Even in first world countries, you can see homeless people barely having anything to survive, take the US for example. There are a lot of poverty stricken areas in the US but its still considered first world. Philippines definitely is far from developed but I don't think it can be classified as third world tho. Our economy remains strong and is growing. Development always has it's drawback though. There will always be people who wouldn't be able to cope and remain in poverty.
@@kevintroy2540 "She" is not "Singaporeans". Keep your judgements in check, thank you
@@qoenntrell She is still one of you guys aint she??? It dont matter if one or two laughs they are still Singaporeans..
My family’s first helper whom my parents trusted a lot stole from us, stole TONS from us, she got caught at the Singapore custom with lots of golds as she was heading back to her home country and from then on my parents never really treated any helpers TOO nicely, there’s always a boundary they draw when it comes to helper
That’s crazy
If you have a very high salary it is indeed more efficient to spend more time working instead of doing house work because you're gonna make way more per hour than the amount that you will pay the maid.
However that only applies to tasks like cleaning the house, washing laundry etc and not for kids because as a parent it's very important to care for your kids in person, that's a great experience and is very important for the development of the child especially in the early years so it's definitely better to do it yourself even if it's more "efficient" to pay someone.
Right now the world is at a halt but
Here where America boarders Mexico
Domestic helpers are very common, I have a few family members from Mexico that raised their families on their wages of a domestic helper. Growing up in my parents home we had domestic helpers from time to time. And I had one after my first son was born, but because she lived maybe 12 km from my home she did not stay at our home , but came either once or twice a week. I really loved having her.
This might not be a popular opinion but just to shed some light on this topic from my own understanding as Singaporean. I've heard of maids/helpers abusing their authority over children, mistreating old folks that they are hired to take care of and other types of violation.
I don't disagree with the video, but there's this other side that is real as well. Because I know how the term "maid" may feel to the rest of the world, but it's a job after all. Most Singaporeans treat their helpers with civility, at times like a family. Some return the love while some maids runs away or brings strangers into the house and etcs.
Maids are human too. And living and working with your boss must be the most depressing thing.
I agree, I had a helper who we sent home when we went on holiday who never came back and one that even borrowed money from a loan shark before leaving and left my house address as the point of contact between her and the loan shark, one week after she was supposed to return a loan shark came knocking on our door and we filed a police report
@lew bronstein Again, I'm not sure about other countries but in Singapore, cases of employers abusing and mistreating their helpers are rare and not common, you make it sound as if every employer will abuse their helpers
Singaporeans seem classist to me
My aunty pay her maid 800 SGD every month with foods, room to sleep, and even plane ticket to go back to the home country. Unfortunately, people who are interviewed here don’t have maids so most of them they don’t know much about this topic.
I realised that people most pissy about maids and always say we abuse them are always people without maids themselves. Very few "min wage" workers can say they have 800 sgd take-home every month, most ppl dont abuse their maids (and like any partof society crime will always happen). There are cases where maids abuse children too (like my sister) but we dont go around demonizing maids... there are always people who go out of line. People also tend to forget that if the concept of the maid didnt exist one would either still get a housekeeper which is way more expensive or the chores will fall on the already super stressed out people's lives, especially the women. Tons of SJWs in this comments section.
20 years ago, It is very common in Thailand that each family had maid, no need to be rich to have one. And rich one can hire 2 or 3. It’s like 24/7 job, the house owner can call them for additional shores anytime. What I heard some families treat them like family because they lived together for many many years. But some just treat them like in-house workers. Now a day it’s difficult to find people who willing to do this job because of the 24/7 on call duty. They choose to work in the factories instead. They have more freedom with the specific work schedule, day-off and be able to hang out with friends and dating.
Considering the demand and supply of maids in Singapore, I think 700-750 a month is pretty decent. 1000 is A LOT in Indonesia (1 bottled water is about 30cents just to give a perspective), usually a meh fresh college graduates are paid around 800 a month so I don't think it's very proportionate that college graduates are paid equal to non-college graduates (maids are largely non-college graduates here). But I'm glad to hear that people are valuing maids' work at 1000 a month. The ones I have in my home country are only paid about 250 a month and it's already considered above average. That's probably why most maids want to work overseas; they are valued more overseas.