Maids and The Singapore Family

A letter in the Straits Times Forum:

Most families can do without maids

THE issue of maid shortage is an ongoing problem, not only in Singapore but also in neighbouring countries.

In the past, having a live-in helper was a luxury, but now, many families with working parents have come to see a maid as a necessity.

I believe only two types of families cannot do without maids: those with young children, and those with elderly or sick members.

For all other families, there are many other options, such as day care, childcare or part-time help.


I used to have a maid to look after my young children when I was a working mother. But I am now a stay-at-home mum.

Our family could afford to continue hiring a maid, but we decided instead to train our two boys - then eight and six - to do some housework, and my husband agreed to help out at home when he is not travelling.

Every family member learns to do something in the house, such as making the bed, folding the clothes, or doing the dishes.

Instead of going to enrichment classes, the children do housework with us (bonding), learn to prepare a simple meal and clean up after cooking (basic life skills).

We were so used to having a maid for eight years that it had seemed impossible to live without one. It has been 11/2 years now, and our family is managing well.

When my children's classmates ask why they have no maid, they can answer proudly that we do not need one.

Having a maid is an easy option, as it is still fairly affordable to hire one in Singapore. But if our children grow up seeing all the cooking and household chores done only by the maid, they will grow up thinking there is no other option.

Emily Leong (Ms)

The title that the Straits Times chose for this letter is somewhat deceptive. It says that "most families" can do without maids. However, Emily Leong didn't actually say that.

What Emily did say was that families with young children, and families with elderly or sick members, do need maids (while other types of families do not). In addition, when Emily offered her own personal circumstances as an example, she pointed out that she doesn't need a maid because she is a stay-at-home mother.

So that would be another type of family (in Emily's opinion) that doesn't need a maid - families where there is a stay-at-home mother.

However, how many families in Singapore neither have a young child; nor an elderly person; nor a working mother? I doubt that there are that many such families. Certainly, I don't think that such families would constitute "most families" in Singapore.

In fact, I have never known any Singaporean family of the "young, married, no kids" variety, who bother to employ a maid at all.

Now, I offer a simple reason why so many other Singaporean families are dependent on maids. It's because Singaporeans have the longest working hours in the world (another one of our nation's unenviable world records):

Singapore sweats away the hours - and productivity
Singaporeans may not be aware that they have overtaken the industrious South Koreans in notching up the highest number of hours worked per year worldwide.
Sun, Jan 31, 2010
The Business Times

By ANNA TEO

Here's a world-leading pole position for Singapore that probably explains quite a bit of its dismal productivity record of late.

Beavering away doggedly, Singaporeans may not be aware that they have, for the past two years, overtaken the industrious South Koreans in notching up the highest number of hours worked per year, worldwide.

Clocking 2,307 work hours in 2009 - a number that apparently has stayed constant since 1992, according to The Conference Board's data - the average Singaporean surpassed the other East Asians, the most hardworking globally.

Going by The Conference Board's Total Economy Database - which carries 'annual working hours' for 51 countries dating from 1950 - the South Koreans had been the undisputed workhorse world champions for three decades, ever since they overtook the previous leaders, the Taiwanese, in 1975. The Koreans and Taiwanese were clocking well over 2,700 hours a year for years.

But - as is the trend worldwide - annual working hours have fallen over the decades, including Korea's.

Singapore's 'constant' 2,307 annual hours exceeded Korea's in 2008. For 2009, Korea's 2,259 work hours fell behind even Hong Kong's 2,287 hours. Taiwan clocked in at 2,156 hours, while Japan's 1,722 is close to the US level (1,742 hours).

Apart from the East Asians, virtually everyone else (except Greece, Chile and Mexico) put in fewer than 2,000 hours a year, with many well under.

For Singapore, the long hours - especially in a year of poor output such as 2009 - would explain its recent poor productivity figures.

If Singaporeans spend so much time at work, the inevitable consequence is that they have less time to do their own household chores. Hence the dependence on maids.

Baca Selengkapnya »»

Editorial Indiscretions by the Straits Times

Somebody working at the Straits Times propanganda department has goofed up. The newspaper published two particular articles today, and it obviously shouldn't have, because one article contradicts the other.

The first article declares that the government has done a great job (and has the resources to do it), as far as making life better for Singaporeans is concerned. There is even the bold assertion that what the Singapore government has done, "very few" other countries in the world can do.

PM Lee: Not many can do Budget, S'pore styleSurpluses enable Govt to dish out goodies but economy must grow
By Elgin Toh & Rachel Chang

THE new Budget, with hongbao to help Singaporeans cope with the rising cost of living, took an approach that very few countries can, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday.

Calling it 'pro-growth' and 'prudent', he said it also reflected how the Government intended to make life better for Singaporeans.

That's a nice piece of positive propanganda for the government, and it's quite important because the elections are coming up. Unfortunately, the newspaper also published an article which exposes the deeper truth behind the "better lives" that Singaporeans supposedly enjoy.

ST Feb 21, 2011
Only 14% of S'poreans ready to retire, money wise: studyBy Linette Lin

ONE in three Singaporeans plans to retire/was already retired before he reached 60 years of age, two years earlier than the current statutory retirement age of 62 years old in Singapore, according to Nielsen's Global Aging Report.

However, only 14 per cent of the Singapore consumers surveyed admitted they are financially ready for retirement - the lowest when compared to the Asia Pacific (22 per cent) and global (18 per cent) averages.

..... More than 26,000 consumers in 53 countries throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America took part in Nielsen's Global Aging Report.

So here we see, from this international study, another powerful world record achieved by Singapore.

The percentage of Singapore residents who consider themselves financially ready for retirement is the lowest not only in the Asia-Pacific region, but the lowest in the world.

(More precisely, the lowest out of 53 countries covered in the study - but 53 countries is a large number of countries and a pretty good proxy for the whole world).

How come the Straits Times propaganda department goofed up so badly? This is a bad mistake. The second article should have been suppressed. PM Lee will probably be quite displeased.

Baca Selengkapnya »»

Our Brand New MRT Stations

Two posts ago, I had mentioned the problem of leaky ceilings at our MRT stations. I said that quite apart from giving rise to the hazard of slippery floors, the constant exposure to rainwater had discoloured the floor tiles.

Yesterday I took a few more photos, just to show you what I mean. Here they are - two images of the floor tiles, in their dry state:

























Pretty sad that this is happening at an almost brand-new MRT station (which opened only last year, on the Circle Line).

As I had mentioned earlier, my point is not only to complain about the shoddy state of our MRT infrastructure, the lack of quality control and so on. If only life was really so simple.

I said that I saw these signs as a metaphor for the slow and steady deterioration of Singapore as a whole. For we are degenerating and deteriorating in a wide variety of ways.

Go think carefully, about issues like public housing; the income gap between rich and poor; the failure of median incomes to keep pace with the rise of the cost of living; our national soccer team; the affordability of healthcare; our safety nets for the aged and the sick; the stress levels in our education system; the safety standards of the SAF and the welfare provided for servicement who get severely injured or killed in military accidents; the transparency of our government about the people's money held by Temasek and GIC .....

And just ask yourself. Did Singapore, as a nation, see any improvement on these issues, over the past five or ten years?

Or did we just slowly and steadily get worse and worse? Just like the floor tiles and ceilings at our MRT stations.

Baca Selengkapnya »»

Today No Bucket

Took this photo with my iPhone this morning.

It wasn't even raining today. But the MRT station was still leaking water from the ceiling.

The dripping was not so bad today. They didn't need a bucket. They just placed several layers of rags on the floor to soak up the water.

Still, one wonders - if not the rain, then where is the water coming from?

Leaky water pipes? Leaky air-conditioners? Leaky sewage pipes? Hmmm.

Baca Selengkapnya »»

The Slow & Steady Deterioration of Singapore

Right now, I am living near an MRT station. So every morning I take the MRT to work. The station is almost brand new - it's on the Circle Line which only started operating last year - and in terms of aesthetics, it is quite pleasing. The colours and the materials they have chosen are rather nice.

However, the ceiling leaks water. Every time it rains, the ceiling leaks water. I am not talking about the heavy, torrential kind of rain that we get once in a while. I am talking about moderate rain - that's already sufficient to cause a leak, a steady drip-drip-drip of water that falls down to the platform waiting area.

Then the MRT station officers place a large piece of canvas on the floor to soak up the water, and on top of the canvas, they put a big plastic pail to catch the water, and next to the canvas, they place a big sign - "WARNING - WET FLOOR" - so that passengers don't slip and fall.

This isn't the only MRT station where I have noticed such leaking. I have also seen the leakage problem at the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station (note that this is a major train interchange, in the heart of town, where three MRT lines intersect). In fact the leakage is so bad that you can see - at the area where the rain falls through - that the floor tiles have become stained and discoloured (rain water is not pure water, so constant exposure to rainwater causes the marble tiles to discolour).

To me, the leakage at these stations - and who knows how many other stations - is like a poetic metaphor of Singapore today. Superficially, things look okay, even nice. In truth, the system is breaking down, and leaking water.

There was a time in Singapore, when the idea of having a wet MRT station was just unimaginable. Back then, as a nation we were known as efficient and productive, and to take pride (an almost-obsessive pride) in our basic public infrastructure - trains, airports, housing, schools, hospitals and so on. Things worked. The basic things, at least, worked, and worked well. The thought that our clean, modern train system could leak water on a rainy day would just not have been acceptable.

That has changed. I suspect that many Singaporeans have not actually noticed, because many Singaporeans have short memories (that is my polite euphemism for saying that many Singaporeans are actually quite stupid).

Every year, the Singapore government announces some new grand plans - to be an international hub for this, or that, or something else - but the truth is that the Singapore government has been failing. Let's not even talk about the grand plans. The Singapore government has been failing on the basic, basic stuff .... such as:

(1) providing affordable public housing;
(2) providing affordable healthcare;
(3) narrowing the income gap;
(4) creating an environment where Singaporeans feel it's actually safe and okay to have children.

What is the use of having world-class casinos? What is the use of paying ministers their world-class salaries? What is the use of hosting the Grand Prix, or becoming a medical tourism hub, or giving foreigners scholarships to study in Singapore? What is the use of spending $1 billion to build beautiful flower gardens at Marina Bay?

When you cannot even get the basic things right.

Baca Selengkapnya »»

Healthcare for Singaporeans in Malaysia

This is one of the rare occasions on which I disagree with Lucky Tan (who is, by the way, one of the most read-worthy bloggers in Singapore).

In a recent post, Lucky discusses a New Paper article which talks about Singaporeans being able to use their own Medisave savings to seek medical treatment in Malaysia. Lucky writes:

If your healthcare system is not universal and becomes so expensive that citizens have to go to a developing country for treatment, it is a tragedy, not an achievement. However, if you read today's New Paper, it seems to be saying the MOH has helped Singaporeans to save money by allowing them to use their Medisave for hospitalisation in Malaysia. All of us have to thank Minister Khaw for this flexibility of being able to save money by travelling to Malaysia when we get sick.

The article doesn't ask about adequency of govt support for poorer Singaporeans when the cost of private care in Malaysia is less than half (according to New Paper) that of subsidised care in Singapore. It doesn't ask why these people have to go to Malaysia to save money when Minister Khaw can get his heart fixed for $8....so poor people pay more and rich millionaires like Khaw get cheap healthcare - there is certainly a moral issue here.

The New Paper article is filled with smiling patients who are happy to save money going to Malaysia for treatment but I believe the story in many real cases sound more like tragedies. Take Singapore singer Yue Lei case as an example[Link]. He had to sell his home and go to Mahkota Hospital for cancer treatment because healthcare in Singapore is too expensive. Singapore often boasts of having one of the highest standards of medical care in the world but when the govt wants to keep its expenditure on subsidies down by sending poorer sick Singaporeans to Malaysia, it says the standard of care in a developing country is just as good as Singapore's.

Being able to get poor Singaporeans to go to developing countries for medical care takes the pressure off the govt to do more to contain costs and ensure universality in our system. We shouldn't have allowed this ...it is a tragic development for poor Singaporeans who get sick and don't get adequate help.

I disagree with Lucky, because I think that the New Paper article did the public an excellent service, by highlighting the fact that Singaporeans can use their Medisave to seek medical treatment in Malaysia.

It is important for more Singaporeans to be aware of this, especially because the costs of healthcare in Singapore can be so high. It is useful for all of us to know that there are viable alternatives for us, just across the Causeway.

Lucky goes on harping and complaining about why isn't the Singapore government providing affordable healthcare for Singaporeans in our country. These are ridiculous assertions and the sooner you realise it, the better for you.

The government isn't here to take care of you. The government isn't here to serve Singaporeans. The government isn't here to care for the poor and the sick.

The government is just a large, unwieldy, faceless piece of machinery programmed to carry out its own political agenda; pursue its own policies; and serve its own interests. Those interests may or may not coincide with your interests. If they do, well, that's just a coincidence.

YOU need to take care of you. The sooner you understand this, the better for you. You will see the pointlessness of complaining about why the government is not providing affordable healthcare to Singaporeans. You will see the value of gathering knowledge about how to better survive on your own resources.

Knowledge such as how to go to Malaysia and get medical treatment there.

Baca Selengkapnya »»

Mr Wang and South Africa

A Completely Safe, Good Poem

It is about nothing you love, hate or desire.
It avoids sex, God and politics.
The line breaks are unadventurous
And the shape of the poem is prudent.
The words do not take up arms,
Tear down walls or otherwise conspire.
As you put them down on paper,
They neither protest nor demonstrate
But merely compose themselves
With a careful, calculated blankness.
They will do exactly as they are told,
And nothing more. One late night
When sleep evades and the questions burn
You return here to your own words
To find the answers to yourself.
And it is too late. The words fold their arms
And smile in silence. They take no risks.
They know what they know, but they
Will tell you nothing.

This old poem of mine, which has been published in various places over the years, will soon make another reappearance in a new book.

I don't even know the title of the book yet, but it's going to be ready quite soon, in the next few months. The book is a collection of short stories and poems from writers in Singapore and ..... South Africa.

This is part of this year's Spotlight Singapore programme. It's a cultural diplomacy platform hosted by The Arts House. Spotlight Singapore uses artistic, economic and educational activities, to bring together the arts and business communities of Singapore and other countries.

Over the years, Spotlight Singapore has focused on Hong Kong, Japan and Russia. This year, Spotlight Singapore is tying up with South Africa.

Baca Selengkapnya »»