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Principal Investigators

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T S Gopi Rethinaraj

Research Associates

Johannes Loh

Sue Helen Nieto

Guest Writer

Krish Raghav

Production

Johannes Loh, Production & Research Dissemination

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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.

Please acknowledge the source and email a copy of

the book, periodical or electronic document in which

the material appears to chris.k@nus.edu.sg or send to

Chris Koh

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

469C Bukit Timah Toad

Singapore 259772

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 johannes.loh@nus.edu.sg 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 spppkh@nus.edu.sg

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 spptsgr@nus.edu.sg

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