Why is it bizarre and inhuman?
A maid working in Singapore will earn 3-4x what she will make in Indonesia with generally better working conditions.
In addition because expenses are minimal (food+accommodation provided) you can save in 3-5 years what a typical lower class family living in Indonesia will save over 20.
What rights they have if they are selected out a shopping mall. They have zero avenue for support when they face abuse whether physical, sexual or emotional. visas in places like these ask you to leave immediately if you get quit or fired from a job.
That is not true at all. Singapore is a country of law and order.
> visas in places like these ask you to leave immediately if you get quit or fired from a job.
They have been invited to a country as a temporary worker to do a specific job.
Saying you have to go home if you get fired is not inhuman.
I have worked offshore and had my contract canceled - it sucks but it’s not inhuman.
I think you underestimate the psychological effect of constantly being treated as a disposable guest worker; there's a difference between that and working off-shore or being an expat treated as an equal. As I mentioned in my other reply[1] it is a "good deal" for many Indonesians in a way, but it comes at a price, a price which strikes me as quite needless as well.
But what's wrong with the shopping mall part? I'd be happy to sit in a shopping mall as potential employers come by to hire me for 3x what I'd make elsewhere. Maybe even 1x; I'm not convinced I would dislike it more than the normal job interview process.
I mean, it is odd and probably uncomfortable doing it in person, but the process is the same.
You cannot compare a job fair to what was happening in those malls. Imagine you're not coming to a job fair, but you stay in a dorm room with 20 other women, and every day you sit in a room waiting for someone to come. Some agencies make the workers to stand in line in front of the "showroom" for any potential employers to walk pass. It makes me feel like they were selling goods and not a person.