Maid goes missing after borrowing over $4,000 from loan sharks

She didn't just bite the hand that fed her - this maid also saddled them with debt.

In an Instagram post on Jan 6, a woman named Ika shared that her maid had borrowed money from unlicensed moneylenders before running away.

The night before her disappearance, Indonesian domestic helper Maemanah told Ika that she was being harassed to make full repayment.

"I didn't know about this until they started to contact me directly and threatened me with harsh means unless she made full repayment on the spot," the employer wrote.

"Yes, I was upset, but the thought of my boys' safety comes first, so we paid off her full amount of debt plus interests which amounted to $3,950."

Ika then came up with a way for Maemanah to repay the family in instalments, but her plans were unravelled the very next day.

On Jan 6, while Ika was at work and her children in school, Maemanah went missing.

Speaking with Shin Min Daily News, Ika said that her husband, who works overseas, had noticed the maid's absence through security camera footage. He later instructed their children to hide in their room and lock the door in case loan sharks visited.

Meanwhile, Ika rushed home from work, and found a bloodied fruit knife in front of the door.

"A drawer at home was pried open and the maid's passport was missing," she told Shin Min. "I believe the maid injured herself while prying open the drawer with the knife."

Ika had kept Maemanah's passport in a locked drawer while they were deciding how the helper would pay them back for covering her debt.

 "She ran off with her passport stolen from my locked drawer... and ran off with two luggage bags packed with her clothes."

Loan sharks' three visits

Signs of trouble emerged when Maemanah asked for a salary advance last November due to family matters.

In December, the helper asked her employer for the pay deduction to be postponed to the following month.

An antsy Maemanah then came clean about her debt on Jan 4, Ika said.

Recounting how they had feared loan sharks coming to their door, Ika's husband paid $800 to the first lender that demanded money from them.

Two more then contacted them, seeking more money from the family.

In order to put the matter to rest, Ika's husband paid the second loan shark $1,800, and the third one $1,350.

The couple later discovered that Maemanah had borrowed from multiple loan sharks, which made them worry that there would be no end to this matter.

After asking around, Ika said she found out that Maemanah had also borrowed small amounts of money ranging from "$30 to $50" from other maids.

The employer has since lodged a police report and terminated Maemanah's work permit.

However, loan sharks have continued to press Ika for money.

"I seek all the help from friends and families to help bring this ingrate to justice," Ika said in her Instagram post, requesting members of the public to keep an eye out for the maid so she can contact the police.

"We have been very kind to her, even giving her advances in her pay when she needed money to fund family matters back home."

Should employers keep maids' passports?

Although many comments expressed sympathy for Ika's situation and outrage at Maemanah's actions, some said that the employer should not have kept the helper's passport behind lock and key.

"Locked passport? Singaporeans are just modern day slave owners," one user said on a repost of Ika's post on Instagram page SgfolllowsAll.

Another commented: "Wow, this is a terrible situation and I feel really bad for [Ika]. But also on a side note, isn't it a rule that the employer is not supposed to keep the helper's passport?"

Responding to these concerns, Ika shared that Maemanah was her fifth domestic helper, adding that maid agencies have advised her to keep helpers' passports "as they do not have a need for it".

She also explained that the night she locked up the passport, Maemanah had expressed intention to return to her home country before her two-year contract was up.

"We didn't make any decision then, we only said we would try to help her with the debt repayment for the safety of everyone in the house," Ika said.

"I asked for her passport that night until I thought things through and discussed with her agency if she should be sent back or stay on to repay her debts."

Ika also added: "I don't keep my helper's passport unless I have a reason to. Some of them even willingly asked me to keep their passports for them."

According to the Ministry of Manpower, employers should not keep the passports of their migrant workers or migrant domestic workers and should not force their workers to give them their passport.

Responding to AsiaOne's queries, the police confirmed that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing.

AsiaOne has reached out to Ika for more information. 

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khooyihang@asiaone.com