Home Leave after COVID for Indonesian maids

 

Home Leave after COVID for Indonesian maids  

It is no secret that as soon as the Covid restrictions are lifted up, many Indonesian maids want to return for their home leave. After all, it has been more than 2 years from their last home leave.

 

Before, they embark on this journey, especially after the Pandemic, there are various special documents to prepare, so that they can return safely and journey back to Singapore without a hitch.

 

1)      Suitable air-ticket.

First, get a suitable air ticket, because many direct flights are not available. The maid may have to learn to travel to a city to transit to their hometown.  Of course, choose the city that they will be comfortable and they can get quick help if needed.

I will recommend having them fly via Jakarta as it is their own homeland, rather than transit thru, let’s say like Kuala Lumpur which is not their own country.

 

2)     Validity of passport       

 

First, check the length of passport validity which should be no less than 6 months. If needed, renew the passport which is now only done by a prior online appointment.

To apply for appointment, visit https://services.indonesianembassy.sg. Follow the instructions and you will be given an appointment by e-mail.

Please note that only the maid concerned will be allowed into the Embassy for the renewal. No one else is allowed to accompany her.

Further instructions:

1.       Bring SMARTPAC envelope from Singapore Post and complete disclaimer form.

 

2.      Checklist:

a)    Complete application form PERDIIM 11

b)    Valid current passport

c)     Document like IC, WP/ Employment Pass/etc

d)    All documents in original and photocopy in A4

e)    Fee: $35 to be paid cashless using PayNow or credit card

f)      Normal (3 working days), Express same day $100

g)    Service hrs 9am to 12 noon

h)    Collection 3pm to 5pm, Monday to Friday except Public Holidays

 

Passport Delivery by Post

Applicant to purchase SMARTPAC envelope at Singpost to hand to officer at photo taking/ biometric counter. Upon completion, passports will be packed sealed into SMARTPAC for posting.

 

3)    Apply for Employment Contract (EC)…essential for returning maids which may be requested to furnish at the Indonesian Immigration checkpoint before departing Indonesia en-route to Singapore.

 

First make appointment online thru https://services.indonesianembassy.sg.

Upon approval by email, both the Employer and the maid should proceed on the date of appointment to the Consulate office on the 2^nd storey of the Embassy with the following:

a)    Copies of any current or past employment contract

b)    Copies of Work permit card (Front and back)

c)     Copies of Employer (Front and back)

d)    Copies of Screenshot from SGWorkpass app showing the salary or other document showing salary

e)    Copies of maid’s passport

f)      Fill up Renewal Employment Contract Application Form (Form.pdf). Download this form from Indonesian Embassy website. See sample 

g)    Fee: Free

h)    Duration of service: Same day (Possible to collect within 1 to 2 hours)

If the maid’s passport has to be renewed, the Employment Contract can only make application after the new passport is issued.

However, I know of one case where the maid upon receiving the new passport is able to apply for the Employment Contract immediately after receipt of the new passport. They were  instructed to proceed to the Consulate for the issue of Employment Contract.

Usually this is not possible because the Consulate for issue of Employment Contract only opens in the morning between 9am to 12 noon and the collection of new passports only in the afternoon.

One more observation: the Embassy does not provide services for photostating documents anymore. 

If a document need to be photostated for processing, the applicant may proceed to the nearest shopping malls, such as Tanglin Mall or Lucky Mall. Then they can return with the photostated copy to submit the application. 

It is really so inconvenient, maybe the Embassy should resume this service again?

 

4)    Vaccination Certificate from Noratis (Website: www.notarise.gov.sg)                                      

 

Depending on the type of activities that the maid may engage in when she returns home, the vaccination certificate can help her gain entry to places that she wants to go, like a wedding venue, shopping malls, etc.

 

So, the Vaccination Certificate is essential.

 

Procedures to obtain the Vaccination Certificate.

 

1)      First the maid must open a new Singpass account. This can be done at most Community Centre.

 

If the application for a new Singpass is applied online, the code for activation of the Singpass will be sent to the registered address. The timeframe to receive the code can take up to 4 days. In addition, address can be updated if there is a change from the earlier address given to MOM.

 

When the Singpass Account is created, proceed to the website: noratis.gov.sg                                  

 

Follow the step-by-step instructions. The Vaccination Certificate will be forwarded to the registered email address. The security code to activate the download of the Vaccination Certificate will also be sent to the same registered email address.

 

Download the Vaccination certificate accordingly and print hard copies and also in PDF format.

 

5)     SG Arrival Card

 

For the maid to return speedily to Singapore, all travellers returning or arriving to Singapore have to make an electronic health declaration using the SG Arrival card with the ICA and it should be lodged 3 days prior to arrival. This can be done by the Employer on their behalf.

 

In conclusion, I hope this simple blog can help all concerned to get all the necessary documents to enable their maids to go back safely for their home leave and to return to Singapore without a hitch.

 

Happy holidays…Selamat berlibur semua kalian.

My darling chinchilla Bubble    

It had been now his first-month anniversary of his departure, the anniversary of my darling chinchilla Bubble who left me unexpectedly.

He came into my life out of the blue eight years ago. One day at the pet shop for my pet hamsters, I saw this little white sweet animal. He was so adorable, so charming and he ran to the front of the cage and put his tiny paws on the edge and looked at me intently.

That was when he won my heart. He was so cute and fluffy, and he could be my new pet when all my hamsters were gone. I took him out to cuddle but he wriggled a lot. Nonetheless, I made up my mind to bring him home to be my pet.

At home, I checked online for his cage and found one suitable sizable one, ordered and had it delivered to my flat in eagerness for his arrival.

Meanwhile. I called the pet shop to reserve him.  After arranging for transport with my sister in law, we went the very next day to fetch him home to be part of my life.

Bubble was his name. He was a male white chinchilla, already seven months old. From calculation, I believed his birthday to be the same as mine: 25^th August.

Henceforth every year, we would celebrate our birthday together. He would get special treats and birthday wishes, even birthday gifts and New Year gifts from my sister.

It took me eight long years to get used to him and his changing habits.

Training him to pee at the right place took four years. In the beginning, he would pee under the cupboards, on my carpet and everywhere. It was quite frustrating because I let him out into the living room everyday from noon to 7pm. Every night it was considerable cleaning-up.

He loved to pee on the green carpet which I inherited from my late mum. Maybe the green colour reminded him of the grass land that he liked. When I could not stand the stench anymore, I enquired on the dry-cleaning fee to remove the stench.

It turned out that it was no small sum. In fact, it was more cost-effective to purchase another new one. So, my late mum’s carpet had to be discarded with a heavy heart. After further purchases of two brand-new carpets, I gave up the idea of the having any carpet for the living room.

Later, I found the clumping cat litter could be used. I placed them in a tray both in the living room and one in his cage. Ever since then, he knew how to pee in these trays and my four years struggles was at last resolved. I was so thrilled! Hallelujah! At long last!

This little rascal was no little docile darling. He like to bite everything. All my furniture from table, to bench, cupboards and even edge of walls were bitten and marred by him, sometime badly destroyed. Good news was that most of my furniture were not new, so it did not bother me a bit.

Yet he alone destroyed four electrical items. Once, he even bit the wire of the local internet connection and I had to contact the local service provider for repair. Sigh!

Every afternoon, he would wait outside the bedroom of my sister. When she came out, he would rush in, sometimes he was so swift that no one noticed. Only two hours later did I noticed that he was missing and then found out that he had entered her room quietly.

He also like to roam into the kitchen and the backyard. Once again, he would wait outside the kitchen door. When opened, he would hurry in and hopped onto the shelves and ventured to the back of the washing machine. Why he loved these dark places was to this day still a mystery to me.

He was somewhat a fussy eater. His diet varied from different fruits like strawberry, cherry tomato, grape to different type of nuts like walnut, pistachio, peanut and almond nut too.

If he adored it, he would consume it for a while. After that, he would stop eating them, and I had to consider what would be next for his new diet.

He of course ate the basic chinchilla food like hay, dried grass and herbs. At times, I would give him a slice of the red apple and he will dashed to eat it eagerly.

Most afternoon, he would take his naps behind some chairs, stools or cloth draping.

There were times when there was no sight of him for a few hours. When his absence was noticed, there was a frantic search around the flat, with agonised shouting “Bubble where are you?”

We searched for him all around the place, fearing the worst that he might have jumped out of the kitchen window nine storey down.

But he would appear from nowhere with that innocent expression, nevertheless to my total relief.

When we had our dinner around 6pm, he would remain at one corner yet always visible to me. He was so deep in thought and looked as if he was meditating.

When I had finished my dinner, I would catch him, but it was no easy task. I could not understand why he was so afraid of me even after eight years. He would run around the living room and I had to group our effort to trap him in a corner to catch him.

Only then he would jump onto my left shoulder. This was the best private time that we had together, watching TV and viewing the outside scene and I would chat chit with him, though It was me doing all the talking.

Around 7pm, I would walk to the cage with him on my left shoulder. Then I opened the top of the cage and he would jump into his cage. This was the usual daily routine, and he knew that it was time to return to his own space.

In his cage, I have installed a flying saucer wheel which I had it air flown from Canada. In the beginning few years, he would run onto this flying saucer for hours in the middle of the night and he certainly caused many disruptions to our sleep.

Needless to say, I received plenty of protests from my sister.

All in all, he was basically a healthy pet. Once he had diarrhoea after he ate the tip of the banana bunch which my sister harvested from the farm. I treated him with the medicine from the pet shop for a few weeks until he discovered. Another time he was unwell, probably flu, and he refused to eat or drink for a few days. But he recovered promptly.

This year, he contracted diarrhoea again, but it took him longer to get well.

He got weaker and weaker by the day. He slept a lot and hardly moved. It was this time that I realised that he had aged, and I had not noticed his failing health until then. I had begun mentally and emotionally to accept that he would leave me soon one day.

That day came on Tues 13 October 2020. Since he did not consume anything the last two days, I decided to get him milk. I went out to buy the milk and returned home around noon.

Hurriedly I brought him out to drink the milk. However, he only took a few deep gasps and one deep breath and then he was gone.

Apparently, he must have waited for my return to see him for the last time. Undoubtedly, he cared about bidding farewell with me before he departed for Chinchilla Rainbow land and I was grateful that I was with him in his last moment.

All in all, this written short record was a treasured recollection of how I met him, our times together with our ups and downs and of his final farewell.

To my darling chinchilla Bubble, thank you for all the joy , fun and all the wonderful memories of our times of you resting on my tummy in bed, of you standing on my left shoulder, of those times when I searched high and low in fear, searching in and out everywhere , wondering if you had fallen to the ground.

You had been a wonderful beautiful unforgettable part of my life. I do miss you greatly and I will remember you always. Bye bye Bubble, bye bye darling. Mummy miss you a lot. 

DOB : 25 Aug 2012

DOD: 13 Oct 2020

Batam Family Trip of 2018

The Family Trip 2018 might become a recurrent event of our family just like last year’s when 20 of us took an altogether trip to Penang for 4 days. Since then, most of us caught the travelling bug to take a trip together once a year.

So, this year's Family Camp 2018 was planned for a short 3 days 2 nights, inexpensive but entertaining trip to nearby Batam, Indonesia.

There won’t be much to explain about Batam, as many Singaporeans enjoyed regular one-day trip out of Singapore, just like a one-day shopping trip to Johore Bahru, the southern state of the West Malaysia.

On 27^th December 2018, we set off, 15 of us consisting of several families, their spouse and children.  Leaving Harbourfront Centre on Horizon ferry was an uneventful but smooth sea journey to HarbourBay at the northern tip of Batam, thankfully to God for journey mercy.

The necessary immigration and custom clearances on both countries went smoothly. Soon we are on our way to the hotel at Nongsa Hill, the Nagoya Hill Hotel, a 4-star well-equipped urban hotel with a huge shopping mall with basement hypermart next to it.

After a quick “Padang” style Indonesian  lunch across the street, we proceeded to do what was top on our agenda. Some went for local massages which were plentiful with prices and skills that ranged from each shop.

The others went shopping for bargain sneakers. For me, getting plenty supply of bottled water was top priority as I drank like a fish. I found to my pleasant surprise that the mineral water only was a fraction of the price in Singapore, including our favorite tropical fruits of soursop, dragon fruits, and papaya.

I spent only Singapore $5 for many large bottles of mineral water and some portions of cut fruit, and I could not help but laughed all the way back to the hotel.

Our dinner for the first night was at Golden Prawn Restaurant at Jalan Bengkong, next to Golden View Hotel.

The large dining area platform was built over the seawaters of the open sea. Before entering the main dining hall, it was expected to select the choice of live seafood in glass tanks and then instructing the cooks on the style of cooking. 

After we settled down on a long table, we were entertained with complimentary live music band delighting us with Chinese songs and their own Indonesian hits, whilst we savoured the various type of seafood prepared in different styles.

For the second day, a 1-day tour around the island was planned. Most tourists believed that Batam was boring and dull, but if one would take the effort to explore the less unknown area of Batam, they would be in for a great surprise. For that’s was what we found out!

We went a long one-hour drive to the southern part of the island to view the Barelang Bridge, which is a chain of 6 bridges built to connect the many islands of Batam, Rempang, Galang and the Riau Islands, completed in 1997.

Barelang bridge is a cabled arch structural bridge of total length 835 metres and main span 245 metres. Some locals called the bridge “Jembatan Habibie “named after Dr Jusuf Habibie who oversaw the project construction. It was best to visit the bridge for unforgettable breathtaking sunset landscape, which we sadly missed for this trip but maybe someone might return in the future to connect the missing stunning scene.

From there, we proceeded to a quiet seaside restaurant at The Riverside Restaurant Kabil, Nongsa, Batam City, Riau Islands 29467, Indonesia. 

It had been in existence for a long time, though unknown even to our local tour guide .

They served fantastic authentic tropical seafood like prawns, crabs, scallops which were caught fresh out of the sea and we all enjoyed the food and the experience tremendously. 

Interestingly, we discovered that the entire sum for the lunch was only half of the price of the seafood restaurant from the previous night. 

Fully satisfied, we then proceeded to visit a layer cake factory, called the Kueh Lapis, recommended by the young tour guide. 

After a long drive, we arrived at the simple factory but found to our great amazement, that it was behind the seafood restaurant of the previous night. All of us gave such a loud shout and exclamation but the tour guide thought that we were so glad to visit the factory. 

Nonetheless, several kueh lapis in various flavours were bought as souvenirs.

Next, we went to a nearby factory outlet, only 3 mins away. We spent quite some time to buy designer footwears, well known shawls and fashionable clothes and also got to even sample local Robusta coffee.

Our last dinner was at the famous Sup Ikan Yong Kee at No 5- 8, Jalan Engku Putri, Tering, Kota Batam. Each of us enjoyed an individual fish or seafood soup with local rice, accompanied with familiar dishes of the region.


During both 2 nights, we ended our day by relaxing at the hotel lobby lounge whilst listening to a lady singer who had a voice like Dione Warwick with accompaniment of a grand pianist.

The younger ones played Big 2 card games at the lounge corner, whilst the others drank martini and the like. We had a great time playing Big 2, though we did not pay in cash, but had them recorded on a paper for final payment after the games. I won a mere $6, a rare turning point for me as I lost too many times in many CNY card games.

The next day being the last day, some of us proceeded to a morning street market to purchase fresh local seafood to bring directly back home.

At noon on 29^th December 2018, we took a return Horizon ferry quickly and without harm ,back to Singapore, because of the grace of God with each of us bearing the wonderful memories of a pleasant family time whilst reminding each other for the forthcoming Family Camp of 2019, as well as with renewed and fresh expectations of many family trips for many many years to come.

All in one, we enjoyed terrific and excellent family time together. The atmosphere of Batam was lively and weather were bright and breezy. 

The itinerary was well planned and orderly. The 4-star hotel met our expectations with comfortable spacious rooms, extensive choices of complementary breakfast, coupled with good courteous services of the hotel staff. 

Lastly, many thanks to those who organized and planned this whole trip, Patrick, David and myself being the main organizers and all others who helped here and there, in big and small ways including good suggestions and objective remarks to make this trip to Batam a great success and unforgettable memory of our time life.

Family taking a group photo against the backdrop of Barelang Bridge, Batam, Indonesia

At Riverside Restaurant, some of us ventured to catch live seafood from the open sea on wooden plaform.

( Watch the video )