You might have read about the Bedok tragedy that saw an elderly couple murdered in their house.

The suspect is thought to be the couple's foreign domestic helper, Khasanah, who fled to Indonesia.

The Indonesian authorities, acting on a tip-off, arrested Khasanah.

Case closed, right?

Not really, because at least one Straits Times forum letter writer seems to be using this incident to bring up the extremely pertinent problem of rogue maids escaping to Indonesia.

Take their passports

Here is the first forum letter.

Which is not a completely insane point to raise up. It could be packaged like they are applying for leave.

But within the letter the writer brings up this point.

"Her passport and work permit were in her possession - as required by Singapore law.

I have raised concerns about this ruling with the Manpower Ministry but have not made much headway."

Which is a really weird thing to put as a throwaway line.

But the next letter writer threw away any pretension of subtlety with this title.

Her major point was that maids were given too much freedom by having posession of their passports.

Which could lead to them going overseas on their days off, and even fleeing the country.

"Worse, they can just pack up and leave the country, like the maid in the Bedok case."

Reaction

While a small number agreed with the calls for employers to keep their helpers' passports, most thought it was incredibly reactionary.

Even HardwareZone forum, a forum that might lean more to the conservative spectrum, felt it was an incredibly knee jerk reaction.

Sigh.

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