Singapore columnist calls for respect for domestic workers

A Singapore newspaper columnist wrote at length in her column on Tuesday, calling for mutual respect between both parties in employer-domestic worker relationships.

The writer surnamed Chua wrote how, while on her way to SingHealth Polyclinics in Bukit Merah on a rainy morning, she was truly impressed by two foreign domestic workers she saw looking after their elderly employers with loving care and respect, the Lianhe Zaobao (Singapore) reported.

Chau saw the first worker help the wheelchair-bound woman into a raincoat before putting on one herself. The worker also opened an umbrella for the woman while pushing her to the bus stop. Judging from their cheerful faces as they chatted, Chau believed they enjoyed a warm relationship.

The writer then saw another worker gently assisting her elderly employer who had a severely hunched back. As they walked together, the carer reassuringly stroked the older woman’s back.

Seeing such fine role models made the writer recall her own wonderful experience of hiring a domestic worker to look after her mother. At the time her mother was 96 and suffering from dementia. As time went on, her mother became able to recognize only her carer, who cried her heart out when she passed away earlier this year.

Treat your domestic worker like your own family member, Chua noted, advocating the golden rule of “treating others the way you want to be treated”.

In her opinion, a harmonious employer-worker relationship requires hard work from both sides, and in particular from the employer who should always respect the culture of the newcomer. She went on to say that discriminatory or even abusive acts by employers inflicted on their workers should be denounced and condemned.