Mar 18, 2016
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Principal Investigators
Phua Kai Hong
T S Gopi Rethinaraj
Research Associates
Johannes Loh
Sue Helen Nieto
Guest Writer
Krish Raghav
Production
Johannes Loh, Production & Research Dissemination
Michael Agung Pradhana, Layout & Design
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Permission is granted to use portions of this work
copyrighted by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public
Policy. Please follow the suggested citation:
When citing individual articles
Raghav, K. (2014). Striking a fair Balance: Foreign
Construction Workers in Singapore. In Asian Trends
Monitoring (2014), Bulletin 24: The foreign worker
dilemma (p.15). Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,
Singapore.
When citing the entire Bulletin:
Asian Trends Monitoring (2014), Bulletin 24: The
foreign worker dilemma – a matter of competing
perspectives. Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,
Singapore.
When citing our survey data
Asian Trends Monitoring (2014). A dataset on urban
poverty and service provision. Lee Kuan Yew School
of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.
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Contents4 s The Foreign Worker Dilemmaby Johannes Loh
6 s A Process to Manage, not a Problem to Solve
8 s Migration to Thailand: A journey fraught with peril
14 s Precarious living conditions
15 s Striking a Fair Balance: Foreign construction workers in Singapore by Krish Raghav
16 s Boiling Over
19 s Charting the Worker Ecosystem
21 s The bigger picture
3
In the last decade, much of Southeast Asia has witnessed tremendous eco-
nomic growth, often concentrated in the major cities. This economic suc-
cess can be seen in flashy new business districts, towering skyscrapers and
gleaming condominiums. To realize these massive developments and to
maximise profits, businesses turned to cheap migrant labour.
Jobs in so called 3-D’s industries (Dirty, Dangerous, Degrading) in the
more prosperous counties in Southeast Asia have seen labour shortages
due to dwindling numbers of native workers willing to take on these chal-
lenging assignments. This business model is not new; however, in the last
decade the number of foreign workers has shot up in an attempt to fill
such labour shortages and keep up impressive GDP growth. A major pull
factor for migrant workers is the wage discrepancy between low-skill jobs
in their home countries vis-a-vis the booming economies in the region
These unprecedented inflows of foreign labour have brought the ques-
tion of social and economic policies regulating working conditions and
safeguarding migrant workers’ rights on the political agenda in Southeast
Asia’s booming economies.
This Asian Trends Monitoring Bulletin takes a closer look at the situation
of migrant workers in Thailand and Singapore, with a specific emphasis on
one of the most common professions among migrants: construction. Our
researchers interviewed Burmese factory and construction workers in the
outskirts of Bangkok about their migration experience and the living con-
ditions they encountered.
Part one of the Bulletin describes the migrants’ challenges of finding
employment by relying on often scrupulous brokers who have established
a multi-million dollar industry. In the absence of effective implementation
of Thailand’s labour protection and immigration policies, the facilitation
of labour migration has become a professionally managed business dis-
proportionately benefiting employers, corrupt officials and savvy brokers.
In Singapore, labour migration for low-skill workers has long been
a necessity for developers to keep pace with the city state’s blistering
growth. While immigration and labour regulation are clearly defined and
enforceable in court, foreign workers are facing more subtle challenges of
lack of integration into society and a de facto imbalance of power tilted
towards their employers.
We invite you to share the ATM Bulletin with colleagues interested in
pro-poor issues in Southeast Asia. The Bulletin is also available for down-
load at www.asiantrendsmonitoring.com/download, where you can sub-
scribe to future issues. We encourage you to visit our website where you
will find the collection of all past ATM Bulletins. Thank you again for sup-
porting the ATM Bulletin, and as always, we gladly welcome your feedback.
Johannes Loh
Krish Raghav
The Foreign Worker Dilemma
Suggested citation
When citing individual articles
• Raghav, K. (2014). Striking a fair Balance: Foreign
Construction Workers in Singapore. In Asian Trends
Monitoring (2014), Bulletin 24: The foreign worker
dilemma (pp.15). Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,
Singapore.
When citing the entire bulletin
• Asian Trends Monitoring (2014), Bulletin 24: The foreign
worker dilemma – a matter of competing perspectives.
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.
When citing our survey data
• Asian Trends Monitoring (2014). A dataset on urban pov-
erty and service provision. Lee Kuan Yew School of Public
Policy, National University of Singapore.
4
The Foreign Worker Dilemma
Singapore and Bangkok have both undergone
significant transformations with tremendous
help from hundreds of thousands of migrant
workers building new city centres, mass rapid
transport systems and new modern homes.
While both countries are destinations for
migrant workers or “receiving countries”, their
current challenges of regulating the influx and
the conditions for foreign workers are at very
different stages.
Thanks to its ability to effectively monitor
its borders, the influx of illegal migrant workers
into Singapore is a negligible issue. The chal-
lenge is to design and effectively implement
policies to ensure fair treatment, decent work-
ing conditions and appropriate dispute mecha-
nisms for migrant workers in the city. The key
policy challenges Singapore is facing today are
discussed from page 15 onwards in the article:
“Striking a fair balance: Foreign construction
workers in Singapore”.
Thailand, however, has struggled to keep
track of migrant workers within its own bor-
ders and has experimented with a variety of
registration efforts to gain better control of its
low-skill sectors. The lack of effective regula-
tion often comes with lack of protection for
by Johannes Loh
Three Burmese construction workers put together a scaffolding in the centre of Bangkok
5
migrants. Issues of abuse, withheld payment
or unsafe, ramshackle worker accommodations
are frequent concerns for Burmese migrants in
Thailand. Moreover, the provision of services
to migrant workers and their families is a hotly
contested policy question, often putting pres-
sure on policy makers to solve the dilemma of
pleasing voters and ensuring fair treatment of
migrants. Given their lack of representation in
the policy process, in most states in Asia, it is the
migrant workers who end up with the short end
of the stick.
Migrant workers typically work in jobs
that fall under the three D’s categories: Dirty,
Dangerous, Degrading. These are the jobs that
are not attractive to the native population any-
more, either due to lack of appeal or low earning
potential. Therefore, receiving countries such as
Thailand have provided millions of low paying
jobs for migrants from neighbouring countries.
Estimates of the number of migrant workers cur-
rently working in the country range from 1.8 to
3 million1. The majority of these foreign work-
ers are Burmese, originating from Thailand’s
neighbour Myanmar. While a large percent-
age of migrants find work along the Thailand-
Myanmar border, the thriving capital Bangkok is
another massive pull factor for foreign labourers
seeking to earn up to ten times more than they
could achieve in their home countries.
In Singapore, the number of foreign work-
ers who have been granted work permits has
been a hot topic in recent years. Low skill work-
ers account for nearly one million out of the
city’s 5.4 million current residents. Singapore’s
male foreign workers mainly come from India,
Bangladesh, and Mainland China to work in
labour intensive industries on construction sites
or in shipyards. Compared to Thailand the wage
differentials these workers can earn are even
higher in Singapore and one of most prominent
pull factors attracting cheap labour to the city2.
ATM
The Odyssey of a Migrant Labourer
Min Thu, is only 29, but he has been
through a lot in life, since deciding to
leave his home country Myanmar at the
age of 21. He has been working and liv-
ing in Thailand for the past eight years. He
started out as a worker on a fishing ves-
sel, ran away after suffering physical abuse
and being cheated on his salary, worked in
several factories producing garments and
bicycles and finally made his way to the
Bangkok region to work in construction
(See Infographics on pp.10 for an illustra-
tion of his odyssey).
“I left my farm because I felt bored.
The income was very low and a friend
told me about working opportunities in
Thailand“ says Min Thu. The first broker he
met demanded US$ 300 (the equivalent
of a year’s saving for Min Thu) to organ-
ise a passport. Min Thu’s broker told him
it would take a few days. After a week of
waiting it was clear that the broker and the
money were gone. Min Thu did not want
to give up, so he worked as a day labourer
to get enough money for another attempt.
The second broker “sold” him to a
Thai employer to work as a fisherman.
The arrangement was effectively bonded
labour; Min Thu was “indebted” to his
employer. He was treated badly, and was
never allowed to leave the boat. “Our boat
was out at sea for two weeks or longer, we
never stayed in the harbour for long. The
captain made us work up to 20 hours a day
and beat us up if we worked too slowly.
The pay was only US$ 3.50 per day and we
still had to pay for our food.“ recounts Min
Thu. After almost two years on the fishing
vessel he decided to run away.
What followed were stints at two gar-
ment factories for barely acceptable
wages. “At the first factory I was paid US$
4 a day but I only stayed a few months
before moving to another factory where
they paid US$ 5.50.“ Min Thu says he “felt
unhappy at those factories” because the
conditions were very tough. He finally
managed to find a job as a welder for a
construction company with the help of
another broker whom he paid a US$ 50
placement fee and another US$ 300 for a
new temporary passport.
“Compared to my earlier years in
Thailand my life is much better now. My
company pays US$ 10 a day and the group
leader is Burmese, so he also understands
me.” Min Thu lives in a housing block at
the outskirts of Bangkok in a community
of Burmese migrants. He has not seen
his wife back in Myanmar for two years.
Every few months he uses a broker service
to send cash, between US$ 60-80, back
home.
When asked about his wishes for
the future and the current treatment of
migrant workers in Thailand, Min Thu has
a very clear idea about improvement. “I
wish we did not have to pay the brokers
each time we need something from the
Thai authorities. Without a broker, I cannot
get my passport, find a new job, or send
money home – it’s a lot of money for me.“
6
The relationship between host country and
foreign workers is mutually beneficial. Apart
from working in jobs that citizens of the host
country no longer consider worthwhile, migrant
workers add significant economic value.
Economists estimate migrant workers’ produc-
tivity to range somewhere between half as pro-
ductive to perfectly equivalent. Depending on
the assumed productivity of 50-100% compared
to the country’s own citizens, migrant workers
in Thailand contributed between 3-6% of GDP
in 20053.
However, the resident citizens often look at
foreign workers with a mixture of prejudice and
reluctance. In their eyes, the large population of
foreign workers represent a problem that needs
to be solved. The less visible and less integrated
the foreigners are within their society the bet-
ter, is a common undertone in online discussion
forums. More often than not, governments fol-
low the same line of thought, framing migrant
labour as an economic necessity, but shunning
away from addressing the social dimension.
With increasing numbers of foreign workers the
emphasis of the discourse shifts towards solv-
ing the “problem” of too many foreign labour-
ers. In response to such a narrow perspective
on a complex situation, the scholar Philip Martin
has pointed out that “migration is a process to
be managed, not a problem to be solved“4. He
argues that there will always be migration, and
often it is an economic necessity. Hence, stra-
tegically managing the process of migration
rather than tackling a “problem” is suggested
as a more constructive basis for policy develop-
ment. ATM
„Migration is a process
to manage, not a prob-
lem to solve.“
Philip Martin, 2013
A process to manage, not a problem to solve
by Johannes Loh
Worker huts located inside the premises of a construction site in Bangkok's industrial belt
7
Workers putting up massive pillars for a new flyover to ease Bangkok's traffic issues
8
The Thai economy depends on migrant
workers to fill labour shortages in several
major sectors. The sectors which employ most
migrants are fisheries, construction and agri-
culture5. Under the Thai Labour Protection Act
migrant workers in the manufacturing and con-
struction industry should be, in theory, fully
protected. In practice, however, migrant work-
ers have little opportunity to defend their rights
collectively since it is against the law for migrant
workers to form their own trade unions.
Migrant workers are prohibited from form-
ing their own associations or precluded in prac-
tice from joining existing workers‘ associations
in contravention of ILO Convention No.122 on
employment policy, one of ILO’s 12 priority
conventions6.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO)
and the International Organisation for Migration
(IOM) have made recommendations to the Thai
government of how to improve the situation
of the millions of migrant workers in the coun-
try, however, migration policies and protec-
tion still fall short of international standards7.
For example, Thailand has not yet signed the
ILO Migration for Employment Convention
No.97, the ILO Migrant Workers (Supplementary
Provisions) Convention No.143 and the UN
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.
„I wish we did not have
to pay the brokers each
time we need something
from the Thai authori-
ties. Without a broker, I
cannot get my passport,
find a new job, or send
money home – it’s a lot
of money for me.“
Min Thu, construction worker in Bangkok’s Outskirts
Migration to Thailand: A journey fraught with peril
by Johannes Loh
Busy water traffic on the Chao Phraya river
9
During the interviews with sixteen migrant
workers from different occupations for this
ATM Bulletin, it became clear that every one of
them had experienced some form of fraud, cor-
ruption by authorities or mistreatment by their
employer. A stronger regulatory framework for
the protection of migrant workers in Thailand
cannot be the only answer to improving their
livelihood, but would go several steps in the
right direction. Even the registered migrants
working in the rice cooker factory (Refer to Box
2 on pp.12) spoke about how cautious they are
not to “upset” their landlord or neighbours as
well as avoiding to go out at night. In a society
where migrants are scapegoated for a number
of social problems from drug trafficking to ille-
gal logging this might not come as a surprise.
Migrants are regularly mentioned in Thailand’s
mainstream to be responsible for increases in
disease and crime cases despite a lack of evi-
dence to substantiate such claims8. ATM
A volunteer teaches curious migrants how to set up an email address at TACDB school
10
11
12
Fair treatment a big plus for migrant factory workers
Soe Min and his wife have been in Bangkok for two years. They are
here to earn enough money to go back to Myanmar and buy their
own land. “When we first entered Thailand, the broker lied to us. We
were promised a good job in a factory, but we ended up as agricul-
tural labourers for US$ 2.50 a day.” Without passports and nobody to
turn to for help they had no choice but to accept the working condi-
tions until they settled the debt with the broker. Soe Min recalls that
a friend of theirs connected them to a broker promising factory jobs
in Bangkok. “For a broker fee of US$ 450 we would get a passport
and work permit for a manufacturing company in Bangkok. Now, we
assemble rice cookers for US$ 9 per day.”
The company owner pays on time and even compensates for
overtime pay. The workers are glad to have found a company with
above-average treatment for migrant workers. “If we can get all the
required documents, the boss helps us to open a Thai bank account.
Then our salary is no longer paid out in cash, but directly to our
account.“ Depending on their amount of debt, some workers even
manage to pay for their health insurance card.
“Here in Bangkok our situation is more predictable. We try to
stay out of trouble with the Thai police and just do our work. Once
we have saved up about US$ 3,000, we want to go back home.“ His
friend Nay, who works for the same company, is not that optimistic.
Nay says that he “cannot save anything. I had to borrow money from
a friend to pay the broker and I still have other debt to pay off. At the
end of the month, I have no money left.“ He hopes that the company
will assign more overtime work in the next year to pay off his debt.
Nay used to work in a car workshop where he earned up to US$ 15
a day until the employer decided not to accept migrant workers any-
more. „It’s good that we can earn money in Thailand, but the authori-
ties don’t like migrant workers and brokers often lie to us about the
working conditions. I hope that one day we will be able to earn a
good salary in our home country, then we don’t have to be away
from our homes to make money.“
Nay hopes for a better treatment of Burmese migrant workers
in Thailand in the future. He says that “it’s good to be able to be a
registered worker, but I also want to be treated respectfully by the
authorities and the Thai people.” Nay and Soe Min keep a low profile
to avoid being questioned by police. Despite having a valid pass-
port, migrant workers often get stopped by police and have to pay
bribes to avoid being taken to the station for questioning. “It was
much worse when we were working on the fields. The police would
come and chase us almost every week. Many of my friends have
been arrested and deported because they had no passport. But all
of them have come back after a few weeks.“
13
Illegal construction workers – no papers, no services
Sai Jom and Win Naing are two out of 90 Burmese who earn a liv-
ing as illegal construction workers on a residential building project.
They live in self-constructed huts next to the construction site with-
out running water and improvised electricity supply. The project
developer has contacts with the local police and assured the migrant
workers they would be protected from checks by the authorities. No
one has troubled them so far, but they all know that once they step
out on the street they are at risk of being stopped by the police, and
worse, potentially deported.
Asian Trends Monitoring asked Sai Jom why he left Myanmar to
become a labourer in Thailand. “I lost my investments when a flood
destroyed all my crops. This left me no other choice, but to seek work
across the border.” A broker arranged for him to be smuggled to the
outskirts of Bangkok, and the employer agreed to pay the broker fee
in exchange for retaining the first 6 months of pay.
Win Naing joins the discussion by adding that “the pay is US$
10 per day, a good deal for us migrants without any papers.” When
asked what they do with their earnings, Win Naing explains that “we
pay for the basic necessities and send the rest to our families back
home. The broker takes care of that and after a few days we get con-
firmation from our family that they received the money.” It becomes
clear that illegal migrants have no choice, but to rely heavily on the
information provided by brokers and those in their community.
Their status does not allow them to seek assistance from any official
institutions.
The small community of construction workers has no access to
even basic services: no health care, no education for the children
(those with no grandparents or relatives in Myanmar have brought
their children along) and no access to financial services. Sai Jom says
that “in our small community we take care of each other. When one
of us falls sick, we borrow from each other to pay for medicine.”
It is a precarious arrangement, in particular for the handful of
young children that live in this improvised settlement. However,
informal arrangements keep everyone going. The pay after all is
not bad when compared to their earnings from subsistence farming
back in Myanmar.
14
Migrant workers in Thailand often live in pre-
carious situations. A recent study13 among 800
migrants living and working in Mae Sot prov-
ince found that the 3 D’s (Dangerous, Dirty &
Degrading) not only apply to the jobs they do,
but often extend to their general livelihoods.
The situation in Bangkok seems to be a bit
more stable, but precarious living arrangements
and discrimination by authorities and Thais are
not uncommon based on what interviewees
shared with the ATM team. Moreover, workers
often find themselves short-changed in their
dealings with employers.
According to Dr. Chantavanich, a scholar of
ASEAN labour migration, there is a profound
power imbalance between foreign migrants
and Thai employers. Written contracts are rare
and there are no trade unions or significant
voices in the Thai society that migrants can
turn to for support. It is not uncommon for bro-
kers and employers to deliberately withhold
information from migrant workers in order
to ensure dependence and obedience. Mr.
Myint Wai, Director of Non-Profit organization
the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in
Burma (TACDB), argues that the power of bro-
kers together with the lack of awareness about
rights makes his work very difficult. TACDB holds
a lot of seminars to educate Burmese migrants
on Thai labour law and their workers’ rights.
“Burmese migrants are a big stakeholder in the
Thai economy, but they have no voice” says Mr.
Wai.
Informal agencies and independent brokers
are using these information asymmetries to their
advantage. Over the last decade “the business
of recruiting migrants, assisting them to cross
the border into Thailand and find work there
has become a significant industry in itself.”14 The
fees charged by intermediary brokers or trans-
porters have been reported to range from US$
43-72 per migrant workers15. In line with these
numbers, the migrant workers interviewed for
this bulletin reported paying about US$ 50 for a
new job placement and up to US$ 350 for tem-
porary passports and work permits. Each year
several hundred billions of US dollars change
hands from migrants to brokers and border offi-
cials, although nobody knows exactly how large
this shadow industry really is. ATM
“Burmese migrants are
a big stakeholder in the
Thai economy, but they
have no voice”
Myint Wai, Director of TACDB, September 2013
Precarious living conditionsby Johannes Loh
15
30-year Ashok Arunachalam remembers the
industrial accident that mangled his leg right
down to the exact minute it happened. He
repeats it like a mantra: “20th December, 2012.
10:15 am.”
“This has been the most difficult year of my
life,” he says. “I couldn’t even walk to the toilet
on my own after the injury. I found myself alone
in the dormitory most of the time, with no one
around to help.”
Arunachalam’s story is indicative of the expe-
rience of a number of foreign migrant workers in
Singapore16. As of June 2012, there were close
to 722,800 non-domestic foreign migrant work-
ers on specialized Work Permits, out of which
306,500 are construction workers. These con-
tractual agreements (codified in a separate visa
category) don’t allow workers to change jobs
or marry Singaporeans. Permission to work in
the country is stacked heavily in favour of the
employers, and the threat of deportation for
‘troublemaking’ looms large over every worker.
Construction workers who suffer a work-
place injury, like Arunachalam, are put on
what’s called a “Special Pass” by the Ministry
of Manpower. Workers can’t seek any further
employment or leave the country while their
case is being reviewed and compensation dis-
bursed, a process that takes anywhere between
a few months to years.
It’s not simple. Red tape and legal jargon per-
meate every stage of the process. In many cases,
an “intricate web” of deals with middlemen,
kickbacks at multiple levels, spurious contracts
and wage exploitation then kicks in, leaving
workers stranded17.
It’s a trying period for someone like
Arunachalam, who’s incurred deep debts in
order to obtain this job (he was paid 900$ per
month) and finds himself alone, confused, in
pain in a society and system he doesn’t quite
understand.
Stuck in limbo for a bureaucratic process
to run its course, Arunachalam’s case is a win-
dow into a complex policy dilemma that faces
the rich city-state – treating its one million for-
eign migrant workers with dignity, fairness and
a guarantee of rights; -alleviating the frustration,
melancholy and alienation they face while living
here. ATM
Striking a fair Balance: Foreign Construction Workers in Singapore
by Krish Raghav
16
Some of that underlying tension and grievance
simmered to the surface on December 8, 2013
in an incident described as the first “riots” in
Singapore for over four decades.
Close to 400 South Asian migrant workers
squared off with riot police and security person-
nel in the Little India neighbourhood after an
Indian national was fatally run over by a private
bus. Little India is a centrally-located precinct
with many South Asian restaurants, businesses
and bars where workers congregate on days off.
According to the Singapore Police, a ‘mob’
allegedly fuelled by alcohol went on a rampage
after the accident, pelting police with impro-
vised projectiles (such as a garbage can) and
setting an ambulance alight. 39 policemen and
civil defense staff were injured and 25 vehicles
damaged. The number of injured workers and
rioters is unknown18.
The Government responded with a range of
immediate measures. A ban on the sale of alco-
hol was swiftly imposed in the Little India neigh-
bourhood, and police presence was ramped
up. New measures under the Public Order
(Additional Temporary Measures) Bill give police
greater powers to search and detain anyone
they deem a ‘threat to public order’19. 200 work-
ers received advisory notices from the police
after initial investigations, and 45 were arrested.
Of these, 25 were deemed “active participants”
in the riots. Charges against another ten were
withdrawn after further review.
Controversially, 53 workers whose participa-
tion in the riot was labeled “less egregious” were
repatriated from Singapore. A few days later,
four of the ten workers acquitted in the investi-
gation were also deported. Civil society activists
have expressed deep concerns over this devel-
opment, with groups like Workfair Singapore
pointing out that it “undermined” the system’s
dedication to due process.
Singapore’s Ministry for Law defended the
action, with Minister K. Shanmugam stating that
repatriation decisions were also administrative
decisions of “time and expense” over judicial
process20. In response, Workfair Singapore said,
“Justice should never be subordinated to cost or
the possibility of abuse: the remedy is fine tun-
ing procedures to make them more efficient.” 21
A back-and-forth ensued between the
Ministry and activists, culminating in a letter
published in the TODAY newspaper where the
ministry stated that a foreign national subject to
repatriation had “no right under [Singaporean]
law to challenge the executive repatriation
order in court.”
The threat of arbitrary repatriation has
always been an issue for foreign migrant work-
ers. “Singapore has not ratified the crucial
Convention 143 of the International Labour
Organization, which protects the rights of
Boiling overby Krish Raghav
17
migrant workers from arbitrary deportation
and guarantees due process,” says Braema
Mathi, the President of local human rights group
MARUAH. “Workers seem to have a clear route
to deportation, but no clear route to justice.”
“Workers seem to have
a clear route to deporta-
tion, but no clear route
to justice.”
Braema Mathi, President of local human rights group MARUAH
Activists point out that the language in the
ministry’s response was also telling, projecting
the impression that being in Singapore was a
“privilege” accorded to the workers.
Both the government’s post-riot rhetoric
and policy response allow a glimpse into the
long-term challenges and pitfalls of this issue.
Framing the presence of foreign workers as
the granting of a “privilege” ignores the fact
that Singapore needs them desperately. The
Housing and Development Board (HDB), among
the largest employers of foreign construction
workers, is ramping up building of new flats in
order to meet a housing shortage – releasing
13,600 flats in 2013. In November, it made 8,952
flats available in a single launch, the largest in its
history. This number is projected to more than
double to 28,471 Built-to-Order flats in 2014.
But there has been no equivalent rise in dor-
mitory accommodation for workers, the supply
of which still suffers from a severe shortfall and
lack of quality control.22
Policy rhetoric in Singapore has always
made a fundamental conceptualization of for-
eign workers as purely economic entities – a fac-
tor in a model. The language of ‘human rights’
or ‘moral imperatives’ that activists evoke has
had no place in this discourse. Indicative of
this: a suggestion in April 2013 by the National
Development Minister to house workers on off-
shore islands was actually considered briefly. 23
Actions, therefore, have been both heavy
handed and piecemeal. “The MOM’s approach
[to many aspects of the issue] is discretionary,”
says Russell, president of local NGO Transient
Workers Count Too (TWC2). “Sometimes prac-
tices are disallowed, and sometimes tolerated.”
These also tend to be kneejerk reactions to ‘inci-
dents’ or concerns raised by activists in main-
stream and alternate media.
In late January 2014, acting Manpower
Minister Tan Chuan-Jin cited a survey his min-
istry had conducted in 2011, saying that “90
per cent of about 3,000 work permit holders
and 500 S-pass holders” were “satisfied” with
their stints in Singapore. There was no basis, he
added, to allege that widespread abuse of for-
eign workers in Singapore was an underlying
cause of the riot.
Ultimately, this inertia on both sides has
led to a policy gridlock on the issue, with the
government content to maintain and enforce
an uneasy status quo. It shows a reluctance
to commit to any specific policy path – be it
minimum wage, an independent claims pro-
cess, or a rethinking of the fundamental eco-
nomics of cheap migrant labour. At the same
time, activists and civil society groups have
to draw partial conclusions based on partial
data, and are unable to make comprehensive
recommendations.
“The riots should have sparked a debate, a
soul searching about what kind of society we
want to create for migrant workers,” says Jolovan
Wham of local NGO Humanitarian Organization
for Migration Economics (HOME). “But it instead
may enhance social control mechanisms against
migrants.” ATM
18
Migrant Workers and the Arts
Sai In 2008, a proposal to convert an unused school, the Serangoon
Gardens Technical School, into a dormitory for foreign workers led
to an angry, intense opposition campaign by residents of the nearby
Serangoon Gardens condominium. Over 1,600 households in the
vicinity signed a petition opposing the plan, arguing that housing
foreign workers nearby would “create security and social problems
and spoil the ambiance of the estate”.
The Serangoon Gardens incident highlights an issue often
glossed over in policy debates: the social integration of workers
into Singaporean life, and their interactions with Singaporeans. The
depiction of South Asian workers in popular culture is often reduced
to stereotypes and racist caricatures, and they’re often marked as
undesirable elements.
But a number of local artists and activists are working to change
that – presenting both an alternative view of Singapore from the
worker’s point of view, and introducing Singapore to culture and
traditions from countries like Bangladesh.
Little India has been a source of inspiration for many local pho-
tographers. Aikbeng Chia’s collection of street photos titled “Tonight
the Streets are Ours” looks at the eclectic, joyous, fiercely multicul-
tural street life of the neighbourhood.
In 2012, Joses Kuan, 26, Ng Yiqin, 24, and Bernice Wong, 24, started
a project called “Beyond the Borders, Behind the Men (BTBBTM)”, an
online social initiative documenting the lives of Bangladeshi workers
in Singapore. So far, the project has produced short films, online vid-
eos and a photo exhibition at the Art House - hoping to add depth to
what they termed a ‘one-dimensional’ representation of Bangladeshi
workers in Singapore.
In March 2013, they also held an outdoor theatre production
in Little India called ‘Hard Times, Easy Money’ starring workers
involved with a new cultural space called Dibashram. Located on the
upper floor of a conserved shophouse in the middle of Little India,
Dibashram aims to run free programmes, recreational activities and
cultural events for and involving the migrant worker.
It’s also become a much-needed resting spot for workers on days
off. A stream of workers go in and out of the airy studio space, taking
naps during the day or picking up a local Bangla newspaper that’s
edited and drafted there.
In September 2013, entrepreneur Adrianna Tan organized a
“Biryani/Beriani” event where Singaporeans, expats and South
Asian migrant workers shared Biriyani (a spicy rice-based dish),
and swapped knowledge of the Indian subcontinent’s diversity of
Biriyani traditions.
Another photography project, InsideOut, provided migrant
workers with basic photography skills and asked them to photo-
graph their views of Singapore. The volunteer-run initiative was
inaugurated in 2005 and featured in exhibitions in 2009 and 2010.
In 2011, 25 migrant workers, including some residents of shelters run
by the Humanitarian Organisation for Migrant Economics (HOME),
participated in 10 intensive workshop sessions.
19
It’s important to note here that the experience
of many migrant workers in Singapore is also
extremely positive. In fact, the vast majority of
workers finish 4-6 year stints in Singapore with-
out incident, send money home and return to
start businesses or take local jobs. Even some
injured workers, like 29-year old Prabhu who
suffered an accident after five years of construc-
tion work in Singapore, successfully fought a
compensation claim and won. “I’m going home
in four months,” he says, content.
But this picture attributes economic ‘success’
as the sole signifier of a system that also causes
some fundamental psychological anxieties and
deep alienation in workers. And at the heart
of the problem, in both positive and negative
experiences, is a gigantic asymmetry in power
in the worker ecosystem.
Before coming to Singapore, migrant work-
ers have to obtain what’s called an ‘in-princi-
ple approval’ that mentions their employer
and salary. This averages at S$ 600-800. “Since
Singapore doesn’t have a minimum wage, I’ve
seen IPAs with salaries as low as S$ 400,” says
TWC2’s Russell.
But once workers reach Singapore, they’re
sometimes given completely new contracts
(often with lower salaries) to sign. By this point,
they’ve already incurred a debt in getting placed
at the job and have no choice but to accept this
bait-and-switch, a practice called ‘Contract
Substitution. “Contract Substitution is consid-
ered illegal in many parts of the world,”, says
TWC2’s Russell Heng “But no Singaporean law is
broken here. And the worker has no recourse. “
An additional obfuscation occurs with
deductions to a worker’s base salary – costs
incurred for room and board or meals are some-
times not made transparent in initial contracts.
Once in Singapore, the lack of viable alternatives
means accepting the deductions, and a lowered
salary than expected.
As the workers begin their jobs, this asym-
metry continues. Employers are allowed to repa-
triate at will, and terminate workers for the flim-
siest of reasons. Co-workers are often unwilling
to provide testimony in support of the accused
worker for fear of suffering disadvantages in
their daily work routine. This creates a climate
of fear and submission, accentuated by the
practice of hiring so-called ‘repatriation com-
panies’ that have been reported to harass and
threaten ‘troublemakers’ or workers with ‘atti-
tude’ problems.24
In this climate, it’s no surprise that a web of
unsavory elements rears its head. Companies
sometimes hold on to workers’ wages as col-
lateral for ‘good behaviour’, middlemen seduce
workers with illegal work that pays higher
hourly rates, and documents like pay slips and
contracts are often missing (their issuance is not
mandatory) or conveniently ‘lost’, making offi-
cial complaints next to impossible. 25,26,27 ATM
Charting the worker ecosystemby Krish Raghav
Foreign workers enjoying a meal together on their day off(c) Latiff, H. (2014, January 5) more at: http://bit.ly/Latiff_set
20
The data crunch
The remarkable output of research and
analysis from Singapore’s NGOs that work
with migrant workers is despite access to
data, and not because of it. There is still a
huge data crunch, gaps in statistics and
information that is not available to the
public.
“Information asymmetry is alive, and
very deliberately kept alive”, says Siew
Kum Hong, the vice president of MARUAH.
“The government therefore will always
have a strategic advantage in policy
debates since they have all the data.”
Part of the problem is selective dis-
semination. The government picks what
it releases, and even data is released
appears in aggregated form with no qual-
ifiers or context. “We don’t even have
some basic numbers, such as the number
of Indians, or Chinese workers among con-
struction workers overall. “ says HOME’s
Jolovan Wham.
This puts commentators at a distinct
disadvantage, and prevents answers to
questions that would really move the pol-
icy debate forward, such as the impact of
wages on HDB costs. “We often to find
clever work-arounds,” says Kum Hong.
“We may not have raw data, but we can
always question the methodology, infer-
ence and assumptions.”
MARUAH President Braema Mathi
hopes to connect it to a larger issue of
information and media freedom. “Until we
have a Freedom of Information Act,” she
says, “data on issues like this will always
be held hostage to government interests.”
A busy lane in the busy district of Little India, Singapore(c) Latiff, H. (2014, January 5) more at: http://bit.ly/Latiff_set
21
There’s therefore a cluster of issues that migrants
face in Singapore today. First, a loose regulatory
framework that creates issues around work-
place safety, medical care and access to ser-
vices. Second, a economic model that, without
a minimum wage or frameworks for due pro-
cess, stacks power structures heavily in favour
of employers. Third, a deepening lack of social
integration that creates issues around space,
security and alienation.
But the solutions are not that simple. The
economic tweaks that would guarantee a mod-
icum of security are opposed by construction
companies, who argue that rising wages make
many new projects unsustainable.28 A common
rhetorical question asked at forums and work-
shops on the issue is ‘Are Singaporeans pre-
pared to pay more for their properties if wages
go up?’ The answer, of course, is no – but in the
absence of clear analytical data (See Box 4 on
pp.20), it’s hard to gauge if this is the right ques-
tion to ask. 29
The long term solutions of better integration
and greater labour mobility are also problematic
– their effects are too nebulous to be of immedi-
ate political advantage, and their tone too sen-
sitive in the wake of heavy protests against the
recent government Population White Paper that
advocated an increase in Singapore’s popula-
tion to 6.9 million.
In 2010, Member of Parliament Yeo Guat
Kwang said the government was not looking at
the migrant workers’ issue “from the perspec-
tive of human rights”. “At the end of the day,” he
said, “whatever factors would be able to help us
to sustain the growth of the economy for the
benefit of our countrymen…we will definitely
go for it.”30 The conflict at the heart of this issue
isn’t one of competing policy options, but of
competing perspectives. ATM
The Bigger Pictureby Krish Raghav
Road construction workers during a night shift in Singapore(c) Latiff, H. (2014, January 5) more at: http://bit.ly/Latiff_set
22
References1. Sciortina, R. & Punpuing, S. (2009). International
Migration in Thailand 2009. International Organization for Migration, Bangkok: IOM 2009.
2. Paitoonpong, S. & Chalamwong, Y. (2012). Managing International Labour Migration in ASEAN: A Case of Thailand. Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI). p.2
3. See endnote 2.4. Martin, P. (2007). The economic contribution
of migrant workers to Thailand: Towards policy development. International Labour Organization.
5. Chantavanich, S. (2007). Thailand Policies towards Migrant Workers from Myanmar. Paper presented at the APMRN Conference at Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, PRC 26-28 May, 2007.
6. International Labour Organisation (2006). The Mekong Challenge – underpaid, over-worked and overlooked. The realities of young migrant workers in Thailand (Volume 1). The Mekong Sub-regional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children andWomen. pp.6-7.
7. Huguet, J., et al. (2012). Thailand at a crossroads: Challenges and Opportunities in leverag-ing Migration for Development. Issue in Brief No.6. International Organisation for Migration and Migration Policy Institute.
8. See endnote 4.9. Rattanarut, Nara (2006), 'Immigration
Management and Administration in Thailand', (Department of Employment, Ministry of Labor Thailand).
10. See endnote 7. 11. Zimmermann, C. et al. (2011). Human trafficking
and health: A conceptual model to inform policy, intervention and research. Social Science & Medicine, 73, pp.327-335.
12. International Labour Organization (2013). Employment practices and working con-ditions in Thailand’s fishing sector. GMS TRIANGLE PROJECT & Asian Research Center for Migration, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University. pp.61-63.
13. International Rescue Committee (January 2012). Surviving or Thriving On the Thai-Burma Border: Vulnerability and Resilience in Mae Sot, Thailand. Executive Summary. p.3.
14. Huguet, J. (2007) Thailand's Policy Approach to Irregular Migration. Paper presented at Joint Conference on Managing Labour Migration in East Asia: Policies and Outcomes. Singapore Management University, May, Singapore, [online] avail-able at: http://pstalker.com/ilo/resources/Thailand%20-irregular%20Migration%20Policies%20-%20Huguet.pdf
15. United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) (22 April 2009). Exploitation of Cambodian Men at Sea. Facts about the trafficking of Cambodian men onto Thai fishing boats. SIREN Case Analysis CB-03. p.4.
16. For cases similar to Arunachalam’s, read Satish Cheney, “Migrant Rights Under Spotlight in Singapore”, South China Morning Post, 19 December 2013 (http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1386186/migrants-rights-under-spotlight-singa-pore-after-little-india-riot) and the work of local NGO Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2): http://twc2.org.sg/category/articles/stories/
17. Kirsten Han. “Singapore’s Exploited Immigrant Workers”, The Daily Beast: 8 November 2013 (http://www.thedailybeast.com/arti-cles/2013/11/08/singapore-s-exploited-immigrant-workers.html)
18. Eric Ellis, “In Singapore’s Shadows”, The Global Mail, 12 December 2013: http://w w w. t h e g l o b a l m a i l . o r g / f e a t u r e /in-singapores-shadows/771/
19. Jeanette Tan, “Singapore police seek more power to enforce public order in Little India”, Yahoo! News Singapore, 20 January 2014: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/singapore - pol ice -seek- more -power-to-enforce-public-order-in-little-india-074342356.html
20. Amir Hussain, “28 charged as police com-plete riot probe”, TODAY, 18 December 2013: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/28-charged-police-com-plete-riot-probe?singlepage=true
21. Workfair Singapore, “Government’s Treatment of Deportees Undermines Security“, 24 December 2013: http://workfairsinga-pore.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/govern-ments-treatment-of-deportees-under-mines-security/
22. According to reports in December 2012, there
are “There are about 20 companies in Singapore running 39 purpose-built dorms”, and an accreditation process for these dorms is still process. Cheryl Tay, “Dorm operators converge to raise standards”, Yahoo! News Singapore, 18 December 2012: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/dorm-operators-converge-raise-standards-052729190--sector.html
23. S Ramesh, “S'pore open to idea of hous-ing foreign workers at offshore islands: Khaw”, Channel News Asia, 8 April 2013: ht tp://w w w.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/s-pore-open-to-hous-ing/631856.html
24. Jolovan Wham, “Repatriation Companies: Manpower Minister’s Responses Belittle the Efforts of Migrant Workers”, The Online Citizen, 30 November 2011: http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2011/11/repartriation-companies-manpower-ministers-response-belittles-the-efforts-of-migrant-workers/
25. Jolovan Wham, “Open Letter to Manpower Minister Tan Chuan Jin”, 8 January 2013: http://twc2.org.sg/2013/01/08/jolovan-wham-writes-open-letter-to-manpower-minister/
26. Kirsten Han. “Singapore’s Exploited Immigrant Workers”, The Daily Beast: 8 November 2013 (http://www.thedailybeast.com/arti-cles/2013/11/08/singapore-s-exploited-immigrant-workers.html)
27. See TWC2’s list of collected casework here: http://twc2.org.sg/category/articles/stories
28. Sumita Sreedharan, “More than just meeting numbers, HDB is delivering quality flats”, TODAY, 7 September 2013: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/more-just-meeting-numbers-hdb-delivering-qual-ity-flats
29. Praveen Randhawa, “Singapore’s legal system is firm, just and fair”, TODAY, 21 December 2013: http://www.todayonline.com/voices/singapores-legal-system-firm-just-and-fair?singlepage=true
30. Kirsten Han. “Singapore’s Exploited Immigrant Workers”, The Daily Beast: 8 November 2013 (http://www.thedailybeast.com/arti-cles/2013/11/08/singapore-s-exploited-immigrant-workers.html)
23
s
24
Johannes Loh is working as a Research Associate at
the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He holds
a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Hertie
School of Public Policy in Berlin, and a Bachelor of Arts
in Integrated Social Science from Jacobs University
Bremen. His previous research experience includes aid
governance, visual political communication and pub-
lic sector reform in developing countries. Prior to join-
ing the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy he has also
worked for the United Nations Environment Programme in Geneva, Transparency
International Nepal, and the Centre on Asia and Globalisation in Singapore. His email
is [email protected] and you can follow his updates on trends in pro-poor
policies in the region on Twitter @AsianTrendsMon.
Sue Helen Nieto is a Research Associate at the Lee
Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. She holds a Master’s
in Public Policy with a specialization in Social and
Environmental Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of
Public Policy, and a Bachelor in Political Science from the
Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico. Previously,
she worked for the Mexican Ministry of the Environment
where she focused on environmental crime and climate
change. She has also served as a consultant for Oxfam
Indonesia and WWF India. Her research interests include climate change mitigation
and adaptation, disaster governance, and program evaluation.
Phua Kai Hong is a tenured professor at the LKY School
of Public Policy and formerly held a joint appointment as
Associate Professor and Head, Health Services Research
Unit in the Faculty of Medicine. He is frequently con-
sulted by governments within the region and interna-
tional organisations, including the Red Cross, UNESCAP,
WHO and World Bank. He has lectured and published
widely on policy issues of population aging, health-
care management and comparative health systems in
the emerging economies of Asia. He is the current Chair of the Asia-Pacific Health
Economics Network (APHEN), founder member of the Asian Health Systems Reform
Network (DRAGONET), Editorial Advisory Board Member of Research in Healthcare
Financial Management and an Associate Editor of the Singapore Economic Review.
His email address is [email protected]
T S Gopi Rethinaraj joined the Lee Kuan Yew School
of Public Policy as Assistant Professor in July 2005.
He received his PhD in nuclear engineering from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before
coming to Singapore, he was involved in research and
teaching activities at the Programme in Arms Control,
Disarmament and International Security, a multi-disciplin-
ary teaching and research programme at Illinois devoted
to military and non-military security policy issues. His
doctoral dissertation, “Modeling Global and Regional Energy Futures,” explored the
intersection between energy econometrics, climate policy and nuclear energy futures.
He also worked as a science reporter for the Mumbai edition of The Indian Express
from 1995 to 1999, and has written on science, technology, and security issues for
various Indian and British publications. In 1999, he received a visiting fellowship from
the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Chicago, for the investigative reporting on South
Asian nuclear security. His current teaching and research interests include energy secu-
rity, climate policy, energy technology assessment, nuclear fuel cycle policies and inter-
national security. He is completing a major research monograph "Historical Energy
Statistics: Global, Regional, and National Trends since Industrialisation" to be published
in Summer 2012. His email address is [email protected]
Principal Investigators Research Associates
25
The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy is an autonomous, professional graduate school of the National University of Singapore.
Its mission is to help educate and train the next generation of Asian policymakers and leaders, with the objective of raising the
standards of governance throughout the region, improving the lives of its people and, in so doing, contribute to the transformation
of Asia. For more details on the LKY School, please visit www.spp.nus.edu.sg