Do Australian High Commissioners and other Australian diplomats posted to South East Asia pay their domestic servants local or Australian wages - Foreign Minister Penny Wong's grandmother is but one of very many who have served, and still serve as domestic servants in households in Malaysia, Singapore rest of Asia for less than a dollar an hour

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

                            The fate of maids in Singapore and the rest of Asia is not a happy one -The Independent,Singapore

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong's complaint that British rule of Sabah forced her grandmother into servitude for a European family in Sabah  raises questions about how Australian High Commissioners and other Australian  diplomats posted to  South East Asia their domestic servants.

The use and abuse of domestic servants in Malaysia, Singapore and in the rest of Asia is common. Many household employ maids, who are often expected to work round the clock, and throughout the week. They are paid anything between AUD 200-to AUD 300 per month. 

These are practises that go back to colonial days,and part of the Asian culture of the region. However,  now that Senator Wong has raised the issue, and placed it in the context of the European presence in Southeast Asia,  the obvious question is whether Australian High Commissioners and other Australian  diplomats posted to  South East Asia pay their domestic servants local or Australian wages.

It is very highly unlikely that their excellencies and partners, and colleagues, would be doing their own washing, cleaning and cooking. Living like the British Raj is one the attractions of a South East Asian and Asian posting.

There is also the question of their working conditions.

END 

See Also 

Britain's colonial past includes awarding Chinese clans like the Wongs concessions to operate opium, gambling and prostitution revenue farms - Penny Wong's call to Britain to "better understand" its colonial past omits parts of British-Chinese history in South East Asia that South East Asia's Chinese are proud of, and well documented by the Brits