I no longer read my free copy of The Standard to preserve my sanity; the only thing that I miss is the elderly newspaper distributor who would always exchange pleasant greetings with me.
Last night I had to make an exception when one of my Filipina friends brought out the paper to point out a story about the methods used by domestic helpers to gain residency. Without citing any sources or data the "journalist" stated that Indonesian helpers try to marry SE Asian men with permanent residency whilst Filipina helpers prefer Chinese men. Perhaps the writer was a single lady concerned with her marriage prospects since she would be competing against women who can cook, clean, run a household and rear children with time to spare?
The other residency achievement method involved purposely getting pregnant on home leave and giving birth in Hong Kong. The only source used in the article was some lady who bemoaned her helper having gotten pregnant and not being able to do heavy lifting. This reminded me of the horrible lady who lives in my neighborhood that is always screaming verbal abuse at her helper; last month she was standing at the tram stop waiting for a taxi while the helper had to haul all three of her suitcases for her. She couldn't even be bothered to manage the small carry on, which would have greatly lessened the helper's burden of moving three suitcases with only two arms.
I wonder when The Standard will get around to reporting the statistics of births by ladies on domestic worker visas. What are the odds of your helper getting herself knocked up and not being able to carry your 12 year old son to his piano recital?
Last night I had to make an exception when one of my Filipina friends brought out the paper to point out a story about the methods used by domestic helpers to gain residency. Without citing any sources or data the "journalist" stated that Indonesian helpers try to marry SE Asian men with permanent residency whilst Filipina helpers prefer Chinese men. Perhaps the writer was a single lady concerned with her marriage prospects since she would be competing against women who can cook, clean, run a household and rear children with time to spare?
The other residency achievement method involved purposely getting pregnant on home leave and giving birth in Hong Kong. The only source used in the article was some lady who bemoaned her helper having gotten pregnant and not being able to do heavy lifting. This reminded me of the horrible lady who lives in my neighborhood that is always screaming verbal abuse at her helper; last month she was standing at the tram stop waiting for a taxi while the helper had to haul all three of her suitcases for her. She couldn't even be bothered to manage the small carry on, which would have greatly lessened the helper's burden of moving three suitcases with only two arms.
I wonder when The Standard will get around to reporting the statistics of births by ladies on domestic worker visas. What are the odds of your helper getting herself knocked up and not being able to carry your 12 year old son to his piano recital?
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