Regulate closely the operations of maid agencies

While I applaud the Ministry of Manpower’s ban on denigrating displays by maid agencies, that action is not enough if our aim is to civilise these agencies (“MOM bans ‘inappropriate display’ of maids by agencies”; July 17)

Evidently, that maid agencies are acting inappropriately to get a competitive advantage is confirmation that they lack the ability to recognise right from wrong or the meaning of “basic respect and human dignity”, and the decency to operate unregulated. Their operations, from the way in which they display their services, using people as objects, to the exorbitant fees they and their counterparts in source countries extract from workers, must be closely monitored and regulated.

This also includes practices they use in housing workers prior to assignments, often relegating workers to the care of individuals in private apartments, which are dubious circumstances. There is a lack of understanding that the workers are their customers.

Since Singaporeans are able to enjoy the benefits of poverty in nearby countries, which translate into cheap labour, the MOM should continue to do its best in ensuring that those workers are treated with minimum standards of decency.