Liew Mun Leong is publicly shamed by international media bloomberg.
Singapore Airport Chairman Faces Backlash Over Maid Theft Case
By Kyunghee Park
September 8, 2020, 10:51 PM EDT
Updated on September 8, 2020, 11:30 PM EDT
The chairman of Singapore’s award-winning Changi Airport, Liew Mun Leong, is facing growing criticism on social media after a court overturned a conviction against a domestic worker who had been charged with stealing from his household.
Singapore’s High Court last week acquitted Parti Liyani, an Indonesian maid, with Justice Chan Seng Onn saying that the Liew family had an “improper motive” for accusing the helper of stealing S$34,000 ($24,810) worth of items such as watches and clothes. The court also found the testimony of Karl Liew, Liew Mun Leong’s son, questionable, according to ChannelNews Asia.
The judge noted there was reason to believe that the affluent family filed a police report against their former maid to prevent her from lodging a complaint to the Ministry of Manpower about her work arrangements, that included being illegally deployed to clean Liew’s son’s home and office in addition to Liew’s house.
When contacted, Liew said that as the High Court has made its judgment of the case, he should respect it and will not make any further comments.
The scandal has sparked a fierce backlash in the city-state, including angry comments on the airport’s Facebook page calling for him to step down. It has also raised questions about how the system treated one of the city-state’s most prominent businessmen compared to a low-paid migrant worker who worked for them.