So hungry, some maids beg neighbours for food

Embassies, agents say the complaint is a common one among maids here

A SLICE of bread for breakfast, half a bowl of plain porridge for lunch and no dinner. That was the daily ration for one Filipino maid here.

Now waiting in an abused-maid shelter to go back to the Philippines, the 30-year-old recounted how her employer counted the number of bread slices in a bag and checked the levels of mayonnaise and peanut butter in jars every morning and evening.

Within six weeks of starting work, her weight dropped from 70kg to 52kg. Last December, she ran away.

'When I told her I was hungry, she said I didn't do the housework properly. Once I fell because I was so hungry. The doctor said I had a stomach ulcer.'

In a case before the courts, meanwhile, an Indonesian maid whose employer has been accused of abusing her also told of being starved. In testimony on Thursday, she told the court that 'ma'am never gave me food and I was hungry'.

While figures are not available, embassies, agents and maid welfare agencies told The Straits Times that being starved seems to be a common complaint among maids here.

Yesterday, Ms Laura Thornton-Olivry, a research director in her 30s, wrote to the Forum page saying her neighbour's maid had been begging for food through her back window.

'She would rub her stomach and put her hand in her mouth to tell us she's hungry. We would tie a sandwich or bread in a plastic bag and throw it over to her,' she said. 'If I lodge a complaint against the neighbours, I don't want her to be sent back home.'

Mr Fachry Sulaiman, the Indonesian embassy's first secretary of protocol and consular matters, said: 'We've had maids turning up at the embassy looking pale and weak, saying they had not eaten for a week.'

Embassies usually call up employers and agents, but sometimes, serious cases are referred to the Manpower Ministry (MOM).

A survey conducted by the research and advocacy group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) in 2003 found that 5 per cent of 147 reported maid abuse cases were related to malnourishment.

The Indonesian Family Network, a support group comprising Indonesian maids, said 25 of the 45 calls it received last month were from maids complaining of a lack of food.

'They ate leftovers, fish and chicken bones. Some had no meals for days,' said Ms Nurifah, one of the network's founders.

Two months ago, a sick Indonesian maid called the group and claimed that she had not eaten for three days.

Counsellor Tuti Hangtayene said: 'The employer said she would dock her pay, and she had to pay $2 to cook a packet of instant noodles.'

While some employers might forget to give their maids adequate food, 'some bad ones deliberately deprive them of food to show that they are lower in status', said researcher Noorashikin Abdul Rahman.

Under the Employment of Foreign Workers Act, employers who fail to provide their maids with adequate rest and meals risk being fined up to $5,000 and jailed up to six months for breaching work permit conditions.

Last year, MOM prosecuted 42 employers for abusing their maids. The Foreign Manpower Management Division has been set up to ensure that foreign workers are treated well.

Troubled maids and concerned members of the public can call its toll-free hotline on 1800-6339-5505.

Yesterday, an MOM spokesman said that the ministry would investigate complaints made by foreign maids and assist them.

She added that errant employers would be prosecuted, and added that the maids 'need not fear reprisals'.