Number of runaway foreign maids in Singapore goes up to 4,000

Singapore, 14th February: More than 4,000 foreigners working as maids had ran away from the homes of their employers in the year 2010, latest official statistics from shelters for overseas workers and the Indonesian and the Philippines embassies reveal

And a common reason cited by majority of such runaway foreign maids was stress due to working conditions or feeling of homesickness.

Moreover, many of them had not earned even a one-month salary since they had been in Singapore for not more than six months and had been paying back huge amount of loans equivalent to an amount of nearly 11-months salary to their employers.

The stats from the HOME (Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics) and the Indonesian and the Philippine Embassy also bring home the fact that majority of the foreign runaway maids hailed from Indonesia.

HOME is a charity organization running a migrant workers’ shelter.

Number of runaway foreign maids increasing--

Although, the number of immigrant maids seeking refuge at the Philippines Embassy came down to 570 in 2010 from 630 in 2009, meanwhile, figures of immigrant maids seeking refuge at the Indonesian Embassy show an increase from 2,030 in the year 2009 to 2,530 in the year 2010.

The first five weeks of the year 2011 witnessed arrival of 230 foreign maids seeking refuge at the embassy. Apart from the embassies and Home, some runaway immigrant maids also seek refuge at dormitories of various charitable organizations or the homes of their agents.

It may be worth mentioned that live-in facilities are not provided for runaway foreign maids by the Indian and Sri Lankan High Commissions whose citizens work as maids in Singapore.

Reasons behind runaway decisions of foreign maids in Singapore—

Hopelessness and frustration for huge salary deductions are the basic reasons compelling immigrant maids to run away from their employers’ homes, states Fahmi Aris Innayah, an official spokesperson of the Indonesian Embassy while showing concerns about the increasing numbers of runaway foreign maids in the nation.

Since, a foreign maid incurs a debt for coming to Singapore to work here, the amount which she gets as her salary every month for first 11 months is roughly equal to $10 or $20 after the employer deducts the placement fees of the concerned maid.