It is common for foreign worker dormitory operators to install closed-circuit television cameras at the entrances to their buildings and in other common areas, to monitor any shenanigans involving the residents.
But one operator in Jurong West has gone a step further and installed two cameras on the ceiling of the common toilet, which houses shower and toilet stalls, urinals, and a row of wash basins.
Lockson Hydraulics, which runs the dormitory and is also a scaffolding company, said the cameras – part of a network of 24 electronic eyes on the premises – were put up to deter water wastage after its water bills soared and repeated calls to its residents to save water went unheeded.
But the presence of the cameras has raised the ire of some workers and welfare groups, who complain that the invasion of workers' privacy has gone too far.
A 37-year-old Indian national, who recently moved out of the dormitory to stay elsewhere, said: "We cannot accept this. It's the toilet, how can you put cameras? We're all men living together, but this is ridiculous."
A spokesman for Lockson, a 35-year-old company, whose director is Mr Kang Yee Yin, 38, said the cameras were installed a few months ago, after which the monthly water bill dropped by about 20 per cent, although he did not give exact figures.
MP Halimah Yacob, who often speaks up on foreign worker issues, said: "Cameras there are an invasion of privacy. It doesn't matter where they are pointing, they shouldn't be there in the first place."
*Article from straits times
"This is very wrong morally; it’s an affront to human dignity."
Seriously SGporeans are sick mentally, they either mistreat their maids or any other low wage foreign worker.
