Asia in 3 minutes: help on the way for Hong Kong’s elderly and a gruesome discovery in Japan
A Singaporean doctor faces discrimination in his home country; Cambodian outrage at a cockfighting culling
Cambodians come to Hong Kong to meet the increasing demand for helpers
Cambodia on Wednesday sent its first batch of maids to work in Hong Kong, which is scrambling to meet growing demand for domestic helpers after a series of abuse scandals. Hong Kong is home to more than 300,000 foreign maids, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia. But high-profile cases of abuse and forced labour have made headlines in recent years and threatened to stem the tide of migrant helpers. Hong Kong has turned to Cambodia, one of Asia’s poorest countries where the average monthly wage is around US$100, to offset a potential maid shortage. The city’s population is rapidly ageing and demand for domestic helpers is predicted to soar.
What next? Under the pilot project, six agencies were authorised in August to recruit Cambodian domestic workers to work in Hong Kong. Cambodia expects to send about 1,000 maids to Hong Kong next year. A 2016 report by the Justice Centre found that one in six foreign maids in Hong Kong are subject to “forced labour”. Each Cambodian maid will be allowed to use a smartphone to contact their relatives or officials if they need help.
Singapore court forbids gay doctor from adopting his biological child
A Singapore court has rejected a gay Singaporean doctor’s bid to adopt his biological child because he was born by a surrogate mother in the United States through a procedure not available for unmarried couples in the island state. Singapore remains socially conservative and sex between consenting males is a punishable crime with a maximum penalty of two years in jail, although prosecution is rare. Singapore is also trying to boost fertility among its citizens, and offers generous incentives to couples to have babies, but in vitro fertilisation is allowed only for married couples, and surrogacy services are not available. The man paid US$200,000 for a woman to carry his child through in vitro fertilisation in the US after he learnt he was unlikely to be able to adopt a child in Singapore as a gay man.
What next? The child, who is about four years old and is legally a US citizen, will remain in the care of the man. The man, whose name has been withheld because the case involves a minor, is exploring his options in relation to the decision, his team of lawyers said.
Cambodian police make a meal of roosters caught in cockfighting raid
Cambodian police ruffled feathers after they killed – and ate – 92 roosters that were seized last month during a raid on an illegal cockfighting ring allegedly run by a relative of premier Hun Sen. The birds were rounded up by police after they closed two cockfighting dens and arrested Hun Sen’s nephew-in-law, Thai Phany. He was charged with running an illegal gambling operation – a rare legal move against a member of Hun Sen’s family. But while the raids were welcomed in a country teeming with official corruption, a court order to slaughter all 92 birds set off a flurry of criticism on Thursday as netizens cried foul over the animals being given a harsher sentence than the people involved.
