The Slave

[fcgamer]

I saw something today, and I really need to get this off my chest and hear what some others have to say.  I've already shared this with my family back home, but I just want to share with some other people.

To sum things up in a few words, my girlfriend's family basically have their own slave, an Indonesian woman that works for them.  The woman is maybe in her 30s, a foreigner working in Taiwan, and she stays at my girlfriend's parents house to take care of the grandfather.  She cooks, cleans the house, tends the grandfather.  From things I have heard my gf mention before, the woman is only allowed to take one holiday off from work, and she works every other day throughout the year. 

In addition, the "slave" is not allowed to leave the house without the permission of my gf's parents.  Apparently this rule had been put in place, since they had some problems once before with one of their previous housekeepers leaving the house and either not coming back or getting drunk and being irresponsible, I forget which. 

Now I know for a fact that my gf's parents are not rich by any means, and I can deduce that the servant woman is getting paid very little money compared to all of the work that she does.  It is my understanding that she does have some time in the afternoon / evening where she can do her own thing, but from the sounds of it, she rarely if ever is allowed to leave the house, unless it is to buy groceries or something like that.  Also, the woman is only allowed to eat dinner once the gf / parents are finished eating their dinner, and have left the table.

To me, the whole thing basically seems like slavery.  I know my gf doesn't seem to find much of anything wrong with the whole ordeal, but I always feel a bit bothered and disturbed inside when I go over to her place and see that.  And then to drop hundreds of dollars on old games...makes me feel even more of a loser. 

Just wanted to share this with someone.

[BonBon]

Wow crazy. We are in the 21st-century is your girlfriend Taiwanese cause if you're an American and you're trying to understand other cultures they haven't developed as far as America it's going to be like pulling teeth. Truth be told there's a lot of poverty there. People do what they have to to get by. Is it right no but you're in a whole Different world out there.

[nerdynebraskan]

That certainly sounds wrong. I'm not sure what else to say about it.

[L___E___T]

Taiwan is not a third world country Jay, it's as developed as America . Ironically, this was still happening in the states less than a hundred years ago...  Have you seen the movie 'The Help'?

This is common in Chinese families across HK, China, Macau, Singapore and Taiwan from what I've heard.  There have been some awful cases of maids being beaten to a pulp in HK, but yes they are usually from Indonesia or the Philippines.  It's common but it's not like everyone is mean to them.

It is very bad if she can't leave the house and gets paid peanuts - there could be some laws around it, but yes it's not right.  If you are lucky enough to have a maid, you owe it to them to look after them.  Many maids are is ply forgotten about when they get too old to work as well, there is a famous HK movie about it called 'A Simple Life', starring Andy Lau.
Post Merge: May 11, 2014, 02:08:52 pm
- Dave some things I have just been told that I think you should know - it is apparently illegal in TW to have a maid from overseas.  You are only allowed a carer for an older parent, but she should not be cleaning and cooking for the whole family.  Perhaps this is why she's not allowed outside.  I suspect there are also rules on holidays etc. and minimum wage.  Of course it's easy to take advantage of foreign labour in this way and from what I've seen Indonesians are unfortunately seen as second-class citizens in wealthier asian countries.

Try looking online, but apparently there was also a recent scandal with a celebrity that was doing this - had a 'carer' for his parent but was prosecuted when it transpired that she was effectively also a maid/nanny.

I have been told that this is because Taiwan has had problems with maids running off into the countryside, to then live as illegal immigrants, marrying older gentlemen etc.

My girlfriend has a lot of Taiwanese friends and has ad things about this on social media so when I asked her she told me all of the above.

I thought you would want to know as it has obviously affected your conscience and it does seem like there is malpractice afoot.  What you do with this information is your choice of course, I just thought you would want to know.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

It sounds eerily like this.

[o.pwuaioc]

I thought you would want to know as it has obviously affected your conscience and it does seem like there is malpractice afoot.  What you do with this information is your choice of course, I just thought you would want to know.

I would go with your conscience, Dave. If they know the law and are deliberately flouting it, all while doing something pretty morally reprehensible, I would simply contact the authorities and let them know. It's unfortunately too easy to forget sometimes that what might not seem so bad on an individual level quickly adds up to atrocity. Good luck with your decision, however you choose it.

[smeghead]

It sounds eerily like this.

I want to kill that son of a b****