Straits Times Indonesia, August 24, 2011
Indonesian maids wanting to work in Singapore should be allowed to take the written English test in their home country to avoid unnecessary travel and costs.
That is one of the key recommendations made by Indonesian representatives who met officials from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Monday.
The meeting was initiated by members of the National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers, an agency which oversees the welfare of Indonesians working abroad.
It comes as the ministry conducts a review of the mandatory test, which was introduced in 2005. The review was launched after an Indonesian maid tried to hang herself in May after failing three times. She died a few days later.
Maids have three chances to pass the test. Some employment agencies and employers have called for it to be scrapped.
Endang Sulistyaningsih, deputy chairman for international cooperation and promotion at the Indonesian board, said moving the test to the maids' home country would be better for them.
Some women spend up to S$3,000 to come here, money that they forfeit if they fail the test. Holding it in Indonesia would solve this problem and prevent women having to return jobless, Sulistyaningsih told The Straits Times on Monday.
"When our people leave, they should have a confirmed job... and not have to come back because they failed a test."
Sulistyaningsih also pointed out that Indonesian maids are already given training before they come to Singapore.
She said other issues raised during the 90-minute meeting included compulsory days off for maids and higher salaries.
Indonesians typically find it harder than their Filipina counterparts to pass the written test because they are often not as proficient in English. Indonesians and Filipinas make up the bulk of the roughly 201,000 maids in Singapore.
When contacted, the ministry declined to comment on when the review would be completed.
The proposal to hold the test in maids' home countries is not new. The MOM has previously said that it has concerns about the idea, such as the cost and regulations involved in administering the test overseas.
As part of its review, the ministry organised a meeting last month with 50 employers, employment agencies, non-governmental organisations and training providers. It has also published a list of 10 suggestions on how changes can be made to the entry test, and asked Facebook users to vote on them. Of the 170 people who responded, 107 wanted to replace the test with an orientation programme that will help maids adapt to working and living here. Another 15 voted for it to be abolished.
Ms Bridget Tan, president of migrant worker welfare group the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, said having the test in the maid's home country is 'very practical', but added that learning English was not necessarily the be all and end all.
"Many families do not speak English," she said. "She may pass the test but fail at the employer's house if she cannot speak Mandarin, for instance."
Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia.
wo 24 aug 2011 - 22:44