South East Asia - Split from - "US official says "Saudis Arabia poised to......"

[Edward Campbell]

...
In fact, I think it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with race (which is a set of physical and genetic characteristics that actually have no direct bearing on behaviour) and everything to do with culture. These employers do not mistreat the serving classes because they (the masters) have yellow skin or brown skin or black skin, etc. They do it because they see their servants as inferiors.

IMHO, you will look very long and very hard in these cultures we are discussing, to ever find a "Downton Abbey" type of relationship between servants and those served (as idealized as that may be). You are (again IMHO) much more likely to find parsimony, harsh treatment, and possibly abuse.

Bingo!  :goodpost:

 

[jollyjacktar]

The divide between rich and poor can be hard to reel in for those of us who have it so very good in places like Canada.  The first shanty towns I viewed in South Africa were shocking.  What was more distressing was seeing a "well heeled" housing estate and on the other side of a long wooden fence was the shanty town of all the servants who worked in said estate.  I wondered how they (the estate folks) could sleep easy in their beds at night knowing the living conditions of their servants literally next door. 

My wife lived in her previous life in places such as the ME and Nigeria.  She told me horror stories of how many of these domestics were treated by their employers.  It may be "cultural", but it's not "cultured" by any means.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Remittance from Indonesian maids working in Malaysia is also an important source of money for that country. Not to mention the illegal workforce. Funny how the Malays seem more sympathetic to their "Palestinian Muslim brothers"  than to their "Indonesian Muslim kin". Distance does make the heart grow fonder.