Recently, I was quite shocked to learn something which might
have influenced (1).
There is a govt rule that if the maid misbehave in some way or runs
away, the employer, through no fault of his own, will lose his
$5000 deposit with the authorities and will be blacklisted somehow.
This is when the typical S'porean kia-si mentality kicks in, and
some employers decided that to play it safe, they had better keep
the maid within their supervision at all times and hence not give
the maids any day off.
Then there are other employers who refused to give their maids day
off bec. it is very 'inconvenient' for them. 
