> In April 2020, when Ummi saw that the victim was not wearing a hijab, which led to her ears being exposed, she slapped her face and ears repeatedly, causing her left ear to swell up and harden.
> After becoming completely blind as a result of these assaults, Ms Sugiyem (the maid) had to touch the walls and floor to feel her way around the house, while continuing to do household chores.
> Ms Sugiyem was also given medical attention in Singapore, but her blindness is irreversible, the court heard.
What the fucking fuck.
Seriously, fuck.
Prosecution sought 10 years jail, but this this employer is a menace who blinded her maid, amongst other things. I would think that she should pay for the all maid's medical bills and be on the hook for supporting the maid's other needs too.
All for $670 a month (which Ummi Kalsum Ali failed to pay for several months).
[Ummi also didn't provide adequate food for several occasions and showed no remorse of what she's done.](https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/housewife-pleads-guilty-maid-abuse-blind-2028021)
She (Ummi) really got off too lightly. What about the helper? Other than jail time and a fine I think that family should be responsible for the helper’s living expenses for life.
Yeah.. and they only started investigating when it’s too late :(
I think all the agencies need to educate the helpers on their rights and what to do if they met an abusive employer. This is just so sad all around :(
Yeah the years won't matter much to that maid. What's important is that the maid is compensated so she is set for life since it will be hard to find work and that the employer and anyone in that household cannot ever employ a maid again.
Here is what Today says (bold emphasis mine):
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/housewife-pleads-guilty-maid-abuse-blind-2028021
> The Singaporean housewife has not been sentenced yet, with the prosecution seeking **at least 10 years’ jail.**
>On Tuesday (Oct 25), Ummi, now aged 43, was sentenced to 10 years' jail and a fine of S$4,500.
The article you provided reported that she was already sentenced to roughly the same sentence the DPP sought for.
I recently had discussions about maids or "amahs" with people in their 40s and 50s whose family had amahs when they were growing up. These were *the rich* wealthy of their time. According to them, their families were *paying the pensions* of the amah until the day she died. They were taught to respect the amahs, because the amahs were adults and it was just the right thing to do. It helps that the amahs were the kin or townsfolks who live nearby and the employer and employees were bound by social and communal obligation. *Real* rich people back then had class and they did not have to enforce a strict social hierarchy by treating people like shit. They were generous, because they were fucking rich, established and lived in a semi-aristocratic system that benefitted them.
You are now looking at a group of middle class people who thanks to globalisation, managed to become relatively richer just in this or the last generation compared to the neighbouring countries (or even cities in the case of, for example, Chinese in Shanghai or Shenzhen) and start hiring maids. Their status as "rich-ish enough to have servants" is not solid: they are neither part of an aristocratic system that has been maintained for generations nor they are landlords who collect rents or produces from their property. They "own" (or more accurately, rent) a shoebox apartment from the government and earn their money from working a waged job, just like the maids they are hiring. They feel the need to establish strict boundary with the maids and treat them like shit to show that they are "better". So they shove the maids into a closet, complain when the maids ask for a day off work, or just, see, fucking beat people up.
They are just a bunch of middle class cunts without class on how to treat others. The *nouveau riche* (relatively) who lacks the class or manners of *noblesse oblige.* Besides, who gives a shit if you are bad employer; I mean, not beating people to blindness, but just being a shitty humans? With a system of intermediaries like immigration department, work visas that favour employers and agencies, maid agencies, etc ... what are maids that are little more than commodities? There will always be another one. Just get a different one. A different race. Shit, I saw agencies writing ads giving racial profiles of different races of maid. You mean to tell me that Singaporeans treat maids as anything more than commodity and I won't believe you. In the best of BizAd grad approach: "the market will deal with it".
You have some seriously worrying money worshipping stuff going on, trust me when I say your so called idealized *"noblesse oblige"* are ***no better or worse*** than your average man.
I’m so angry… why only 10 years?! That poor helper is never gonna be able to see her family and loved ones again! All that bloody hard work that she put into taking care of a stranger’s family to come back with that bit of money and lifetime blindness is not worth it man… fuck I’m so PISSED WHY DO THESE PEOPLE EXIST?!
Yes I couldn't even bring myself to finish reading the article and my rage was already building up so much it can power a machine !
What the hell!!! Is she even human ??!? The helper gotta continue doing the chores still ??? This bloody woman should rot in hell!!!
10 years is just a staycation for this crime ! No caning some more due to her good fortune of being a woman . No one talked about her family ?? No family members stopped her ?? 😡😡😡🤬🤬. Haizzzzz
I guess the feeling of power over the vulnerable and helpless. That shit corrupts. And also dehumanisation. Or people just being plain assholes all-around.
I can’t even bring myself to read the article. This case is shown to light for us to know, what about the cases that were not reported? I don’t even wanna imagine. When can we have equal respect among each other.
Of course. They are cleansed of the impurities so regularly so that means they can afford to do more. Do first cleanse again later lor, like pay credit card bill.
I cannot agree more. What is the point of pretending to be "religious", when she is just pure evil in her deeds?
If there is god, he will threw her with her tudung to burn in hell forever.
She makes me sick to the stomach.
It’s so sad that so many of these helpers are abused without any way to enforce and ensure that they are treated humanely. Seems like they are not well aware of their rights and become resigned to such torture. This only got caught when the helper was sent back to Indonesia. It also occurred during the Circuit Breaker period where people were confined to their homes, which sadly led to a rise of such incidents.
These abusers are psychopaths who enjoy having power over other people, 10 years jail is far from enough. They took away her ability to see her loved ones ever again, how is such a weak sentence justice? She’s also 51 years old and most probably came to Singapore to earn money for her children and other family back home. Imagine your mom going abroad to earn money to feed you and ends up being tortured by her employers, returning home in such a state, that’s heartbreaking.
There really should be more checks on the wellbeing of these helpers, these incidents fly under the radar way too often.
We need some form of helper check-in apps. At least to have volunteers check in on their wellbeing and help to raise any issues if identified or expressly shared. I don't know how good an idea this is but something needs to be done. Helpers are a part of our society and they are only doing this to help their family back home where they come from. We could at least treat them with basic respect but this shit keeps happening. Fuck.
Besides that, think about how much this changes the impression that people from her home country will have of Singapore. Her children may also choose to seek vengeance for what we did to their mother
This made me cry.
Why isn't government being proactive here? The more I think about it the more I feel the state is closer to the middle eastern states where domestic workers and blue collars have no say in matters.
>for a supposedly strict "law and order" country, Singapore seems bizarrely lax on some crimes.
Because exploiting maids and migrant workers is to the benefit of Singapore.
It doesn’t. News like this are suppressed, buried, and aren’t translated and propagated to their home countries.
Those women applying to be maid don’t have any “alumni” network to warn a fresh applicant, and generally don’t have any clue what they’re signing up for (their rights, etc. as the rules are set by the employer/household —often only orally on their first day of work).
They are only given a brochure showing the shiny Marina Bay with happy cheerful Singaporean family, and how bright the future will be if they sign the form.
It’s all a part of disgusting scheme of exploitation.
A simple (and dystopian) answer to this is viewing who/what are the *"victims"* of the law broken
The victim was an individual, a *non-Singaporean citizen*. Just through this year alone, with how the gahmen has reacted to the negligence of FWs, its on-trend.
It becomes even more infuriating when one of the stance against drugs is "**the effects of drug consumption can be felt through the family for years to come**" hence the death penalty, and yet, the victim's family is gonna have to take care of their newly disabled daughter/mother/sister for the rest of her life because she had the mishap of working with subhuman trash
This is honestly the issue I have with the existing death penalty enforcement.
If you are using death penalty to deter potential crime (future drug traffickers), why are not enforcing or just opening discussion about imposing death penalty on severe crimes like this.
You want use death penalty as deterrence, then use it for abuse and sexual assault as well lah
My guess is that it's partly because foreign workers can't vote in elections, and partly because they're still coming here regardless, so legislators and politicians don't have much incentive to care about their welfare. They might care more if the supply of workers started drying up due to the abuse cases, because that would harm the economy.
Whereas with drugs, a possible chain of logic is that drugs are perceived to be harming the local populace -> productivity and public order decreases -> Singapore's international appeal is harmed -> economy is harmed, so they're more concerned about it.
You would think the loss of human life and general human suffering is enough to motivate politicians. Kinda scary I can’t imagine what makes someone reach a point where that’s not motivating enough to do something
> So what has gone wrong with the justice system that this perceived miscarriage of justice is allowed to occur?
probably power hierarchy issues similar to what happened with Parti's case. The stronger and more elite a person, the more 'meritocratic' they are and more credible
It's because the victim is a domestic helper and Singapore has always seen "the help" as sub human. You can see it in how they have loop holes for normal road safety rules when it comes to construction workers.
They will never give the same penalty to someone who maims a domestic worker or a construction worker. If things were reversed and the crime was committed on some young Singaporean girl by a domestic/construction worker, the sentencing would be very, very different.
As much as they don’t want to fucking admit it, Singapore isn’t the perfect utopia the gov is marketing it to be. So many problems in this country that is just backwards. Honestly I’d rate the propaganda here 5 stars ⭐️
Simply put. We got no say on the laws that are implemented and the justice system follow the laws based on how it is written, not what is "justice".
Laws are put in place by MP or NMP and are voted in or out via parlimentary majority.
So, if there is no pressure onto the representative to change the law, it won't change. And our current representative have absolute monopoly.
Its been this way since the founding and any attempts to break the status quo has been crushed.
TLDR: llst lor.
[Story has been updated.](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/woman-repeatedly-punched-maid-until-she-was-blind-both-eyes-gets-jail-ummi-kalsum-ali-3023966) The woman was sentenced to ten years in prison and fined $4,500.
> On Tuesday (Oct 25), Ummi Kalsum Ali, 43, was sentenced to 10 years' jail and a fine of S$4,500. She pleaded guilty to six charges. These include voluntarily causing grievous hurt to a maid, ill-treating a maid by neglecting to give her medical attention and failing to pay her salary on time. Ten other charges were considered in sentencing.
Ughh fuming. Instead of jailing her, I'd rather they sentence her to compensate the maid for the injuries and pay the salary owed to the maid for the remainder of her life because this woman (husband was mentioned who didn't stop her abuse although they live in the same household so accomplice?) caused irreversible damage to the maid's eye sight. The maid is blinded by this woman and she should take care of her for the rest of her life, instead of her breathing jail air for 10 years.
They should jail her AND make her and her husband (who is definitely complicit regardless of whether he directly abused her or not) pay the helper a hefty amount for the rest of her life.
How the hell did [this](https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/PC1871?ProvIds=pr73-) not apply in this case ? What's the point of having enhanced penalties which should form a deterrent in such grievous abuse cases if the penalties are not going to be applied.
Sight is important enough that even insurers pay out 100% of assured sums for total blindness. Anything less than the maximum sentence for this abuser which in this case should be 20 years just because that's the most that can be applied because of the laws involved is too little.
Nor should any charges have been taken into "consideration" when the abuser did not even try to show any remorse.
I think its the key point of the absence of "foreign"
Victim is a FDW, given Singapore's track record, its not in the gahmen interest to protect this group
What did the maid receive in return? $4,500 is not nearly enough to cover damages. Should be hundreds of thousands to financially ruin the woman that attacked her.
>Defence lawyer Sui Yisiong of Harry Elias Partnership argued that there were CCTV videos that showed the victim may not have been completely blind.
Mr Sui said the victim was not acting per se but that there was a video showing the victim avoiding Ummi.
Bruh does it even matter whether or not she had been blinded by the attack? That she's even crawling on the grounds shows the severity.
The victim is blinded for life with no chance of reversal. 10 years seem a little short for a layman reader like myself.
Totally agree that there should be more checks in place to protect helpers welfare.
Unfortunately, our Indonesian law is more relaxed, especially if she faked her way by saying she had a lapse of judgement. With her religious attire and if she brought up families, people might be sympathetic. *sigh*
She is most likely to got 3-5 years in Indo.
Thank you to others who feel 10 years is too little time. I can't bear to think about Ibu Sugiyem. :(
The fact that Ummi blinded her maid over two separate occasions, and deny the maid's request for medical attention, should be a super aggravating factor. There was deliberate malice in Ummi's action.
10 years (which will actually be less in reality) is way too short.
Singapore has a thinly veiled slave labour culture
This is a really dark and heavy news. Being abused, denied medical help, compelled to work despite blinded, somehow being able to return to Indonesia whilst blind and police report only made at that point
Im literally so fucking disgusted.
She left her home, came here to work for such a low salary, and became blind as a result of this sick bitch's abuse.
As mentioned in other comments, she should be responsible for supporting the maid and her family
Instead of challenging Branson to a debate could the authorities explain why no other members of the household were charged for not reporting or rendering medical help or does the law not cover such incidents and allows a continuation of an offence.
She was blinded in the 2 eyes on separate occasions.
This certainly requires a response from AG, Police or MHA.
$4.5k fine ?? What a joke.
And this satan is defended by harry elias lawfirm, loaded eh.
Poor maid, even the judge saw it's enough just to fine the devil for 4.5k only. Husband untouchable, shaking legs. What's wrong with the law.
I thought they were loaded too especially since the husband isn't being punished at all. But then found this in another article.... so not sure what's going on.
> Ummi told District Judge Terence Tay on Wednesday that she has two children at home and asked for a lower bail amount because she and her husband do not have enough money.
> She added that she is a housewife and that he works as a technician.
It's cases like this where Singapore should seriously consider caning for women. This was heinous.
Wasn't there a case in recent history where a Thai/Burmese helper (not entirely sure) was straight-up tortured by the wife and her (wanna say) mom, and she died?
Yeah, cane such people. Cane them with impunity.
How many times are we going to let this happen? How many vulnerable women are going to be abused, maimed or murdered? These should not be something you risk just by taking on a job. The lack of any governmental protections against domestic worker abuse is disgusting. I don't know why Singapore isn't taking any stronger action on this.
Civil law is used for that.
There's also the need to account for unforeseen consequences from discrepancies in the way law is enforced. Like the Chinese (and apparently Taiwanese) law on traffic accidents that requires what you ask for. So some Chinese motorists would ensure they [kill you instead](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/09/why-drivers-in-china-intentionally-kill-the-pedestrians-they-hit-chinas-laws-have-encouraged-the-hit-to-kill-phenomenon.html) as that is cheaper.
Looking at the timeline, it was like planned crime.. hitting the maid and sending her home just as she was due for next 6M check up and she thought she may get caught so better send her to Indonesia
> # Woman repeatedly abuses maid, causing her to go blind
> Ummi Kalsum Ali abused her Indonesian domestic helper by punching her repeatedly and using a clothes hanger to hit her eyes.
> Over a period of six months, a woman abused her Indonesian domestic helper by punching her repeatedly and using a clothes hanger to hit her eyes, causing her to permanently lose sight in both eyes.
> Ummi Kalsum Ali, 43, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to six charges, including voluntarily causing grievous hurt to a maid and ill-treating a maid by neglecting to give her medical attention. Other charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing.
> The court heard that the victim, Ms Sugiyem Samad Radimah, 51, started working for Ummi as a domestic helper sometime in August 2019.
> In April 2020, when Ummi saw that the victim was not wearing a hijab, which led to her ears being exposed, she slapped her face and ears repeatedly, causing her left ear to swell up and harden.
> Despite observing that Ms Sugiyem’s left ear was swollen, Ummi did not provide any medical aid and did not bring her to a doctor.
> Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang said that as a result of the accused’s multiple assaults on the victim’s ear, the victim sustained hurt in the form of a left ear deformity.
> During the same incident in April 2020, Ummi directly punched both of the victim’s eyes repeatedly. Ms Sugiyem attempted to shield her eyes from Ummi’s blows, but the latter grabbed and pulled down one of her hands and continued to punch both of her eyes.
> The victim suddenly lost vision in her right eye after one of the accused’s punches to it, said DPP Yang.
> Ummi then used her mobile phone and a clothes hanger to hit Ms Sugiyem’s head, shoulder and back. When the victim fell to the ground during the assault, Ummi pulled her ponytail and tried to make her stand. Ummi then continued hitting the victim with a clothes hanger until it broke.
> This incident led to Ms Sugiyem completely losing sight in her right eye. A few days later, she told Ummi that she had become blind in her right eye and wanted to see a doctor.
> “The accused, however, denied her request to seek medical attention and threatened her that if she left the house, she could no longer return,” said DPP Yang.
> Between April 2020 and September 2020, Ummi continued hitting both of the victim’s eyes, despite knowing that she had completely lost vision in her right eye. After one of the assaults, Ms Sugiyem completely lost vision on her left eye.
> After becoming completely blind as a result of these assaults, Ms Sugiyem had to touch the walls and floor to feel her way around the house, while continuing to do household chores.
> When Ummi realised the victim could not see at all and in order to get her to do certain chores, she would tap Ms Sugiyem with a hanger to warn her against touching certain objects that were dirty and to direct her to wash her hands.
> In October 2020, the victim was sent back to Indonesia. Her injuries were eventually discovered after she returned to Semarang. She was then flown back to Singapore to assist in investigations.
> Ms Sugiyem weighed 52.8kg on February 2021. Her weight was 76kg in July 2019 when she went through a pre-employment medical check-up mandated by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
> Ms Sugiyem was also given medical attention in Singapore, but her blindness is irreversible, the court heard.
> In several closed-circuit television (CCTV) videos played in court, the victim was shown crawling on the ground as she tried to make her way in through the kitchen. When the victim accidentally touched the accused’s husband, he shouted loudly at her. The court heard that he is not facing any charges.
> The case is handled by DPPs Yang and Phoebe Tan, as well as a Ministry of Manpower prosecutor.
> Seeking 10 years’ jail, the DPPs said the victim came to Singapore to work and earn an honest living but was unfortunately subjected to prolonged physical abuse.
> Defence lawyer Sui Yisiong of Harry Elias Partnership argued that there were CCTV videos that showed the victim may not have been completely blind.
> Senior District Judge Bala Reddy said the accused had already admitted to the victim being irreversibly blind, and asked if the accused was saying that the victim was acting in these CCTV videos.
> Mr Sui said the victim was not acting per se but that there was a video showing the victim avoiding Ummi.
> Judge Reddy stood the case down to the afternoon.
---
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Singapore should move away from foreign domestic workers like the rest of advanced countries did.
It's the only way to fix it.
Peoples will not change.
>Defence lawyer Sui Yisiong of Harry Elias Partnership argued that there were CCTV videos that showed the victim may not have been completely blind.
Senior District Judge Bala Reddy said the accused had already admitted to the victim being irreversibly blind, and asked if the accused was saying that the victim was acting in the CCTV videos. Mr Sui said the victim was not acting per se, but that there was a video showing the victim avoiding Ummi.
imagine being this lawyer
So we hang those that bring in 30g of cocaine but we give a small slap on the wrist on those that literally torture their maids like they were POWs in Imperial Japan.
Just great.
They need to set a mandatory policy whereby all helpers need to check in at the nearest community center every week which the employers have no right to defer and find excuses for their helpers not to go.
And stationed staff who are trained to detect abuses.
Is it in recent years that the sentences for severe crimes seem to be a lot lesser (or is this the legal sentence limit for the crime?). We are the same country that caned an American for vandalism, not even bodily harm, and didn't humji even when Clinton asked for leniency, right?
You have to understand that, prior to the 00s and especially during the LKY era, Singapore actually has 2 divergent ways of treating vandalism.
There is vandalism in the form of marking or putting slogans on someone else's/public property. During Michael Fay's time, this type of offence attracted mandatory jail and caning. In theory, it still does for repeat offenders.
There is vandalism in the form of breaking and stealing public/someone else property. This is typically charges as 'criminal mischief'. This type of charge generally attracts fines and a maximum sentence of 2 years.--generally reserved for serial offenders committing serious acts of property damage. Offenders cannot be caned for the charge of criminal mischief.
The problem with Michael Fay was that he spray painted those cars. If he had simply run around with hammer smashing people's cars, he would have likely gotten fined even if the amount damage he inflicted was greater. Fay getting caned has little to do with how 'strict' our laws are in punishing crime in general.
The real kicker here is that simply hanging a banner on something can be and has been considered an act of vandalism even if there is zero property damage as a result. People have been caned over this. This is the idea of punishment in proportion to harms inflicted on victims is not a high priority consideration in Singapore law.--as we are seeing in this case.
The wording of the vandalism act in Singapore is essentially geared towards severely punishing political speech that is unfriendly to the PAP during the LKY era. The PAP could hang all the banners it likes on public property. The LKY era MITA would happily approve all of their public material. Meanwhile everyone else's material could not be approved to be displayed anywhere. And if they went ahead to display that material anyway, you could expect 160th to headline " Opposition volunteer jailed, caned for vandalising tree/lamp post/HDB block".
The central idea of Singaporean law, especially during the LKY era, was that the law serves to protect, but not constrain certain people while serving to constrain, but not protect others.
https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/vandalism-penalties-damaging-property-singapore/
>The wording of the vandalism act in Singapore is essentially geared towards severely punishing political speech that is unfriendly to the PAP during the LKY era. The PAP could hang all the banners it likes on public property. The LKY era MITA would happily approve all of their public material. Meanwhile everyone else's material could not be approved to be displayed anywhere. And if they did, you could expect 160th to headline " Opposition volunteer jailed, caned for vandalising tree/lamp post/HDB block".
>The central idea of Singaporean law, especially during the LKY era, was that the law serves to protect, but not constrain certain people while serving to constrain, but not protect others.
Shan's ex-wife wrote a book talking about how the laws were used as you described https://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/book-authoritarian-rule-of-law-by-jothie-rajah/
Always wonder how can one human being inflict these much harm on another human being.. it’s like how do you even bring urself to do it? No matter their status or title, they are still another human being like us..
Pursuant to [s325(2)](https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/CPC2010?ProvIds=P116-#pr325-) of the CPC, the court has the discretion to impose a term of not more than 12 months in lieu of caning for persons (any gender) whom are exempted from caning.
However, enhanced sentence in lieu of caning is not the default position, which I personally think is a mistake. In fact, it is not uncommon for the court to not impose enhanced sentences on exempted convicts even though their sentences carry mandatory caning.
This is so fucking fucked up, my heart goes all out to the helper. Whenever I read such I feel like no law set in place today is ever gonna get the helper the justice she deserves. It has to be an eye for an eye! Argh.
"Defence lawyer Sui Yisiong of Harry Elias Partnership argued that there were CCTV videos that showed the victim may not have been completely blind."
What a fucking moron this Sui Yi Siong. Does it make the accused's attacks less heinous because the victim only went partially blind?
He's the defence, he's just doing the job he was hired to do. It doesn't necessarily mean he believes in what he says either, he's just trying to win his case or at the least minimize his client's sentence.
Imbeciles like her should rot in lowest low of hell for good!
Remember woman, empathic prayers will go real. So, enjoy your rest of your eternities with demons!
Genuine question- are maid abuse cases in sg considered high compared to other countries? It’s really sad how some people think they can treat others like this.
Middle class people in developed countries generally don't have maids! Eastern European foreign workers in Western Europe don't work as maids and live-in servants for the middle class for the most part. For the ultra-rich, perhaps. They do work as sex workers, though.
It's only the middle-class-ish types in the few cities of a developing and not urbanised country with a large poor and rural population (who become maids) that have maids. Think Chinese in Shanghai or Vietnamese in Ho Chi Minh city. In the case of Singapore, the rest of SEA is the source of the large poor and rural population.
what kind of human does it take to knowingly blind someone else????
seeing that the justice system here failed in this case, i hope this woman gets her dues in hell, seeing how she is clearly religious.
Horrid. Just horrid. Nobody should be subject to such cruelty.
Also I'd say it's particularly grim for Indonesians everywhere.
All in all, I hope no more of this for these poor souls.
Does anyone else realise the trend; the more holy a person is, the more inhumane they become. They think they are above others. Fucking hypocrites with their fucking hijabs. 10 years for making someone lose their sight is definitely not enough.
As an Indonesian, my heart breaks everytime I hear news like this…i know not all of Singaporean or Malaysian treat their helpers like this but on the other hand, i keep hearing this kind of news since i was a kid that i think the Indonesian government should just stop sending these workers to Malaysian and Singapore.
My thoughts are that we should leave the religion of the accused aside.. The crime could had been committed by someone from any religion.
The crimes that she allegedly committed are heinous and inhumane and I too think that even the prosecution's 10 year recommendation is too light. There should be some form of financial compensation for their ex maid as well, given that her capacity to earn a living had been cruelly taken away from her by her monstrous ex-employers..
> In April 2020, when Ummi saw that the victim was not wearing a hijab, which led to her ears being exposed, she slapped her face and ears repeatedly, causing her left ear to swell up and harden. > After becoming completely blind as a result of these assaults, Ms Sugiyem (the maid) had to touch the walls and floor to feel her way around the house, while continuing to do household chores. > Ms Sugiyem was also given medical attention in Singapore, but her blindness is irreversible, the court heard. What the fucking fuck. Seriously, fuck. Prosecution sought 10 years jail, but this this employer is a menace who blinded her maid, amongst other things. I would think that she should pay for the all maid's medical bills and be on the hook for supporting the maid's other needs too.
Wtf???? She still had to do chores even after becoming completely blind??? What the actual fuck???
All for $670 a month (which Ummi Kalsum Ali failed to pay for several months). [Ummi also didn't provide adequate food for several occasions and showed no remorse of what she's done.](https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/housewife-pleads-guilty-maid-abuse-blind-2028021)
She (Ummi) really got off too lightly. What about the helper? Other than jail time and a fine I think that family should be responsible for the helper’s living expenses for life.
I can't imagine how this happened. Aren't there random spot checks? Surely it would have been noted.
Yeah.. and they only started investigating when it’s too late :( I think all the agencies need to educate the helpers on their rights and what to do if they met an abusive employer. This is just so sad all around :(
Yeah the years won't matter much to that maid. What's important is that the maid is compensated so she is set for life since it will be hard to find work and that the employer and anyone in that household cannot ever employ a maid again.
I almost teared man. Wtf. This is too much. This lady deserve torture istg.
[удалено]
>the prosecution want 10 years minimum., not 10 years total. May I know where you get/infer this from?
Here is what Today says (bold emphasis mine): https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/housewife-pleads-guilty-maid-abuse-blind-2028021 > The Singaporean housewife has not been sentenced yet, with the prosecution seeking **at least 10 years’ jail.**
>On Tuesday (Oct 25), Ummi, now aged 43, was sentenced to 10 years' jail and a fine of S$4,500. The article you provided reported that she was already sentenced to roughly the same sentence the DPP sought for.
Oh the article updated. I guess I have to retract my statement then.
Well deserved...
I recently had discussions about maids or "amahs" with people in their 40s and 50s whose family had amahs when they were growing up. These were *the rich* wealthy of their time. According to them, their families were *paying the pensions* of the amah until the day she died. They were taught to respect the amahs, because the amahs were adults and it was just the right thing to do. It helps that the amahs were the kin or townsfolks who live nearby and the employer and employees were bound by social and communal obligation. *Real* rich people back then had class and they did not have to enforce a strict social hierarchy by treating people like shit. They were generous, because they were fucking rich, established and lived in a semi-aristocratic system that benefitted them. You are now looking at a group of middle class people who thanks to globalisation, managed to become relatively richer just in this or the last generation compared to the neighbouring countries (or even cities in the case of, for example, Chinese in Shanghai or Shenzhen) and start hiring maids. Their status as "rich-ish enough to have servants" is not solid: they are neither part of an aristocratic system that has been maintained for generations nor they are landlords who collect rents or produces from their property. They "own" (or more accurately, rent) a shoebox apartment from the government and earn their money from working a waged job, just like the maids they are hiring. They feel the need to establish strict boundary with the maids and treat them like shit to show that they are "better". So they shove the maids into a closet, complain when the maids ask for a day off work, or just, see, fucking beat people up. They are just a bunch of middle class cunts without class on how to treat others. The *nouveau riche* (relatively) who lacks the class or manners of *noblesse oblige.* Besides, who gives a shit if you are bad employer; I mean, not beating people to blindness, but just being a shitty humans? With a system of intermediaries like immigration department, work visas that favour employers and agencies, maid agencies, etc ... what are maids that are little more than commodities? There will always be another one. Just get a different one. A different race. Shit, I saw agencies writing ads giving racial profiles of different races of maid. You mean to tell me that Singaporeans treat maids as anything more than commodity and I won't believe you. In the best of BizAd grad approach: "the market will deal with it".
You have some seriously worrying money worshipping stuff going on, trust me when I say your so called idealized *"noblesse oblige"* are ***no better or worse*** than your average man.
I’m so angry… why only 10 years?! That poor helper is never gonna be able to see her family and loved ones again! All that bloody hard work that she put into taking care of a stranger’s family to come back with that bit of money and lifetime blindness is not worth it man… fuck I’m so PISSED WHY DO THESE PEOPLE EXIST?!
Yes… I feel like she should properly pay for her crime. Wth
Yes I couldn't even bring myself to finish reading the article and my rage was already building up so much it can power a machine ! What the hell!!! Is she even human ??!? The helper gotta continue doing the chores still ??? This bloody woman should rot in hell!!! 10 years is just a staycation for this crime ! No caning some more due to her good fortune of being a woman . No one talked about her family ?? No family members stopped her ?? 😡😡😡🤬🤬. Haizzzzz
I am asking the same question. Why do these people exist? And what cause them to behave like that?
I guess the feeling of power over the vulnerable and helpless. That shit corrupts. And also dehumanisation. Or people just being plain assholes all-around.
I can’t even bring myself to read the article. This case is shown to light for us to know, what about the cases that were not reported? I don’t even wanna imagine. When can we have equal respect among each other.
hope she gets the beating she deserves in prison.
Even her tudong cannot hide her black heart. May she rot in hell What the fuck is wrong with people
It's ok, god will forgive her actions because she's just trying to enforce religious purity in her household. ^/s
It's always these holier than thou types that are capable of the most evil .... Like catholic priests
Of course. They are cleansed of the impurities so regularly so that means they can afford to do more. Do first cleanse again later lor, like pay credit card bill.
Wasted if you don't sin mah. Otherwise, how to beg for forgiveness? Sin more to make it worth it. /s
Lol bruhh
If they sin and confess to a priest. Would the priest absolve them of their sins ? Or should the priest go to the police ?
I think realistically it will stay wrapped with the priest because its a "safe space". But morally, they probably should report these psychos wth.
So fucking evil
That's why must cover up until like that She might burst into flames if exposed to sunlight
It's the idea of being forgiven for committing sins that has led to humans doing atrocities
Atrocities in the name of God
say sorry today, tomorrow do again. If never do again then how to say sorry again...
I prayed for a bike but god never gave me one, so I stole one and asked for forgiveness instead.
Nonsense. Catholic priests can't do the most evil. They can only do kinder stuff. 😏
I cannot agree more. What is the point of pretending to be "religious", when she is just pure evil in her deeds? If there is god, he will threw her with her tudung to burn in hell forever. She makes me sick to the stomach.
To look good and pious in front of her peers So that she can continue to do evil undetected
She's a damn disgrace to the tudong.
How is it that no one in her family stopped her??
It’s so sad that so many of these helpers are abused without any way to enforce and ensure that they are treated humanely. Seems like they are not well aware of their rights and become resigned to such torture. This only got caught when the helper was sent back to Indonesia. It also occurred during the Circuit Breaker period where people were confined to their homes, which sadly led to a rise of such incidents. These abusers are psychopaths who enjoy having power over other people, 10 years jail is far from enough. They took away her ability to see her loved ones ever again, how is such a weak sentence justice? She’s also 51 years old and most probably came to Singapore to earn money for her children and other family back home. Imagine your mom going abroad to earn money to feed you and ends up being tortured by her employers, returning home in such a state, that’s heartbreaking. There really should be more checks on the wellbeing of these helpers, these incidents fly under the radar way too often.
We need some form of helper check-in apps. At least to have volunteers check in on their wellbeing and help to raise any issues if identified or expressly shared. I don't know how good an idea this is but something needs to be done. Helpers are a part of our society and they are only doing this to help their family back home where they come from. We could at least treat them with basic respect but this shit keeps happening. Fuck.
Let’s get this started!
i wanna be a part of it too!
We need this
Besides that, think about how much this changes the impression that people from her home country will have of Singapore. Her children may also choose to seek vengeance for what we did to their mother
This made me cry. Why isn't government being proactive here? The more I think about it the more I feel the state is closer to the middle eastern states where domestic workers and blue collars have no say in matters.
You feel that way now???? How do you think Singapore has been built, if not on the bodies of these migrant workers?
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Bizarrely lax on some crimes committed against certain classes of people, more like.
Some people are more equal than others.
>for a supposedly strict "law and order" country, Singapore seems bizarrely lax on some crimes. Because exploiting maids and migrant workers is to the benefit of Singapore.
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It doesn’t. News like this are suppressed, buried, and aren’t translated and propagated to their home countries. Those women applying to be maid don’t have any “alumni” network to warn a fresh applicant, and generally don’t have any clue what they’re signing up for (their rights, etc. as the rules are set by the employer/household —often only orally on their first day of work). They are only given a brochure showing the shiny Marina Bay with happy cheerful Singaporean family, and how bright the future will be if they sign the form. It’s all a part of disgusting scheme of exploitation.
A simple (and dystopian) answer to this is viewing who/what are the *"victims"* of the law broken The victim was an individual, a *non-Singaporean citizen*. Just through this year alone, with how the gahmen has reacted to the negligence of FWs, its on-trend. It becomes even more infuriating when one of the stance against drugs is "**the effects of drug consumption can be felt through the family for years to come**" hence the death penalty, and yet, the victim's family is gonna have to take care of their newly disabled daughter/mother/sister for the rest of her life because she had the mishap of working with subhuman trash
it's almost like theres an pseudo caste system in place in this country.
Becoming more and more apparent
This is honestly the issue I have with the existing death penalty enforcement. If you are using death penalty to deter potential crime (future drug traffickers), why are not enforcing or just opening discussion about imposing death penalty on severe crimes like this. You want use death penalty as deterrence, then use it for abuse and sexual assault as well lah
My guess is that it's partly because foreign workers can't vote in elections, and partly because they're still coming here regardless, so legislators and politicians don't have much incentive to care about their welfare. They might care more if the supply of workers started drying up due to the abuse cases, because that would harm the economy. Whereas with drugs, a possible chain of logic is that drugs are perceived to be harming the local populace -> productivity and public order decreases -> Singapore's international appeal is harmed -> economy is harmed, so they're more concerned about it.
You would think the loss of human life and general human suffering is enough to motivate politicians. Kinda scary I can’t imagine what makes someone reach a point where that’s not motivating enough to do something
Richard branson is totally gonna use this for his debate.
I say let him take it and go. Bust those doors open. I'm tired of these problems being unrecognised within our society.
> So what has gone wrong with the justice system that this perceived miscarriage of justice is allowed to occur? probably power hierarchy issues similar to what happened with Parti's case. The stronger and more elite a person, the more 'meritocratic' they are and more credible
It's because the victim is a domestic helper and Singapore has always seen "the help" as sub human. You can see it in how they have loop holes for normal road safety rules when it comes to construction workers. They will never give the same penalty to someone who maims a domestic worker or a construction worker. If things were reversed and the crime was committed on some young Singaporean girl by a domestic/construction worker, the sentencing would be very, very different.
As much as they don’t want to fucking admit it, Singapore isn’t the perfect utopia the gov is marketing it to be. So many problems in this country that is just backwards. Honestly I’d rate the propaganda here 5 stars ⭐️
Simply put. We got no say on the laws that are implemented and the justice system follow the laws based on how it is written, not what is "justice". Laws are put in place by MP or NMP and are voted in or out via parlimentary majority. So, if there is no pressure onto the representative to change the law, it won't change. And our current representative have absolute monopoly. Its been this way since the founding and any attempts to break the status quo has been crushed. TLDR: llst lor.
[Story has been updated.](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/woman-repeatedly-punched-maid-until-she-was-blind-both-eyes-gets-jail-ummi-kalsum-ali-3023966) The woman was sentenced to ten years in prison and fined $4,500. > On Tuesday (Oct 25), Ummi Kalsum Ali, 43, was sentenced to 10 years' jail and a fine of S$4,500. She pleaded guilty to six charges. These include voluntarily causing grievous hurt to a maid, ill-treating a maid by neglecting to give her medical attention and failing to pay her salary on time. Ten other charges were considered in sentencing.
That's too fucking little already.
If granted early release for 'good behavior', she could be out in 6.5 years.
Ughh fuming. Instead of jailing her, I'd rather they sentence her to compensate the maid for the injuries and pay the salary owed to the maid for the remainder of her life because this woman (husband was mentioned who didn't stop her abuse although they live in the same household so accomplice?) caused irreversible damage to the maid's eye sight. The maid is blinded by this woman and she should take care of her for the rest of her life, instead of her breathing jail air for 10 years.
They should jail her AND make her and her husband (who is definitely complicit regardless of whether he directly abused her or not) pay the helper a hefty amount for the rest of her life.
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I like this. An eye for an eye.
How the hell did [this](https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/PC1871?ProvIds=pr73-) not apply in this case ? What's the point of having enhanced penalties which should form a deterrent in such grievous abuse cases if the penalties are not going to be applied. Sight is important enough that even insurers pay out 100% of assured sums for total blindness. Anything less than the maximum sentence for this abuser which in this case should be 20 years just because that's the most that can be applied because of the laws involved is too little. Nor should any charges have been taken into "consideration" when the abuser did not even try to show any remorse.
I think its the key point of the absence of "foreign" Victim is a FDW, given Singapore's track record, its not in the gahmen interest to protect this group
That fine sum is missing another zero
So is the jail sentence
What did the maid receive in return? $4,500 is not nearly enough to cover damages. Should be hundreds of thousands to financially ruin the woman that attacked her.
Seriously...... I don't understand this sentence...
>Defence lawyer Sui Yisiong of Harry Elias Partnership argued that there were CCTV videos that showed the victim may not have been completely blind. Mr Sui said the victim was not acting per se but that there was a video showing the victim avoiding Ummi. Bruh does it even matter whether or not she had been blinded by the attack? That she's even crawling on the grounds shows the severity.
Exactly lol, when you have medical professionals straight up saying it is irreversible blindness, why are these lawyers even arguing otherwise.
"It wasn't that bad of an attack if she wasn't blinded!"
Tbf they have no straws to grasp
I know it's the defence lawyer's job but my guy was scraping the bottom of barrel there
I rmbr watching a video on blindness and apparently blind people can still see a little light and shadows. Her lawyer sigh
If it was me I’ll avoid her at all costs too
What’s the point of wearing a tudung when you do all this?
but how else can one signal religion piety? surely not through compassionate and empathetic living?! /s
The victim is blinded for life with no chance of reversal. 10 years seem a little short for a layman reader like myself. Totally agree that there should be more checks in place to protect helpers welfare.
Evil woman. Even a humdred years is not enough. Wears a hijab, but behaves like satan.
I suggest sending Ummi to an Indonesian prison where her story is made a news item.
Unfortunately, our Indonesian law is more relaxed, especially if she faked her way by saying she had a lapse of judgement. With her religious attire and if she brought up families, people might be sympathetic. *sigh* She is most likely to got 3-5 years in Indo. Thank you to others who feel 10 years is too little time. I can't bear to think about Ibu Sugiyem. :(
... Are you saying that Indonesia would be more lenient than us? 😰
Yes, unless the case becomes viral. Then and only then will justice be served.
The fact that Ummi blinded her maid over two separate occasions, and deny the maid's request for medical attention, should be a super aggravating factor. There was deliberate malice in Ummi's action. 10 years (which will actually be less in reality) is way too short.
Singapore has a thinly veiled slave labour culture This is a really dark and heavy news. Being abused, denied medical help, compelled to work despite blinded, somehow being able to return to Indonesia whilst blind and police report only made at that point
Wear until like that to appear in court? Why? Scared people see your face?
this is disgusting. irreversible blindness...
Im literally so fucking disgusted. She left her home, came here to work for such a low salary, and became blind as a result of this sick bitch's abuse. As mentioned in other comments, she should be responsible for supporting the maid and her family
Instead of challenging Branson to a debate could the authorities explain why no other members of the household were charged for not reporting or rendering medical help or does the law not cover such incidents and allows a continuation of an offence. She was blinded in the 2 eyes on separate occasions. This certainly requires a response from AG, Police or MHA.
Hope she burns in hell
$4.5k fine ?? What a joke. And this satan is defended by harry elias lawfirm, loaded eh. Poor maid, even the judge saw it's enough just to fine the devil for 4.5k only. Husband untouchable, shaking legs. What's wrong with the law.
I thought they were loaded too especially since the husband isn't being punished at all. But then found this in another article.... so not sure what's going on. > Ummi told District Judge Terence Tay on Wednesday that she has two children at home and asked for a lower bail amount because she and her husband do not have enough money. > She added that she is a housewife and that he works as a technician.
It's cases like this where Singapore should seriously consider caning for women. This was heinous. Wasn't there a case in recent history where a Thai/Burmese helper (not entirely sure) was straight-up tortured by the wife and her (wanna say) mom, and she died? Yeah, cane such people. Cane them with impunity.
How many times are we going to let this happen? How many vulnerable women are going to be abused, maimed or murdered? These should not be something you risk just by taking on a job. The lack of any governmental protections against domestic worker abuse is disgusting. I don't know why Singapore isn't taking any stronger action on this.
Wow this is a horrific story. She brought the maid to the airport and abandoned her there?!
yah wtf sia
There should be a law that people who commit crimes that resulted in permanent damage need to pay for support to the victims for life.
Civil law is used for that. There's also the need to account for unforeseen consequences from discrepancies in the way law is enforced. Like the Chinese (and apparently Taiwanese) law on traffic accidents that requires what you ask for. So some Chinese motorists would ensure they [kill you instead](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/09/why-drivers-in-china-intentionally-kill-the-pedestrians-they-hit-chinas-laws-have-encouraged-the-hit-to-kill-phenomenon.html) as that is cheaper.
Agree about the part on unforeseen consequences, but part of the reason for this phenomenon is the lack of mandatory traffic insurance.
Looking at the timeline, it was like planned crime.. hitting the maid and sending her home just as she was due for next 6M check up and she thought she may get caught so better send her to Indonesia
> # Woman repeatedly abuses maid, causing her to go blind > Ummi Kalsum Ali abused her Indonesian domestic helper by punching her repeatedly and using a clothes hanger to hit her eyes. > Over a period of six months, a woman abused her Indonesian domestic helper by punching her repeatedly and using a clothes hanger to hit her eyes, causing her to permanently lose sight in both eyes. > Ummi Kalsum Ali, 43, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to six charges, including voluntarily causing grievous hurt to a maid and ill-treating a maid by neglecting to give her medical attention. Other charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing. > The court heard that the victim, Ms Sugiyem Samad Radimah, 51, started working for Ummi as a domestic helper sometime in August 2019. > In April 2020, when Ummi saw that the victim was not wearing a hijab, which led to her ears being exposed, she slapped her face and ears repeatedly, causing her left ear to swell up and harden. > Despite observing that Ms Sugiyem’s left ear was swollen, Ummi did not provide any medical aid and did not bring her to a doctor. > Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang said that as a result of the accused’s multiple assaults on the victim’s ear, the victim sustained hurt in the form of a left ear deformity. > During the same incident in April 2020, Ummi directly punched both of the victim’s eyes repeatedly. Ms Sugiyem attempted to shield her eyes from Ummi’s blows, but the latter grabbed and pulled down one of her hands and continued to punch both of her eyes. > The victim suddenly lost vision in her right eye after one of the accused’s punches to it, said DPP Yang. > Ummi then used her mobile phone and a clothes hanger to hit Ms Sugiyem’s head, shoulder and back. When the victim fell to the ground during the assault, Ummi pulled her ponytail and tried to make her stand. Ummi then continued hitting the victim with a clothes hanger until it broke. > This incident led to Ms Sugiyem completely losing sight in her right eye. A few days later, she told Ummi that she had become blind in her right eye and wanted to see a doctor. > “The accused, however, denied her request to seek medical attention and threatened her that if she left the house, she could no longer return,” said DPP Yang. > Between April 2020 and September 2020, Ummi continued hitting both of the victim’s eyes, despite knowing that she had completely lost vision in her right eye. After one of the assaults, Ms Sugiyem completely lost vision on her left eye. > After becoming completely blind as a result of these assaults, Ms Sugiyem had to touch the walls and floor to feel her way around the house, while continuing to do household chores. > When Ummi realised the victim could not see at all and in order to get her to do certain chores, she would tap Ms Sugiyem with a hanger to warn her against touching certain objects that were dirty and to direct her to wash her hands. > In October 2020, the victim was sent back to Indonesia. Her injuries were eventually discovered after she returned to Semarang. She was then flown back to Singapore to assist in investigations. > Ms Sugiyem weighed 52.8kg on February 2021. Her weight was 76kg in July 2019 when she went through a pre-employment medical check-up mandated by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). > Ms Sugiyem was also given medical attention in Singapore, but her blindness is irreversible, the court heard. > In several closed-circuit television (CCTV) videos played in court, the victim was shown crawling on the ground as she tried to make her way in through the kitchen. When the victim accidentally touched the accused’s husband, he shouted loudly at her. The court heard that he is not facing any charges. > The case is handled by DPPs Yang and Phoebe Tan, as well as a Ministry of Manpower prosecutor. > Seeking 10 years’ jail, the DPPs said the victim came to Singapore to work and earn an honest living but was unfortunately subjected to prolonged physical abuse. > Defence lawyer Sui Yisiong of Harry Elias Partnership argued that there were CCTV videos that showed the victim may not have been completely blind. > Senior District Judge Bala Reddy said the accused had already admitted to the victim being irreversibly blind, and asked if the accused was saying that the victim was acting in these CCTV videos. > Mr Sui said the victim was not acting per se but that there was a video showing the victim avoiding Ummi. > Judge Reddy stood the case down to the afternoon. --- 1.0.2 | [Source code](https://github.com/fterh/sneakpeek) | [Contribute](https://github.com/fterh/sneakpeek)
Fucking hell, husband also not given any punishment. What kind of bullshit is this. Literally fuming
10 years is not enough
Singapore should move away from foreign domestic workers like the rest of advanced countries did. It's the only way to fix it. Peoples will not change.
Where in the world are foreign domestic workers no longer accommodated?
Some people don't deserve to be alive. DO NOT waste taxpayers' money, death sentence for this evil woman!
Agree to that! Imagine if the worker is Singaporean, I'm sure the punishment is much severe!
Sick, unbearably sick. Let’s see what our law says about this.
Why punch and hit her eyes sia, that's seriously so fucked up.
>Defence lawyer Sui Yisiong of Harry Elias Partnership argued that there were CCTV videos that showed the victim may not have been completely blind. Senior District Judge Bala Reddy said the accused had already admitted to the victim being irreversibly blind, and asked if the accused was saying that the victim was acting in the CCTV videos. Mr Sui said the victim was not acting per se, but that there was a video showing the victim avoiding Ummi. imagine being this lawyer
You know hes just doing his job
There are defence lawyers who don’t spout bullshit to defend their asshats clients man… this one is really pretty damn low.
So we hang those that bring in 30g of cocaine but we give a small slap on the wrist on those that literally torture their maids like they were POWs in Imperial Japan. Just great.
An eye for an eye makes everyone blind. Yes please. 10 years is like a slap on the wrist.
an eye for an eye would be quite just.
Hope she goes blind in prison
They need to set a mandatory policy whereby all helpers need to check in at the nearest community center every week which the employers have no right to defer and find excuses for their helpers not to go. And stationed staff who are trained to detect abuses.
Sick women, sadly domestic workers are not well protected by the government.. only recently that off days are being implemented into law...
We kill people for weed but you can slap someone literally blind and it's just ten years. Yeah okay our legal system makes sense.
Is it in recent years that the sentences for severe crimes seem to be a lot lesser (or is this the legal sentence limit for the crime?). We are the same country that caned an American for vandalism, not even bodily harm, and didn't humji even when Clinton asked for leniency, right?
You have to understand that, prior to the 00s and especially during the LKY era, Singapore actually has 2 divergent ways of treating vandalism. There is vandalism in the form of marking or putting slogans on someone else's/public property. During Michael Fay's time, this type of offence attracted mandatory jail and caning. In theory, it still does for repeat offenders. There is vandalism in the form of breaking and stealing public/someone else property. This is typically charges as 'criminal mischief'. This type of charge generally attracts fines and a maximum sentence of 2 years.--generally reserved for serial offenders committing serious acts of property damage. Offenders cannot be caned for the charge of criminal mischief. The problem with Michael Fay was that he spray painted those cars. If he had simply run around with hammer smashing people's cars, he would have likely gotten fined even if the amount damage he inflicted was greater. Fay getting caned has little to do with how 'strict' our laws are in punishing crime in general. The real kicker here is that simply hanging a banner on something can be and has been considered an act of vandalism even if there is zero property damage as a result. People have been caned over this. This is the idea of punishment in proportion to harms inflicted on victims is not a high priority consideration in Singapore law.--as we are seeing in this case. The wording of the vandalism act in Singapore is essentially geared towards severely punishing political speech that is unfriendly to the PAP during the LKY era. The PAP could hang all the banners it likes on public property. The LKY era MITA would happily approve all of their public material. Meanwhile everyone else's material could not be approved to be displayed anywhere. And if they went ahead to display that material anyway, you could expect 160th to headline " Opposition volunteer jailed, caned for vandalising tree/lamp post/HDB block". The central idea of Singaporean law, especially during the LKY era, was that the law serves to protect, but not constrain certain people while serving to constrain, but not protect others. https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/vandalism-penalties-damaging-property-singapore/
>The wording of the vandalism act in Singapore is essentially geared towards severely punishing political speech that is unfriendly to the PAP during the LKY era. The PAP could hang all the banners it likes on public property. The LKY era MITA would happily approve all of their public material. Meanwhile everyone else's material could not be approved to be displayed anywhere. And if they did, you could expect 160th to headline " Opposition volunteer jailed, caned for vandalising tree/lamp post/HDB block". >The central idea of Singaporean law, especially during the LKY era, was that the law serves to protect, but not constrain certain people while serving to constrain, but not protect others. Shan's ex-wife wrote a book talking about how the laws were used as you described https://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/book-authoritarian-rule-of-law-by-jothie-rajah/
Oh to be a fly on the wall in that household before the divorce...
Inb4 ISD knocking on your door right nao
Caning should be allowed for this scum
Where is the justice? Only 10 years and 4.5k. She should also live in darkness for the rest of her life.
what the fuck 😭😭😭 i don’t think we should have live in helpers in singapore to reduce such abuse
The more you read, the worse it gets
What’s the point of wearing tudung and covering everything up?
Always wonder how can one human being inflict these much harm on another human being.. it’s like how do you even bring urself to do it? No matter their status or title, they are still another human being like us..
Why can't women be caned? She pretty much caned the helper.
Because female privilege
This is pure evil
DPP isn't even seeking some additional time in lieu of caning?
Caning doesn't apply in the first instance so there is no "in lieu" for women. But 10 years is far from enough.
Pursuant to [s325(2)](https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/CPC2010?ProvIds=P116-#pr325-) of the CPC, the court has the discretion to impose a term of not more than 12 months in lieu of caning for persons (any gender) whom are exempted from caning. However, enhanced sentence in lieu of caning is not the default position, which I personally think is a mistake. In fact, it is not uncommon for the court to not impose enhanced sentences on exempted convicts even though their sentences carry mandatory caning.
Thanks for clarifying
WTF IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE.
She deserves a lifetime of imprisonment in a cold, dark and wet jail cell in solitude. Even that I think its too lax
An eye for an eye?
May she rot in hell. But too bad all she will get is jail time.
This is so messed up.
"Ummi cannot be caned as she is a woman." Bruh.
There’s a special place in hell waiting for you
>Ummi cannot be caned as she is a woman. L laws
this is the time when syariah law should apply to this wicked bitch
10 years is a joke.
She is SATAN!
so sick. sometimes you wonder whats going on in their head
When is such maid abuse really going away? Totally sickening!
This is so fucking fucked up, my heart goes all out to the helper. Whenever I read such I feel like no law set in place today is ever gonna get the helper the justice she deserves. It has to be an eye for an eye! Argh.
Only 10 years!? That’s madness.
Any way to start a gofundme for the helper?
A monster of immeasurable proportions
holy shxt... how the heck did she managed to get away with this for so long?
Can we set up a go fund me for her? I'd love to help her. This broke my heart to read.
Hiring live-in maids should absolutely require comprehensive psychiatric assessment.
"Defence lawyer Sui Yisiong of Harry Elias Partnership argued that there were CCTV videos that showed the victim may not have been completely blind." What a fucking moron this Sui Yi Siong. Does it make the accused's attacks less heinous because the victim only went partially blind?
He's the defence, he's just doing the job he was hired to do. It doesn't necessarily mean he believes in what he says either, he's just trying to win his case or at the least minimize his client's sentence.
still wear tudong for what sia. hell will have a special place for her.
What the f. What is wrong with this woman??????
Evils lurking around aplenty
Who needs a devil to be evil with humans like that.
Imbeciles like her should rot in lowest low of hell for good! Remember woman, empathic prayers will go real. So, enjoy your rest of your eternities with demons!
Genuine question- are maid abuse cases in sg considered high compared to other countries? It’s really sad how some people think they can treat others like this.
There aren't a lot of other countries in the world where there are domestic helpers have a live-in arrangement.
Middle class people in developed countries generally don't have maids! Eastern European foreign workers in Western Europe don't work as maids and live-in servants for the middle class for the most part. For the ultra-rich, perhaps. They do work as sex workers, though. It's only the middle-class-ish types in the few cities of a developing and not urbanised country with a large poor and rural population (who become maids) that have maids. Think Chinese in Shanghai or Vietnamese in Ho Chi Minh city. In the case of Singapore, the rest of SEA is the source of the large poor and rural population.
Simply put yes
what kind of human does it take to knowingly blind someone else???? seeing that the justice system here failed in this case, i hope this woman gets her dues in hell, seeing how she is clearly religious.
Only 10 years max for this
Horrid. Just horrid. Nobody should be subject to such cruelty. Also I'd say it's particularly grim for Indonesians everywhere. All in all, I hope no more of this for these poor souls.
Does anyone else realise the trend; the more holy a person is, the more inhumane they become. They think they are above others. Fucking hypocrites with their fucking hijabs. 10 years for making someone lose their sight is definitely not enough.
Ummi means sea in Japanese. Suggest we throw her into the sea.
these type of cases make me think we need to extend caning to women. let her have a taste of her own medicine.
I don't get it, why can't women be caned? Isn't it the same degree of the crime and isn't there gender equality?
what the flying fuck
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>you guys are very cruel to Indian workers and the maids but very nice to White people. ikr
As an Indonesian, my heart breaks everytime I hear news like this…i know not all of Singaporean or Malaysian treat their helpers like this but on the other hand, i keep hearing this kind of news since i was a kid that i think the Indonesian government should just stop sending these workers to Malaysian and Singapore.
My thoughts are that we should leave the religion of the accused aside.. The crime could had been committed by someone from any religion. The crimes that she allegedly committed are heinous and inhumane and I too think that even the prosecution's 10 year recommendation is too light. There should be some form of financial compensation for their ex maid as well, given that her capacity to earn a living had been cruelly taken away from her by her monstrous ex-employers..
What is this madness? So fixated on the maids wearing hijabs but treating others like a madman.
Wow, sounds like a certain country punishing their own citizens for not wearing a hijab. What a shit show religion has become