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Agent Abuse and Negligence in Singapore

The agent in Singapore was cruel.  I had to take off all my clothes and was totally nude.  They were checking to see if I had hidden money.  I was wearing a head scarf.  They took it and threw it away.  They hit me and kicked me with boots.  They asked if I brought anything from Indonesia.  They took 50,000 rupiah I had.  There were three other girls with me.  This was happening in front of them.  Only those of us from Indonesia experienced this [treatment].  I had bruises on my head and arms.  The employer found out when I went to her home.  She asked me to go to the police.  I said it didn’t matter because God will punish them.  They were Indonesian agents in Singapore from my hometown.
—Sri Mulyani (not her real name), Indonesian domestic worker, age thirty, Singapore, February 19, 2005

More than one third of the migrant domestic workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported abuse at the hands of employment agents in Singapore. Abuses included confiscation of passports, personal belongings, and religious items; threats and physical abuse; illegal or dangerous employment assignments; and refusal to remove women from abusive employment situations. As will be discussed in later sections, agents may also saddle workers with large initial loans and overcharge for transfer fees, and room and board, sinking domestic workers deeper in debt, in a few cases placing them in situations akin to debt bondage. One service provider said, “Agencies treat them like…you are a maid, not a person anymore.  We know not all agencies treat maids badly. The passport of the national is held by the employer and agent.  That is very wrong….  [I know of one agency where] girls complain that agents threaten, intimidate, and slap them.”⁸⁹

The displays of employment agencies in shopping centers underscore the notion that domestic workers are goods to be sold, rather than human beings requiring treatment with respect and dignity. During visits in March and November 2005 to shopping centers such as Lucky Plaza, Katong, Bukit Timah, People’s Park Centre, and others, Human Rights Watch saw large signs advertising “$88 dollar maids” [U.S.$52] and, in some cases, agency fees as low as S$1 [U.S.$0.59]. Despite accreditation criteria for employment agencies prohibiting them from keeping domestic workers in the storefronts as displays, agents found other ways to “advertise” domestic workers to potential customers. For example, in front of the Nation employment agency office in the Bukit Timah shopping center, domestic workers wearing matching uniforms acted like moving mannequins, miming washing windows, hanging clothes to dry, sweeping, and bathing babies for nearby shoppers to view.

Human Rights Watch interviewed domestic workers who experienced abusive treatment from employment agents in Singapore upon arrival. Neerangini, for example, was living with an agent who sent her for temporary cleaning assignments. She said, “For minor things, if the saris were not put away right, or not ironed, I got beaten…..  I was beaten so I couldn’t ever put on my own shirt.  She would beat me with a metal ruler.”⁹⁰ Some agents took telephone numbers and other contact information from domestic workers, stripping them of key information necessary to for seeking help. Dewi Hariyanti said:

The labor agents searched our bodies.  If they found letters or money, they took it, we couldn’t carry any addresses.  They took it and they burned it, including telephone numbers.  From me they took letters, a dress, and money.  I hid money in my underwear and they did not find it.  They made me take off my top in a room.⁹¹

Others described inadequate accommodations and insufficient food. One domestic worker told us, “I arrived at the agency yesterday.  I stayed on the floor with other domestic helpers.  The food was not enough.  There was no breakfast, just bread and water.  There was no lunch.”⁹² Another said, “I spent one night in the agency. They didn’t give me anything to eat for the night.  I was alone, I slept on the kitchen floor.  I had no blankets, no mattress.”⁹³

Agents may also place domestic workers in employment situations different from those to which they had originally agreed. Ani Khadijah, a domestic worker, told us, “It was a surprise when the manager told me the names of my employers.  I was asking why—I was supposed to take care of an old lady, but instead I was taking care of a small baby.”⁹⁴ Adelyn Malana, a Filipina domestic worker signed a contract for a monthly salary of S$350 [U.S.$206] with a weekly rest day. When she arrived in Singapore, the agency told her that her salary would be “S$320 [U.S.$189] with an off day and S$350 with no off day.”⁹⁵ Neerangini, an Indian domestic worker told us her agent, “would send us out to clean for S$10 [U.S.$6] per hour. The $50 [U.S.$30] would go to the madam, not me....  There were six or seven of us…It was the same thing, she sent them out to work.”⁹⁶

Employment agents sometimes place migrant domestic workers with employers they know to be abusive. Singapore’s regulation that employers can cycle through five domestic workers before they are subject to review endangers the well-being of domestic workers. Sometimes a second or third-round match is made in the name of finding a better fit, but many times agents are also aware that an employer has unreasonable expectations or does not treat domestic workers well. Despite this knowledge, agents prioritize keeping employers as clientele over ensuring that they place a domestic worker in a safe and fair working environment. As one labor agent told us:

This month, we had one transfer maid.  The problem is probably with the employer.  The employer is quite fussy, and has changed four domestic workers in one year.  We will find a replacement for both the maid and the employer.  We offer a three-month guarantee.⁹⁷

Aisyah Fatah, whose employers forced her to operate a commercial laundry service, was confined to the house, and worked nineteen hours a day, said that when she escaped, the agent simply put another domestic worker in her place. She said, “They sent a Filipina after me, from this agency.  They sent two Indonesians before me, no one lasts for long.”⁹⁸

Several agents told Human Rights Watch they use the excuse that business is bad if they feel they can no longer supply a domestic worker to a particular employer. But they did not report or blacklist such employers, who were then free to hire a maid from another employment agency.

Human Rights Watch interviewed more than thirty domestic workers who had negative experiences seeking assistance from their agent after facing abuse from employers. In many instances, the first person that an abused domestic worker will turn to is her employment agent. This agent may be the only person she knows in Singapore. After being physically abused by her employer, a domestic worker told us:

The employer brought me to the agent.  The agent said, “why don’t you know how to work?  You are old, you have kids.”  He slapped me.  Three times. I just cried…. There was nowhere to complain.⁹⁹

A social worker who has worked on dozens of migrant worker abuse cases said, “The agency chooses not to believe the maid.  They are always afraid of losing customers.”¹⁰⁰ Muriyani Suharti, a domestic worker who had been raped repeatedly by her employer, said:

The agency didn’t believe me.  They said, “if it’s true that he forced you, why did it happen so many times?”  It happened because I was afraid. After that I spent one month at the agency, working part-time for no pay.  I told the agent, I want to go back to Indonesia.  They told me if I wanted to go I had to pay all the expenses.¹⁰¹ 

Some domestic workers are afraid to report problems to their employment agents because of threats, outstanding debts, or poor treatment during other interactions. One domestic worker, Adelyn Malana, explained, “When I ran away I came here [to a private shelter] because my agent was not good. The agent is very angry with me because I came [here.]  I think she would have sent me back to my employer.” ¹⁰² Kanthi Unisa, a domestic worker who escaped from her place of employment after experiencing horrific working conditions said, “There was nobody I could talk to.  I talked to the agency, but they did not help me.  The agency believed the employer….  [The agent said] “If you don’t want to work, I can’t do anything for you.  You cut your visa and go back.”  That is why I don’t talk to my agency.”¹⁰³