"Do not to others what you do not want others to do to you"

Reading this article by Ms. Kristen Han, I was reminded of this series of videos by the Day Off campaign.

Related to this, I must say that I am rather disturbed by the argument in this letter by Ms. Shanmugam. Specifically, my eyes were going wide when I read how Ms. Shanmugam framed her opposition against letting foreign domestic workers have a mandatory day off every week as a quasi-concern for these workers' welfare with these lines: "Days off for the maid means going out and incurring expenses; what is she left with at the end of the month? What if she cannot afford the luxury of going out?".

Hmm... So will Ms. Shanmugam be agreeable to the proposal that she too also do not have any off days since she will also incur expenses on her off days and she may perhaps not be able to afford doing so? Perhaps she should be prohibited from having off days so that she will not, on those off days, be tempted to spend her money on frivolous items; money which should be better saved up to fund her post-retirement life?

Well, while I may not know her personally, I have a feeling that Ms. Shanmugam will most likely not agree to the above. In fact, I think she will vehemently oppose the above.

Yet, she argues for this to be applied to foreign domestic workers.

In the end, as simplistic as it may sound, there is much wisdom in the Golden Rule of "Do not to others what you do not want others to do to you".

P.S. "Days Off: A Domestic Worker's Perspective"

On Foreign Workers And Foreign Sex Workers

Abuse At Nightingale Nursing Centre - Foreign Workers To Be Blamed?

Earlier this week, local media released disturbing video images of how an elderly stroke patient was mistreated by employees at Nightingale Nursing Centre. Expectedly, this triggered a flurry of comments and reactions from many people.

Scanning through the online comments, it struck me that besides condemning the abuse that took place, many of the comments seem to focus on how, based on the video images, the employees who committed the abuse are foreign workers. In fact, these comments appear to conclude that the abuse occurred because the employees are foreign nationals.

In my opinion, while it is indeed true that the employees who committed the abuse are foreign nationals, the focus here should be on the abuse that was committed and how to prevent such abuse from occurring again and not on the nationality of the employees. The employees' nationality is secondary, if not irrelevant, to this whole issue.

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