1410. Myanmar Stories - The
maid ran away again
The following are text
messages from Swee
Swee, a 27-year-old
Myanmar maid to her
employer, Mrs Robinson
and her employment
agent, Aunty Khin:
Message 1
I went to kill my self
.I wernt to die
mardam.Please i went
to stay along .Icamback
later .Not finish
rezult .please sorry
nor i very sorry. Yes
i go aunty khin
office.
(From: Mrs Robinson to
Khin Khin - This
is a message from Swee
Swee!)
Message 2
Unty ye,u went to
inform police me i go
ready .But now i have
very inportant problem
.This one finish i can
go.I went to die .Iwent
to run away .
Everybody cant help me
. I went to killy self
.
(From: Khin Khin)
Message 3
later i comong ur
office. I explain all
unty .I coming
rearly.Now i go
hospital waiting me
.nor unty.
(From: Khin Khin)
Message 4
Ko gyi i coming now .
Now i near sea.I
went to die.
(From: Khin Khin) |
---------------------------------------------------------
I had met Swee Swee 3
months ago when she got
the job as a domestic
worker through Khin Khin
Employment Agency. I was
visiting Khin Khin at her
office.
Swee Swee had worked for a
Singaporean employer
before and her
conversational English was
good. The new employer,
Mrs Robinson was a very
kind Caucasian lady who
paid Swee Swee $550/month,
one Saturday off per week
and some time off during
the weekdays. There was
another senior maid who
took off on Sundays. The
job was to look after the
aged mother and do
house-work. The Caucasian
couple travelled overseas
most of the time and so
there was practically much
free time for two maids.
Singaporean employers
typically pay around
$300/month with only one
day off per month. The
asking salary nowadays is
now $450. So Swee Swee had
a higher salary, a dream
job and she was most
happy. She earned more
than her mother who worked
as a teacher in Myanmar.
But love came in like a
ferocious lion.
From what I was told, Swee
Swee thought she was
pregnant. She had at least
one male friend in
Singapore.
"But the friend she
named as responsible for
her pregnancy said it was
not him," Khin Khin told
me. "He said Swee Swee was
having menses last month
and so he could not be the
father!"
Khin Khin advised Mrs
Robinson to terminate Swee
Swee's services in order
not to lose the bond.
Employers have to pay
$5000 if the maid
disappears. Swee Swee came
back and Mrs Robinson
forgave her and said:
"After all, she is young
and young ones make
mistakes. We were all
young once."
But 5 days later, Swee
Swee disappeared again. It
was hard to contact her as
she would not answer her
handphone. This time, Mrs
Robinson reluctantly
terminated her services.
I had come back from a
holiday in Europe and
visited Khin Khin at her
office on May 10, 2013.
"Lots of problems in the
office," Khin Khin always
complain about problems.
I always say: "If an
employment agency is so
easy to operate, why are
so many people employees?
All Singaporeans will open
employment agencies
instead of working for
others since there are no
problems. All business
owners have work and staff
problems till they go
bankrupt or die. Why don't
you just go back to Yangon
and retire as a lady of
leisure? You don't need
the money."
Three months ago, Swee
Swee had shown me her
phone images of her
family, her friends and
house in the Irrawaddy
Basin when I first met her
at the employment agency.
She was a personable short
delicate-framed lady, the
type of personality and
happy facial features that
everybody likes.
"The man does not love
you. Now you lose your
job," I said to her as
she, Khin Khin and the
manager sat in my car on
the way back to Mrs
Robinson's condo in the
prime district 9 of
Singapore.
Swee Swee rubbed her nose
and shook her head saying:
"I don't care." She must
be glad as she was not
pregnant. She had asked
Aunty Khin for money to
buy the pads earlier in
the day, speaking
Myanmarese. She was
wearing shorts as is the
common practice with the
young ladies of
Singapore. "Go and ask
Aunty May for a longzhi
(sarong)," Khin Khin gave
her ten dollars."
"Aunty May will charge
her," I know Aunty May
needs to charge for
services since her
business of employment
agency and organising
meetings and publishing
were not making much money
and rentals had gone up. A
few businesses including
employment agencies,
trading companies and the
seamstress shop had closed
in this mall.
"No," Khin Khin said.
As I was going back to the
Surgery at 5.30 pm to
continue my consultation,
taking over Dr Daniel,
Khin Khin, her manager and
Swee Swee hitched a ride
from me to Mrs Robinson's
condo.
The storm clouds had burst
as if the skies were
weeping for the runaway
maid who lost a very good
job in the name of
romantic love. Black
clouds poured buckets of
water on my windscreen.
Visibility was 1 metre
ahead but I knew where the
condo was as I had been in
this Cairnhill Road condo
built some 20 years ago.
"You have such a large
maid's room in this type
of old condo," I said to
Swee Swee. "Other maids
have to live with the
family members or in a
small utility room just
enough for a bed. In
Hongkong, some live in the
living room."
"She even has a big LED TV
inside her room," Khin
Khin laughed. This was a
luxury job at $550/month,
one Saturday off/week and
freedom to go out after
work to visit Aunty Khin.
But materialism lost to
romanticism just after 3
months as a maid in
Singapore.
The next day, she would be
escorted back to the
airport by Khin Khin's
manager on a one-way
ticket to Yangon. She
would then take a bus to
the Irrawaday village and
be welcome home. For young
ones with family support
especially for
Singaporeans from the
middle- and higher- income
families, the motivation
to earn more and be
independent is not as much
as for those who are
hungry and ambitious to
make a living and become
an expert. The same
situation applies to other
countries too and much
family funds are wasted
sending the young ones
overseas to work or study
to improve their station
in life.
P.S. Many Singaporean
employers may sound
heartless as they only
permit their maids out
once a month as they will
lose their $5,000 bond if
the maids run away. There
are men who befriend such
maids on their days off
and so it is hard for the
young maids to resist when
love comes out of the
blue. Many have lost their
jobs in the name of love.
TOA
PAYOH VETS
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