Bombshelters????

[24601]

Bit worried by property adverts which all seem to advertise a personal bomb shelter..... I was rather hoping this wasn't going to be something we would need!

Still additional storage I suppose!

[sundaymorningstaple]

All newer HDB flats come with a "bomb shelter" that is generally used as a large walk-in storage closet. The crueler amongst the citizenry, actually have custom made tiny short beds made to fit in them and called it a maid's bedroom and actually make the maids live in the windowless holes. Sad but true.

[x9200]

Bit worried by property adverts which all seem to advertise a personal bomb shelter..... I was rather hoping this wasn't going to be something we would need!

Still additional storage I suppose!

I believe all newly built properties have to have it b law.
It is like a normal storage except of thicker walls, a sealable ventilation, terminals for phone and cable and maaaasiveee doors with huge locks. The only problem I have with this (theoretically so far) is how a maid if someone have one suppose to stay in this kind of bunker.

[QRM]

In our block the bomb shelter is the communal fire stair well. The escape stairs has standard fire doors and a second blast proof one. The bomb shleters make great Small AV rooms.

In one Very high end property underconstruction, the maids area had a small bathroom but no maids bedroom, just window less bomb shelter.

If you took the FDW test, it says legally you only have to provide a cordoned off area for the helper to sleep, so a cardboard box in the corridor is acceptable.

[x9200]

This is a problem of different type - how one could design something like this knowing it has to be naturally the only place you can put the maid in. The size of our shelter is acceptable, it is opposite to a small reasonable maid bathroom but it has no windows so she would need to stay in there with the doors open all the time - the ventilation is by a single hole of a diameter like 20 cm only placed 3m above the ground.

[QRM]

What even more distasteful this in a project where each apartment sells for $5m plus, It is easy enough to put a window in and then cover it with a blast proof shutter, but the developer will not fork out for that cost.

[24601]

Wow that's shocking. Singapore failing to meet basic human rights.... In the UK it's illegal for any room without a window to be used as a bedroom. I can't believe they're essentially building windowless prisons.

So when an advert says 2+1 the plus one refering to the maids room do they mean 2 bedrooms and a bomb shelter???

[x9200]

Wow that's shocking. Singapore failing to meet basic human rights.... In the UK it's illegal for any room without a window to be used as a bedroom. I can't believe they're essentially building windowless prisons.

So when an advert says 2+1 the plus one refering to the maids room do they mean 2 bedrooms and a bomb shelter???

Typically maids rooms are not mentioned so 2+1 means 2BRs and 1LR.
And for slightly older condos maid's room can be ok. In our previous place it was just a small room with a window facing the internal, backyard well-hole.

[Edmundfo]

Wow that's shocking. Singapore failing to meet basic human rights.... In the UK it's illegal for any room without a window to be used as a bedroom. I can't believe they're essentially building windowless prisons.

It is illegal over here too. But who gives a damn?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Wow that's shocking. Singapore failing to meet basic human rights....

Why is it shocking? This is still Asia isn't it? Life is considered cheap here. Especially if they are employees or slaves/maids. The really don't consider maids to be humans so therefore it okay to treat 'em like animals. Actually, animals are treated better normally.

[24601]

Well let's consider who has maids.... I expect a lot are not from Asia. If you had a maid in your home country would you treat her like that? I expect not. So when in Rome do as the Romans? Well for sure but no-one will ever learn better if everyone had that attitude. So yes it is Asia - and yes standards are different. Forgive me for thinking that a change can be started by a single person.

What ever happened to do unto others....

p.s the quote is Tom Stoppard and was not intended to have any relevance to this conversation - just in case!

[x9200]

Well let's consider who has maids.... I expect a lot are not from Asia. If you had a maid in your home country would you treat her like that? I expect not. So when in Rome do as the Romans? Well for sure but no-one will ever learn better if everyone had that attitude. So yes it is Asia - and yes standards are different. Forgive me for thinking that a change can be started by a single person.

This is very incorrect. For Singaporean having a maid is a part of their life style. Lots of lower-middle class families has one. You do not need to be stinking rich to have a maid in Asia. These are the "Westerners" who typically find the idea of living with a stranger under the same roof awkward. More over, if you ask the maids, they typically prefer to work for the Westerners not locals because in general the first group treat them more fair.

[sundaymorningstaple]

What ever happened to do unto others....

p.s the quote is Tom Stoppard and was not intended to have any relevance to this conversation - just in case!

What ever happened to do unto other.....

Nothing, but that person never lived in Asia that all.

And, by your responses, aren't you doing just that? Trying to put people into boxes (categories)? Just because a Westerner has a maid here doesn't mean they treat the maid like the locals do. Obviously they are treating them much better, and that's why maids would rather work for westerners. But, the vast majority of maid here are employed by locals.

Forgive me for thinking that a change can be started by a single person.

You are forgiven. The only time change can be brought about by a single person is if that person hold either the biggest army or biggest weapon. Otherwise, they just get locked up for 15 years like Aung San Suu Kyi.

[BigSis]

Well let's consider who has maids.... I expect a lot are not from Asia. If you had a maid in your home country would you treat her like that? I expect not. So when in Rome do as the Romans? Well for sure but no-one will ever learn better if everyone had that attitude. So yes it is Asia - and yes standards are different. Forgive me for thinking that a change can be started by a single person.

Most maids are treated well by their employers, but you don't hear about them, you only hear about the ones who are mistreated so it can be easy to think that the majority don't treat their maids well when in fact the opposite is true.

It's also true that occasionally you hear of people from elsewhere in the world mistreating their maids and that can be upsetting to hear about (especially if they are the same nationality as us) but you have to remember that these are probably not nice people anyway and would no doubt be a terrible employer in their home country too (the saving grace there being that they would be unlikely to have a live-in maid in their home country).

But yes, it can be a bit of an eye opener when you come to Singapore and there are some things that you will never be particularly comfortable with, but that's just a part of being an expat in a foreign land.

[sundaymorningstaple]

And therein lies the problem. This stuff happens all over the world. You read about one incidence a month in another country and one incidence here a month. The difference? Percentages of the population that commit these offenses. If the percentage here is higher than elsewhere, then the tar tends to stick and everybody unfortunately gets tarred with the same brush. Same with kiasuism, it's everywhere, but not as prevalent as it is here, that's all.