University grads to join domestic workers in Hong Kong
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A case in Singapore shows not all of over 20,000 are guaranteed of smooth future
More than 20 university graduates and students completing master degree courses will join domestic workers being sent to Hong Kong by employment agency Gold Mine International.
Gold Mine International has a licence from the Ministry of Labour to train and send up to 200 domestic workers to Hong Kong. About 70 people have been attending the training course, including 20 university graduates.
“University graduates will be included because they have no job opportunities here,” said Dr Hla Moe Thu, chairperson of Dagon University Teachers Association.
Gold Mine International is the first Myanmar employment agency to send domestic workers to Hong Kong. The company arranges all the logistics including the finding partner companies in need of domestic labour.
“They will receive the benefits in accord with the labour law in Hong Kong. We have loaned US$ 300 each to our workers for their convenience when they arrive there,” said Thant Zin Oo, general manager of Gold Mine International.
Myanmar domestic workers will receive HK$ 4010 (around Ks 500,000) per month and they will have to pay back US$ 1,500 and plus interest rates for the US$ 300 loans within eight months after they start working in Hong Kong.
“As money is important, a person will choose survival over dignity. The salary of a maid [in Hong Kong] is more than the salary of a director-general, rector and lecturers,” added Thant Zin Oo.
The students joining the scheme are often unable to pay their tuition fees, and many graduates prefer to take their chances as a domestic worker in Hong Kong, than wait for poorly paid jobs in Myanmar.
Gold Mine International has received permission from the Ministry of Labour to send 200 domestic workers to Hong Kong. The company plans to send all of the workers before November this year.
There are a number of Myanmar nationals working in Asian nations, largely in Singapore which is shifting from Filipino workers due to the comparatively higher wages.
A report by The Straits Times in 2013, quoting maid agents, estimate that there are close to 27,000 Myanmar women working here as domestic workers, up from about 20,000 in the previous year.
Some did not end up nicely.
On Wednesday, a 24-year-old maid from Myanmar, Than Than Win, was charged with the murder of an 85-year-old woman, the Straits Times reported.
Yong Wan Lan was found on Tuesday afternoon lying motionless on the floor in her eighth-floor Springdale Condominium unit along Hindhede Walk in Bukit Timah. She had wounds on her upper body and was pronounced dead by paramedics at 6.27pm.
Than, who showed up at the Subordinate Courts in a yellow t-shirt, appeared dazed and sombre as the charge was read out.
She was remanded at Changi Women's Prison for a psychiatric evaluation. She is expected to appear in court again on March 26.
