Maid in ICU after suicide attempt passes away
UPDATE
An Indonesian maid who landed in intensive care in Singapore after a failed suicide attempt on Saturday died on Wednesday afternoon.
Sulastri Wardoyo, 26, was found hanging from the shower head inside a cubicle in a toilet of a maid's hostel last Saturday.
According to The Straits Times, Ms Sulastri's employment agency, her Indonesian recruiter and the Indonesian Embassy are making arrangements to send her body back to Indonesia. The woman was married to a farmer, Mr Sudarsono, and had a child.
It is not known why the maid, who arrived in Singapore early last week, tried to kill herself, but staff at the hostel said that she was feeling depressed after failing for the third time an English-language entry test that would allow her to work here, ST reported.
All new maids are required by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to clear the written Foreign Domestic Worker Entry Test within three days of their arrival, among other requirements.
If they fail, they must leave, and they also risk having to pay back more than S$1,000 in loans that they may have taken out to come here. They can return to retake the test, however.
How she was found
Sulastri, who is married with a child, was housed by employment agency Budget Maid in a maid hostel in the north. She took the test last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but failed in all tries.
She was found missing during the morning briefing last Saturday. One of the maids then reported that a shower cubicle in the toilet on the second floor was locked.
Fearing that Sulastri might have fainted inside, the maid trainer at the three-storey hostel, who wanted to be known only as Lee, together with the other maids, pried the lock open with a screwdriver.
"When the other maids saw her, they screamed like crazy and became very, very scared," said Lee, 51. Lee and a maid cut the cloth and called for an ambulance.
"The paramedics tried to resuscitate her. I think her heart stopped three times and there was a bit of blood coming from her nose… but there was a heartbeat," she said.
The police said they received a call from the hostel at about 10:40am last Saturday and confirmed that an Indonesian woman was taken to the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.
It is a crime in Singapore to attempt suicide.
A spokesman for the Indonesian Embassy said it will be working with Budget Maid and the maid supplier in Indonesia to get more information on the case and visit her. Her family has already been informed.
According to Lee, Sulastri was petite and kept to herself.
"She would cry every day because she kept failing the test," Lee said, adding that the staff at the hostel would comfort and encourage her. The other maids — mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines — also helped her revise for the test.
Importance of the test
Gary Chin, managing director of Nation Employment, one of the largest maid agencies in Singapore, said some agencies had written to MOM earlier this year to request that the written test be conducted in Indonesia instead.
"Other industries have skills tests for foreign workers in their home countries, why not maids?" he questioned. Chin added that it can cost agents an extra few hundred dollars each time a maid fails to clear the test within the three days and has to be sent home.
While MOM recognises the "benefits to conducting the test at source," it maintains that it is not feasible as there is a need to ensure "the integrity and credibility of test providers overseas."
"Cost and capacity are additional concerns as overseas testing will entail conducting regular audits overseas," added the spokesman.
She also said that the ministry regularly reviews the entry test and the way it is conducted.
For a first-time maid in Singapore, the price to pay for failing the test can be huge. Debts usually amount to more than S$1,000 — the average amount that maids owe their agents and sponsors back home.
When an Indonesian maid is sent back without having taken on a job, it is common for the agent and sponsor to harass her and her family to pay back the debt.
Sometimes, violent means are used to get them to pay up, or they are forced to sell their homes, said employment agents in Singapore.
Indonesian maids who fail the entry test might also be sent to Batam nearby to be "re-trained" for a retest. This, however, chalks up more costs and increases the pressure on the maid to pass.
The entry test in English was introduced in 2005 to increase the literacy level of maids. Maids from all nationalities must take the test.
It comprises 40 multiple choice questions set by the MOM and deals with topics like safety in the home and basic childcare. The maid is given half an hour to answer them and can take the test three times in three days. They can go through 120 sample questions to prepare.
Passing rate for the entry test has consistently been 95 percent, said a MOM spokesman. Questions were revised two years ago.
Some agencies say the pass rate for Indonesian maids could be around 85 to 92 per cent because most are less fluent in English. According to some agents, the test appears to be more difficult now.
