What Rights?

~ A Multi-faceted Approach to the Rights of Low-Skilled Migrant Workers in Singapore

School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) DISSERTATION FOR MA IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT Year: 2010/2011 Student: Stacey Choe Siao Yun Student number: 268248 Dissertation Supervisor: Professor John Campbell

This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MA in Social Anthropology of Development of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London). Date: Word Count: 9,964
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Declaration I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the School of Oriental and African Studies concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. I give permission for a copy of my dissertation to be held for reference, at the Schools discretion.

Signed by: Stacey Choe Siao Yun Date:

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to all who have responded to my queries, including: - Ms. Shafiyah Tun Najak, Vice-President, Migrant Voices - Mr. Jolovan Wham, Executive Director, HOME - Mr. Joshua Wu (ex-construction site foreman) - Ms. Minh Minh (Foreign Domestic Worker)

Many more who have helped in coordinating and pointing me to the right people, or who have simply thrown more information my way, because they too believe that this is a right and just issue that should be addressed, and that there is too much many injustice in this world. - Professor John Campbell, SOAS, my dissertation supervisor, for keeping me succinct - Dr. Anna Lindley, SOAS, for everything on migration - Ms. Florence Choe (employer of Minh Minh) - Ms. Cheryl Frois, for contacting Channelnewsasia - Ms. Deedee Lim, for pointing out the videos on Al Jazeera - Mr. Howwee Ng, for being so helpful and resourceful - Mr. William Kamovitch, for your relentless proofreading and patience

What Rights? ~ A Multi-faceted Approach to the Rights of Low-Skilled Migrant Workers in Singapore

Content 1. Introduction 1.1 Methodology 2. Case study: Singapore 2.1 Background into the Lions (City) den 2.2 Singapores political climate for NGOs and civic participation 2.3 Lack of social support for the migrant cause 2.4 The Foreign Domestic Worker 2.5 The male low-skilled migrant worker 3. Overview of the Migrant Rights movement 3.1 Human Rights 3.2 Labour Rights 3.3 Citizenship Rights 3.4 Individual Agency

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4. Review of the institutions in the Singaporean migrant worker system 4.1 State 4.2 Market 4.3 Civic Society 5. Recommendations and Conclusions 6. Bibliography 7. Appendices 7.1 A - Data collected on Low-skilled migrant workers in Singapore 7.2 B - Q&A with a Foreign Domestic Worker 7.3 C - Correspondence with an ex-construction foreman 7.4 D - Correspondence with local NGO 32 34 36 40 43 49

Abstract Low skilled migrant workers have prevalently been marginalised by destination countries and are often victims of human rights violations. The number of abuses and exploitation has not abated even with the advent of international conventions and organisations that are supposed to uphold their interests. Many states treat these migrant workers as economic units, and as such, apply only labour policies in regulating them. They fail to accord the workers with human rights, which are an a priori position for prevailing citizens. The reason for such inequality is due to states deference to their citizens in order to maintain legitimacy in accordance to modern statal governance norms. In a structure governed by capitalist preferences and sovereign priorities, human rights instruments seem to be irrelevant for the migrant workers. However, there still needs to be constant reviews of the structures that bind these workers to their undermined positions, and explorations of options that will break the shackles of these modern-day slaves. For the purpose of this paper, Singapore has been chosen as a case study - an Asian example of how Newly Industrialised Economies depend on these migrants for their countries development, but yet alienate them to the margins of society.

1. Introduction - Investigating why international human rights instruments have failed for migrant workers

Singapore is often depicted as a first-world economy, even enjoying a tremendous growth of 14.5% GDP in 2010 (Singapore Department of Statistics 2011) after the global financial crisis. However, hard-nosed neo-liberal policies usually underlie such economic success, which ignore various softer issues in society - including the issue of rights. Like many other global economic giants, the country has been heavily reliant on migrant labour1, a key resource in todays transmigrant world. Whilst states and multinational companies often scramble over themselves to attract or retain highly skilled labour - a class of people who have come to be known as a global aristocracy (Cohen 2006), the poor, in this case referred to as low skilled labour, are subjected to a gamut of restrictions, inequality, exploitation and abuse. These low skilled migrants are often on the receiving end of human rights abuses, and whilst some of these cases can be placed on record as criminal behaviour, many others are a reflection of the systemic discrimination by the host society against these marginalised migrants. One of the most alarming aspects of this situation stems from the fact that various international conventions and organisations that relate to migrant abuse and rights have already been in place for many years. One of them is the United Nations Convention on Migrant Workers Rights, which was established in 1990. Why these agreements and organisations have been unable to deter or abate such abuses is the key question in my thesis. The study will explore how the structural exploitation and alienation of these migrants by the interlocking institutions pose as key obstacles against the betterment of migrants conditions and the eradication of abuse. Singapore has been one of the major receiving countries of foreign labour in Southeast Asia since 1970s, and foreign labour currently takes up more than 30% of its labour force (Yeoh 2007).
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The definition of rights, for the purpose of this paper, covers various fields: human rights, labour rights, citizenship rights, and group rights. Singapores Manpower Ministrys interpretation of rights are translated within their labour policies that govern the employment of FDWs (refer to MoM 2011e), which refer to only the most basic core rights, and are vastly different from the international understanding of human rights. The cross-cutting fields of rights at times work against each other, at other times, overlap and reinforce. Thus, the concept of rights is very complex and not universally applicable. Depending on which aspect, abusive and exploitative situations could refer to direct physical abuse, forced labour, low wages, poor working conditions, virtual absence of social protection, denial of freedom of association and union rights, discrimination and xenophobia, as well as social exclusion International Labour Organisation (2004, p.6). The key players involved - the state, market mechanisms, and the civic sphere, all play their respective roles in bolstering this system. Hence, the paper will delve into each players responsibility in this arena, and explore the structures and relationships in place that perpetuate the continual exploitation of the migrants.

The case study of the city state of Singapore investigates how these international institutions have affected the country vis-a-vis its treatment of low-skilled migrant workers. The country is a rather unique case - it is a small state in Asia, and although very Western inclined in its multicultural and open-doors outlook (Rahman 2008), it has none of the democratic trappings that Western societies take for granted. The country does not possess an active civil society (Ong 2006), and the public is usually accepting of the policies introduced by the nanny-state. Singapore will serve as an example of how the international conventions have not significantly
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affected receiving nations, and the paper will first contextualise the case study by giving background information on the immigration situation in the country, and explain the dynamics of the different local institutions involved. By reviewing the available literature on migrants rights, plus articles that focus on Singapore specifically, we can analyse the different approaches that dominate the migration rights discourse. Besides the different fields of rights, we should also consider the migrants agency for an anthropological perspective. We will review this through anecdotes and reflections from the people on the ground. This will provide a more well-rounded feedback on the migrants experiences, and hopefully reflect a more humanistic story beyond what is presented by statistics and politicians. Additionally, it is vital to consider the system in its entirety in order to understand how the structure perpetrates and creates a social milieu that subjugate migrants and keep them in their place. It is the combined influence of all the above factors that render international treaties into mere rhetoric and irrelevant concepts that are ignored by states and societies. The paper will finally look at alternative or complementary methods to help advance the welfare of the migrant underclass and the Singaporean situation. The reality is this - the cases of abuse and exploitation have not reduced and remain significantly high (refer to table on recorded abuse and complaints in Appendix A)2. The migration world needs to be able to look at ways to improve the current system, or to update what has seemingly failed thus far.

Disclaimer: Official figures of maid abuse recorded by the police have dropped, but activists and NGOs have maintained that this is not a real reflection of less abuse, but a bureaucratic reflection. Fewer cases have been recorded since the authorities do not record situations when no visible marks of physical abuse are detected.
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1.1 Methodology Even though transmigration has been duly acknowledged as a vital part of globalisation and development in todays world, not all who migrate have seen their situations improve (ILO 2004). For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on the low skilled migrant population in Singapore, and particularly on domestic and construction workers. These two occupations cover both genders, and the exclusive problems that each carry. Their functions also uniquely define their status and situation in the host country, creating even more role-specific restrictions imposed by the state.

In order to conduct this study, I have mainly referred to secondary materials that discuss issues on migrant workers in Singapore. These have been done by academics from research institutions, non-government organisations (NGOs), and even commissioned by the government. These will be further supplemented by articles from online forums and media outlets to reflect the ground sentiment. I will also refer to primary information from Singapores state repository of information that will provide data and statistics on the current situation in the country. Going further, I have interviewed some local NGOs on their work with low-skilled migrant workers, included their personal opinions on migrants response to their situations, and their own views of how to improve the conditions in the country. I also interviewed a foreign domestic worker (FDW) and a former construction site foreman to get their opinions. The ideas from these interviews will serve as vignettes of personal experiences to add to the anthropological angle of this study. Above all, the paper seeks to provide an insight into the lived experience of migrants, and not just official figures, or assumptions from scholars who are remote from the migrants experiences. The paper will also review theories and concepts that analyse the global
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phenomenon of migration, which are crucial to the effective understanding of Singapores problems and obstacles, and help to answer the main question of why human rights tools have been ineffective here.

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2. Case study: Singapore

2.1 Background into the Lions (City) den Singapore has always been an immigrant nation - since its founding in 1819 by the British East India Company, it has always adopted an open door policy to bolster its low population (Chiew 1995, p.472). However, in the subsequent years after its independence in 1965, and with its economy taking off, the state realised that it had to adopt a policy of differentiation with regards to its immigrants. They began to actively seek and attract highly skilled workers, otherwise known as foreign talents with tax subsidies and other incentives (Brooks 2002), but imposed strict restrictions on low skilled migrant workers, who were inducted to help deal with the typical 3D (dirty, dangerous and degrading) (Taran, 2009) jobs that the locals shun. These extreme restrictions include immigration regulations - migrants who enter Singapore to work as Foreign Domestic Workers (FDW) or construction workers are only issued Work Permits that are valid for two years (subject to renewal). These visas are attached to their employers, so migrants cannot change employers even if they are mistreated. If their visas are unfairly revoked due to unemployment, they become illegal over-stayers, who are liable to be imprisoned or even caned. (Ministry of Manpower 2011a). Such cases often get reported on national news agencies (Asiaonenews 2011), which are state aligned, in order to play up the image of the low skilled migrant worker as a nuisance, a danger, and a criminal, thus dehumanizing them. Due to their visa conditions, the workers are more willing to suffer poor working conditions, delays in payments, or even outright physical abuse, because the alternative for them is unthinkable. If they were to quit, they face returning home to massive debts, family disappointment, and even physical harm since they most probably had not accumulated savings to repay the loans (Al
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Jazeera 2009).

The significant ramification that results from these immigration regulations is that these migrants become the mistreated underbelly of society, which is ironically dependent on them in order to function and thrive. In the past twenty years, the country has witnessed countless cases of outright abuse of FDWs or FDW suicides. Records show that cases of abuse have not dropped significantly in the past 10 years (refer to Appendix A), and these do not reflect many more incidents that have not come forward due to widespread fear of their visa being revoked or of them being sent home due to non-compliance with their employers. As for construction workers, the Ministry of Manpower and local NGOs had received consistent complaints against employers who did not pay the migrants after months of work (Home and TWC2 2010, Appendix A), and of recruitment agents who conned these workers to pay huge sums of money to work in Singapore. Thus, we can see that Singapores policies are not only biased against the low-skilled migrants, but also place them in vulnerable positions within the host society.

2.2 Singapores political climate for NGOs and civic participation However, unlike Western countries that possess active civic societies that help champion the rights of underprivileged migrants, Singapores autocratic political environment means that NGOs have to tread very carefully when they work on such causes. In fact, hardly any international NGOs are allowed to operate in the country on such sensitive issues that question the policies of the government (Lyons 2006, Piper 2005). The exception to this is UNIFEM, which usually does not address case specific issues, and instead organises safe fundraising campaigns, activity-based events for women, and projects related to female professionalism
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(Unifem Singapore 2011). Due to the states strict rules that all associations have to be registered under the Societies Act, and the precondition that these associations are not allowed to engage in political activities, international organisations find themselves being rejected for registration, while local organisations are extremely limited in what they can do (Kivinen 2011, Piper 2005). One of the reasons why NGOs are unwilling to test the OB markers (Lyons 2006, p.6) set by the government relates to the case of the Marxist Conspiracy (Piper 2005, p.2). The state had accused a Catholic Church organisation in Singapore, which was helping Filipino FDWs, of communist tendencies, and arrested them on extreme charges under the Internal Security Act.

On a wider level, the public has also traditionally been apathetic to political and social concerns (Ong 2006, p.209). However, of late, the tides appear to be changing on such sentiments. With the rise of social media outlets, members of the public who are socially concerned have discovered a new avenue to air their concerns without having to risk being on the wrong side of the law. However, even online activism is closely monitored by the state. In fact, an example of the strong-hand tactics of the government can be seen during the general elections earlier this year when it gazetted the The Online Citizen (TOC)3, and insisted that it had to register itself as a political organisation due to the websites influence on the public with its political commentary (The Economist, 2011).

2.3 Lack of social support for the migrant cause There is an entrenched system of discrimination and marginalisation on every level that

TOC is an online platform started by students that counts more than 40,000 members on its facebook site (TOC, 2011)
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permeates not only the regulation-making, but also within the host society. Under such conditions, it seems that the question of why cases of abuse and exploitation have not abated under the eye of human rights watch groups should be tackled through the societys values. If the society in question does not even subscribe to the beliefs espoused by human rights groups, progress will then be very difficult. The situation is a glaring contradiction for a self-proclaimed First World nation. Patrick Taran (2009, p.150) notes that these slavery-like situations and abusive conditions stand in marked contrast to the promises that economic globalisation will bring better conditions and social protection to the lives of people around the world. However, Singapore is not the only guilty one. Many Asian countries have deferred to Asian values as an excuse to reject the intervention of international organisations on issues regarding human rights (Lyons 2006, Cooper 2011), since many of these organisations are usually founded in western countries. They cite an incompatibility of such notions of rights to their traditional values which place the stability and prosperity of society above the rights of the individual.

2.4 The situation of the Foreign Domestic Worker The FDW suffers from many state and socially sanctioned discrimination. Firstly, Singapore does not accord these low skilled migrants with the same wage levels as their counterparts. In fact, they only earn a meager 200 to 800 Singapore dollars each month (the wage differential depends on their nationality4 - Filipino workers are on the higher end of the spectrum because of strong lobbying from their government and community, and because they speak English and normally possess higher education levels (Piper 2005)). This is in sharp contrast to the average

The majority of Singapores FDWs come from the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Lyons 2006, Piper 2005)
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national income of SGD4,677 (MoM 2011b). The state has purposefully avoided equal remuneration since a local confinement nanny can fetch up to 2,000 Singapore dollars. Worse still, their living conditions are mandated by the employment structure through regulations by the government, unfair employment contracts, and exploitative recruitment agencies (Lyons 2006). FDWs live-in with their employers, which means that the separation between their work and private hours are extremely difficult to monitor. In reality, many employers expect their maids to start work at dawn and only finish after midnight, forcing them to work up to 18 hour days. Secondly, FDWs, with the exception of Filipino ones, do not even receive a mandatory day-off. This means that they usually work all 7 days a week, and the only time off is when they negotiate to return home for a visit usually after one year. A question to a migrant rights activist with the local organisation, Migrant Voices, on migrants feedback on what they hoped to improve was met with, a mandatory day off. It's the basic right, you can't work all week (Sha Najak, Appendix D).

Their liberty of movement is also strictly limited. Under a work permit, if the existing employment contract is terminated, the visa itself is also no longer valid. The visa conditions also infringe directly on their social rights - if a migrant is in Singapore under a work permit, she or he is not permitted to marry a local citizen, with the penalty of being deported. If the FDW gets pregnant during this period, she also gets deported home. They are not eligible to apply for citizenship, and will not be able to bring their family members to Singapore for family reunion. Employers also have to pay a considerable levy for their FDWs, which in essence ties them to their workers conduct, meaning if, for example, the maid runs away or commits illegal acts during the contract period, the employer loses the deposit. (MoM 2011a) Even worse, employers
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or agencies often practice safekeeping of the workers passports, which in turn render the migrants even more afraid of leaving when they feel victimised. This practice is widely known, but just as commonly ignored by the state, and such intentional apathy cumulatively creates an effective breeding ground for the ill treatment of these migrant workers.

The state-sanctioned discrimination of low-skilled migrants in turn affects societys perception of these workers. Notions that the migrants are lucky to be able to come here to get a living since they cannot get jobs back home (Piper 2009), or that they are naive and need to be strictly controlled are constantly echoed amongst employers. Such ideas also reinforce further restrictions that are widespread, like limiting their contact with other people - for fear that they might be led astray. Many are not allowed to have boyfriends, or to even interact with people outside of the family. Placed in such a subjugated environment, these maids are vulnerable to a host of abuse without knowing how to seek help. Many who are sexually abused are threatened by the perpetrators with deportation if they told on them, and thus most victims choose to remain silent. In fact, before they start their employment, they are not told of their rights or how they can seek help should there be problems. Recruitment agencies treat the workers as cash cows, and train them to be subservient and to obey whatever your boss tells you unquestioningly (Najak and Chia 2010). On the first day of work with her new employer, Minh Minh, a Myanmese FDW with a university degree, was reminded by her agent to be good, listen and work hard, ok? This sounds like a reminder for a child, except that Minh was already 38 years old, and starting her second domestic assignment.

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2.5 The male low-skilled migrant worker The male counterpart suffers similar restrictions in terms of their work visas. Although they are less likely to suffer physical and sexual abuse, these low skilled migrant workers encounter a different host of problems, and yet, similar social discrimination. The authorities turn half a blind eye to recruitment rackets that charge poor South Asians from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka5 fees of up to USD6,000 in order to be sent to Singapore (Home and TWC2 2010, CNA 2011). However, after many arrive, they realise that there are either no jobs available, or are only given jobs for a short period of time and ignored for the rest. They are put up in cramped accommodation, with up to 40 people in a room. A former construction site foreman told me, they are very lazy, you have to hit them on the head to get them to work. Sometimes, when they do not listen, the more experienced foremen punch them. Such skirmishes will never get reported, because no one will want to risk losing their jobs, or worse, to be deported. On top of being marginalised by the state because of their transient and disposable statuses, the discriminating treatment towards them is further replicated by the local public. When news got around that housing quarters for construction workers were to be built near a residential area, the entire community rose in arms about issues of safety and the dip in real estate prices (Saad, 2008).

The unfortunate fate of these migrants starts with them taking massive loans from loan sharks to pay the recruitment agencies to send them to Singapore, and their tenuous legality is challenged if there is no actual employment (Piper 2005). The morose situation which determines their

Male low skilled labourers are mainly from India, China, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and work in the construction or shipping industries (Piper 2005).
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legality is overlooked by the immigrations, which does not clamp down on the recruitment racketeers, but instead, together with the Ministry of Manpower, merely advise employers to be careful in selecting recruitment agencies (MoM 2011a). Agencies insist that the employers take a chunk of the recruitment fee that is paid by the migrant workers (Al Jazeera 2009). In essence, the entire premise for migration is a scam, on a class of people who are already the poorest section of society. When pressed, the Ministry of Manpower responded that it is not within their jurisdiction to pursue such cases as the transactions were conducted outside of Singapore. Sometimes, the ministry assists in mediation cases of non-payment of salaries, but beyond that, errant employers and agencies are not held accountable.

From the above, it is clear that the migrants are placed in a precarious situation whereby discussion of their rights seems tenuous and inconsistent with their reality. It appears that the human rights tools have had little impact on their lives and existence. The later sections will seek to uncover why this is the case.

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3. Overview of the Migrant Rights movement The coverage of the plight of the migrant workers have traditionally been broached via human rights, and the conventional instruments for setting international standards are the United Nations Convention on Migrant Workers Rights and the conventions under the ILO. Although these were intended for all countries, very few have actually ratified it, and even fewer of those who have are destination countries. The discourse on migrant workers developed from the 1980s into a debate on labour rights, when activists recognised that since the primary reason for migrant workers to migrate was for work, more focus should be placed on their rights as economic workers. They also realised the importance to synergise human rights objectives with the labour rights of the destination country. Even more recently, scholars have opened up discussions on transmigrants citizenship rights. Lenore Lyons (2006, p.15) highlighted the complexity of the concept of migrant worker rights, as it should also incorporate a recognition of the rights of workers vis-a-vis the sending and receiving countries, with reference to the citizenship and labour rights in both places, as well as their new rights as transnational subjects. Thus, it is evident that one single approach to migrant issues will not be enough.

3.1 Human Rights The concept of human rights is a thorny issue in many parts of Asia, Singapore included. Even though the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights Convention assumed that there should be a set of rights that are universal and inalienable to all (United Nations 2011), the reality is seldom so clear cut. As anthropologists understand, different communities are prone to interpret actions and expectations differently. Today, the main instruments in contention with regards to migrants rights are the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all
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Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW), which was established in 1990, and International Labour Organisations 1949 Convention No. 97 and 1975 Convention No. 143. Together, they cover areas that concern the migrants life in terms of economic, social, cultural and civil rights. According to the ICRMW, receiving countries are obliged to (Piper 2009, pp. 179-180):
A. observe the right to join trade unions for any migrant and the right to form associations and trade unions for legal migrants B. provide minimum social welfare (such as medical care) C. ensure equality of treatment in respect of remuneration and conditions of work and employment D. allow documented migrants to be temporarily absent without affecting the authorisation to stay or work E. allow liberty of movement, of choosing the residence and access to alternative employment for legal migrants F. give the right to seek alternative employment in case of termination G. work towards providing family reunification and extend to children of migrants the right to education

The ILO conventions had formed the basis for drafting the ICRMW, and the importance of these conventions was to provide normative international standards and measures to protect workers outside their countries of citizenship (Taran 2009, p.153). Most recently in June this year, the ILO adopted the Convention for Domestic Workers (ILO 2011), which sets out international standards aimed at improving the working conditions of domestic workers worldwide. It is a landmark event because it deals with the domestic arena, which governments, including
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Singapore, have referred to as an area that the state should not interfere in (Lyons 2006, p.10). However, like the other conventions before it, the Convention for Domestic Workers will also have to face the uphill task of getting member states to ratify it and to integrate the clauses into their own state legislature.

One of the key concerns of human rights activists is that only forty-one countries have ratified the ICRMW. Notably, Singapore, like other major migrant-receiving nations, has not signed or ratified (ISCCRMRC 2009, p.36, de Guchteneire, Pecoud and Cholewinski, 2009). To the countries concerned, ratifying implies acknowledging migrants as a section of society that requires corresponding policies. Thus, to keep them marginalised means the states do not have to be held accountable for them. The lack of ratification of these conventions almost connotes that the absent countries do not recognise the migrants existence.

At the same time, states also fear that ratifying these treaties imply a loss of national sovereignty on admissions policies (ibid., p.15), the encroachment of international agencies on their policymaking, and criticism on their regime. Under theories of liberal egalitarianism, it is a basic human freedom to be able to assert the right of movement, even if it is transborders (Carens1992). However, this freedom contravenes with states perception of their sovereign rights to control border movement, and thus realistically, in this current epoch where sovereign concerns run primary, states will not allow such transgressions. Therefore, they view the control and mitigation of migrant movement as critical areas of their sovereign government. The only treaty that has achieved progress in this area was the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) under the World Trade Organisation (ILO 2004, p.9), which allows workers providing
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certain services to cross borders unmolested. However, this was approached under an economic agenda, which again shows that where human rights have failed to succeed, economic imperatives can prevail in international politics.

3.2 Labour Rights According to Marxist philosophy, labour is regarded as a form of commodity, and in capitalist societies where commodity fetishism reigns supreme (Marx 1857), migrant workers are also ranked hierarchically according to their worth as a commodity. Based on neoliberal concepts of productivity that places human value according to the worth of their economic output, workers who carry with them knowledge and skill sets that are deemed valuable in the global economy become highly sought, and are accepted all over the world. However, poor people who were unable to attain skills that are normally gained via expensive education and privileged positions remain at the lowest classes of society no matter where they try to go. Since the rights accorded to workers in a capitalist society is equivalent to their economic worth, which is measured in terms of the value of their perceived output, these low skilled migrant workers also have little say over their fates and fortunes. The minimal and non-existent application of rights means that states can ensure migrant labour remains cheap, docile, temporary and easily removable when not needed. Once again, this exemplifies how the question of migrants rights represents a cutting edge of contention between the consequences of the economic logic of globalisation vs. the moral values embodied in human rights concepts and law (Taran 2009, p.150 -1). Similarly, the working rationale of the global labour export market actually works in opposition against the rights conventions, as market forces directly challenge the Conventions rights-based logic. Market forces lead to a vertical hierarchization of migrants according to their rarity and
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economic value, whereas the Convention privileges a horizontal distribution of minimal rights to all migrants, whatever their status and profitability (de Guchteneire and Pecoud 2009, p.30). This inequality is also reflected in the granting of citizenship-like rights to highly-skilled migrants, as exemplified in the next section.

Besides pioneering the two conventions which established international standards - Migration for Employment No.97 and the Migrant Workers (Supplementary provisions) No.147, the ILO (2004, p.6) also identified how migration statuses can preclude certain labour rights, including access to employment benefits. Thus, we can see that low-skilled migrant workers cannot gain access to adequate rights under the labour concept. Additionally, Cheah (2009, p.209-10) argues that considering the migrant worker as a unit of labour under the labour rights approach, establishes only minimum standards, and the worker is only granted work-related rights and protections, but it fails to take into account the human experiences of individual migrant workers. This utilitarian conceptualisation subordinates the human development of migrant workers (ibid., p.211), and thus sidesteps other social problems that they face.

The issue of labour rights is also a huge point of contention because many of such rights are usually enshrined in labour contracts, but the latter are usually non-existent within this industry (Piper 2005, p.5). Without such paperwork, it becomes difficult to track and hold perpetrators accountable for transgressions. The Filipino Overseas Foreign Worker Unit introduced a standard agreement for the FDWs, but because these are not compulsory, many recruitment agencies usually do not offer FDWs this option, and even threaten the migrants if they insist. Likewise, Singapore also had a standard contract that was issued by Association of Employment
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Agencies and CaseTrust in 2006, but this was not enforced. A local NGO, TWC2 (Transient Workers Count Too) had criticised that many of these clauses should have been written into the law, rather than being left to the mercy of contractual law (Kivinen 2010, p.6), and the contracts should be enforceable where possible.

Much research has also been done over the past decade over the rising reliance on migrant women for the global care chain (Hochschild, 2000), and concurrent studies have been conducted on women migrant workers in the Southeast Asian NIEs, including Singapore. This is possibly due to specific focus paid by feminist scholars, who pay special attention to the gender biased industry that places millions of women in vulnerable positions. Conversely, less attention has been paid to the male low-skilled migrant workers as a study on their own. 6The work of FDWs carries with it hazards that target them based on their gender. States often seem to sidestep this issue, ignoring the fact that because the FDWs are women, it makes them more vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. Gender studies have argued for increased aggregated data and gender-specific policies that will better protect women. Often, the discourse also reflects the ongoing debates within feminist theory about middle-class womens reliance on working-class womens transnational labour (Lyons 2006, p.9). However, in Singapore, the refusal of local activists to address this situation means that Singaporean women deny this reality and continue in their mistreatment of their FDWs, not recognising the similar sacrifices that the latter have made on their behalf, and the material and leisure achievements that they enjoy at their employees expense. According to Guy Standing (1978), the reason why the wages of Although there has been individual ethnographies on the social effects of the large exodus of the male population from communities, there has not been marked academic research on their experiences (refer to Rahman 2007).
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domestics are kept so disproportionately low is because it represents the opportunity costs for married women to participate in the labour force. This is the cost of activity on the woman, and correspondingly, the household, and the state/ economy.

Upon evaluation, we realise that labour rights are inadequate as a sole representative tool for a group that is so lowly regarded by the inherent rationales of the concept. The incompatibility and contradictions that the argument presents mean that migrant workers will remain subjugated with lesser recognition as lower-worth workers, or even just because they are women.

3.3 Citizenship Rights According to Claude Levi-Strauss (1992), our modern societies are anthropoemic - we strive to keep the unwanted outsiders outside the parameters of our societies. This theory is exemplified via states use of immigration controls to keep migrant workers marginalised, and consequently, these controls also act as forms of social exclusion. The state does so by emphasizing their transient nature, and by segregating them from the rest of mainstream society (Cohen 2006). Although we are constantly faced with the glaring irony that many host countries have in fact historically been immigrant nations, societies constantly forge imagined communities (Anderson 1983) in order to create a sense of belonging, whilst identifying others as something different. Thus, in order to maintain legitimacy amongst the populace, states usually adopt populist policies of placing the citizens first.

This is not to say that all migrants are rejected. Highly skilled workers, otherwise commonly known as expatriates, are welcome globally and are deemed as privileged aliens and belong to
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a special class of denizens (Cohen 2006). In the case of Singapore, the state labels them differently, and they are given employment passes, and entitled to live in the country for up to 5 years, with no restrictions to tie them to specific employers (Brooks 2002, Yeoh 2007). In fact, many employment pass holders are often invited to apply for permanent residence status, and they also have the option to apply for citizenship eventually. The welcome into the body politic of the country (ibid.) by the state is a stark contrast to the strict limitations imposed on the low skilled migrants. In recent public debates and online discussions, especially prior to the General Elections held in May and Presidential Elections in August 2011, many members of the public decried the granting of permanent residency to low-level migrants (Adam 2011, Bower and Ong 2011, Kyaw 2011). It then appears that the public outcry was a typical response of xenophobic nationals practising discrimination based on neoliberal capitalist values that look down on people with low economic output. This culture of citizenship that works against the migrant workers is referred to by Kristina Touzenis (2009, p.351) as the reason behind the tacit recognition of migrants poor living and working conditions as normal.

On the other hand, Cheah (2009) uses the concept of differentiated citizenship to argue that it is a more inclusive approach to migration as focusing solely on rights-based language fails to capture the full dimensions of belonging in society. Leveraging on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, she argues that those instruments make no distinction between nationals and nonnationals, requiring the State concerned to ensure that the rights of individuals within its territorial jurisdiction are respected (ibid, p.212-213). In doing so, these instruments step outside a purely rights-centred discourse onto a terrain of social theory and political
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philosophy that is necessary for interpretation and implementation of rights themselves. This approach hopes to reshape the normative nation-State citizenship paradigm, and extend the discourse into the social, cultural and political spheres traditionally perceived as reserved for those with formal legal citizenship.

However, due to the general climate of socio-economic uncertainty and reluctance towards changes regarding society, nations will always prefer to scapegoat migrants and ignore their poor conditions. Citizens in host countries mostly view these migrants who can live in their countries as lucky, and also not deserving of full rights (de Varennes, 2002). Even in todays world of transnationalism, states are unlikely to recognise these migrant workers as transnational citizens (Portes 2009), which explains the tenuous situation of their legality in receiving countries, since in many situations, only citizens or legal migrants can be in a position to contest their rights (ILO 2004, p.7). Xiang Biao (2008) also notes that in the current international migration regime, legality for the migrants are usually socially manufactured by paperwork and bureaucratic processes. Their legality or illegality is not an attribute intrinsic to an action. Realizing thus, it then seems that arguing for citizenship rights for these marginalized migrants does not hold as a tenable strategy to improve their conditions.

3.4 Individual Agency In recent years, scholars have also turned to focus on the agency of the workers, and proposed that it would be more effective and less imposing if the initiatives came from the workers themselves. Cooper (2011) argued that the key to improving the situation of FDWs is to empower them with political agency to work within the power structures of the macro-economic
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level of the state and market, and micro-economic level within the household. She suggests that speaking for them, instead of hearing them speak for themselves tend to perpetuate the silencing of the FDWs (2011, p.4).

However, if questions on rights were posed to these workers, these concepts will come across to most of these lowly educated workers, who have little experience on such issues, as remote and inapplicable. Migrants with little social capital (Dudwick et al 2006) cannot exercise much rights in an unequal world - they have limited bargaining power, which explains why they are continually exploited, either due to their ignorance or inability to access help and assert their rights. Since their habitus (Bourdieu 1977) is so limited, they would not be able to exercise the individual agency to achieve goals that are beyond their understanding and perception. When questioned, some of them might even request for situations and conditions that would ironically support the system that exploits and subjugates them, because they might refer to the false consciousness (Marx and Engels 1965) that has been instilled by the ruling class through hegemony (Anderson 1976). Since the under-privileged migrant classes might have internalised the social order, it is less likely that they would actively seek to challenge the system. This is why many NGOs are seeking to educate the migrant workers of their rights. Even the Singapore state recognises the need for the workers to know the minimal basic rights that they are entitled to (MOM 2011e), because in practice, the recipients of said rights need to be informed of them in order for the rights to be effectively implemented, enforced, and upheld.

Gramsci had recommended that the subalterns should fight against the dominant class by creating their own subcultures and ideas (Scott 1985). Interestingly, an example of this in
29

Singapore is the popularity of ethnic enclaves created by the migrants. The Golden Mile Shopping Centre area is known to be the leisure hangout for the Thai migrant workers, with shops and restaurants catering to this target audience. In the past years, it has also become the go-to place for Singaporeans looking for authentic Thai food. By establishing their own national and cultural identities, these under-classes are also asserting their presence and belonging within the host society.

The rights of the individual have also at times been overshadowed by various group representations. These groups often fall under national representations. For example, Filipino FDWs have traditionally been more politically vocal than their counterparts, forming associations like Migrante International 7. Even though establishing associations in Singapore is not possible, there was still a dramatic nationalistic response when a Filipino FDW, Flor Contemplacion, was hung in 1995 for murder. In Philippines, riots, protests, and even diplomatic tensions soared (Piper 2005, p.9). It has also become evident that specific group interests and rights could take precedence over others, as Filipino FDWs have been known to receive better conditions. Such increased influence by one group is a result of their social networks (Bourdieu 1977), which have increased their social capital both within the market and on a global playing field as a labour force with political clout. This might prove to be a future point of contention, as while some activists promote grass-roots empowerment of migrants, more powerful groups like the Filipinos, who are characterised by strong civil society activism and transnational networks (Piper 2009), might become more visible and attain more rights than others. This will further entrench the hierarchical tiers of inequality within the low skilled
7

Migrante International is made up of 95 Filipino associations in 22 countries.

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migrant class.

Moving forward, whilst it is important to engage the migrant workers to understand their desires, and to give them more pathways to social mobility, leaving the advancement of their conditions to themselves only is a limited strategy.

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4. Review of the institutions in the Singaporean migrant worker system The main institutions that affect the plight of the low-skilled migrant workers, are namely the state, the market (market forces, market players like recruitment agencies and employers), and civic society (international and local NGOs, the media, activists, and the public). The previous chapters have touched on how each of these players has directly contributed to the active suppression of the migrant worker. Therefore this section will seek to demonstrate the linkages between the multiple players that perpetrate the abusive system.

4.1 The state The state is a direct and abetting perpetrator of many abuses on the migrant workers. Reviewing the basic points stated by the ICRMW, it is easy to see why the Singaporean government has not ratified the convention, because many of its policies are either in direct violation of the convention clauses or the state has been allowing practices that go against the convention to exist unencumbered.

An example of the above is the visa scam situation - when such incidents were brought up to the Ministry of Manpower, they responded that since the collections of such funds were outside Singapore, it is not within their jurisdiction (Al Jazeera 2009). Since the state apparatus is well aware of the malpractices of the recruitment agencies, they can actually impact the situation in many ways. They are in a position to regulate the local companies that are the final employers of these migrants, even if the fees were collected by recruiters that act as middlemen. However, by turning a blind eye to these activities, the state is intentionally practising a systematic marginalisation of the migrants. After a spate of high profile maid abuse cases, the Ministry of
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Manpower (2011d) introduced a compulsory test that employers had to pass in order to be eligible to hire an FDW (Piper 2005, p.7). In reality, these bureaucratic procedures serve little purpose other than to placate international watch-groups. In one situation, a maid agency repeatedly reminded a potential employer to fulfill the criteria, and told the potential that in order to expedite the process, she can take the test for her. How many times such an option has been offered to the one in six households 8 that employ household help can of course not be tabulated in official statistics. The above was the situation that occurred before Minh Minh was hired into a local household to help with the addition of a baby. Without a state childcare system, the foreign domestic caregiver is a vital component in keeping the economy running. Yet, in order to keep it affordable and manageable, the state ignores the great disparity between the income levels of the migrants and locals, and also offers next to nothing in terms of employer review or welfare monitoring.

They also typically defer to natural market equilibrium mechanisms to regulate the salaries and numbers of these migrants, which result in low wages and oversupply. The implicit tolerance of the state to the exploitative practices of the market actors aggravate the migrants situations, as this means that they often have no effective recourse for their problems. Contrasted with their counterparts in Hong Kong, foreign workers in Singapore cannot set up associations or unions to represent their rights or advance their positions professionally. As a response to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) advocacy for trade unions to protect migrant workers, the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) and Singapore National Employers

As of 2010, there were 196,000 FDWs, thus equating to about one in six Singaporean households.
33

Federation (SNEF) co-founded the Migrant Workers Centre in 2009 (Manoharan 2009). However, it appears to be a tokenistic reaction from the government, as not much has been achieved by this centre.

The gamut of issues demonstrated become legal obstacles for the ratification of the human rights conventions, as the national laws of the country are incompatible with the provisions of the conventions. Ultimately, the fact that these international conventions exist, but are not adopted by the state partly explains why they have no effect on the situation here. Ratification refers to the international act whereby a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty and usually requires the acceptance of the legislative or law-making branch of government (De Guchteniere and Pecoud 2009, p.11), so if Singapore does choose to ratify, it is not only legally binding itself to the clauses of the convention, but the action will serve as a symbolic gesture of acknowledging rights that its society should uphold and protect. This again represents another example of how the actors in the system can either collude or work against each other. If approached positively, law may become a catalyst in raising public awareness and generating public discourse, if not in ultimately changing social norms (Yeoh et al 2004, p.13).

4.2 The market In this era of globalisation, which is heavily dependent on competitive cheap labour, the market plays a pivotal role in how the migrant workers are treated. The low skilled migrant workers market in Singapore is left very much to its own devices to regulate industry norms. The players, in turn, have expectedly chosen practices that will maximise their economic benefits, often at the
34

expense of the migrant workers. Exploitative practices such as excessive placement fees, contract substitutions, contract violations, low wages, non-payment and payment delays of wages are widespread (Piper 2009, p.174, Al Jazeera, Channelnewsasia). In a report conducted by a local NGO (ibid.), respondents had even said that they were sometimes physically abused by agencies. From the start, the centres and recruiters prey on the workers powerlessness and create an entire regime that sustains this fear, which is endorsed by the state and employers. The international low-skilled labour market regime has created a system of bonded-labour through this collection of fees, and many governments refuse to acknowledge the prevalence of such modern-day slavery at worst, or at the very least, indentured labour.

On the part of the employers, many view domestic help either with suspicion, assuming that they will steal from them, seduce the men or harm their children, or the other extreme is to regard them as infantile, and in need of their parental protection from the external world (Cheah 2009, p.207). Such ideas result because the market has objectified these people, and come to assume that they are without any personal agency. Capitalist values of the market system are also reflected in the response from an ex-foreman at a construction site when I asked how he thought the workers felt about working in Singapore, What they earn here is good money when they send it back, so I guess there is nothing to like or dislike about working in Singapore. At the end of the day, only money counts. However, as noted by Taran (2009, p.157), the presence of these exploited workers represents a challenge to the normative and ideological values of most industrialised countries in as much as these persons are denied legal and social protection. This fact is of course ignored by the actors in the market, and unrecognised by the citizens of the receiving countries that benefit from their exploited labour.
35

4.3 Civil society A key factor to why such abuses have not decreased is due to the presence of an imbued social mindset amongst Singaporeans that it is acceptable to subjugate and oppress these foreigners, and the internationally recognised human rights are not exactly applicable for them. TWC2 had carried out a survey to understand this culture of abuse that prevails in Singapore (Singam et al 2003). It appears that Singaporeans are not able to rationally apply such standards to the migrant workers, in part because their state has supported a system which promotes the perception of the migrants as undeserving citizens. They do so by criminalizing and marginalising them with biased news reports and discriminate policies. In my interviews and discussions with Singaporeans, they predominantly view the fulfilment of the most basic rights 9as sufficient entitlement for the migrants, and the opportunity of economic access in Singapore as an end in itself. The justification of cash rewards above all else is a typical Singaporean mentality, and is also reflective of a society that uses capitalist values to rationalise all actions.

In recent times, some of the local NGOs have started to work at changing the publics mindset on migrant workers. One of them, Migrant Voices, approaches this in a novel way that recognises migrants individualism and agency. The organisations purpose is to:
provide a place for migrant workers in Singapore to showcase their talents, in addition to building cultural bridges and fostering mutual understanding. Art itself is very individualized and it is through this individuality that Migrant Voices hopes to portray a

These are referred to by the Ministry of Manpower in loose terms as referring to adequate rest, payment of medical fees, working for other employers, compensation for rest day, salary deductions, repatriation costs and confiscation of passport (MOM, 2001e).
36

more human dimension to migrant workers as not only a community of different cultures but also as people who share the same dreams and common interests as the local community (Migrant Voices 2011).

The Vice-President of the organisation lamented that transformative change is very slow in Singapore, but hopes that their activities will help. The states mandate lies with the success of the economy, and the state, market and public share the view that assigning more rights to migrant workers will hurt the economy. In order to effectively change this, the stimulus must come from the ground-up, and hence she sees their activities as constructive advocacy (Sha Najak, Appendix D).

Other NGOs and online activists have also been active in the past 5 years in increasing awareness of the situations of the migrant workers through white papers and investigative reports. One of the most high-profile FDW cases is that of Indonesian Muawanatul Chasanah, which inspired the establishment of 2 NGOs, TWC2 and HOME - Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (Piper 2005). These two organisations conduct advocacy work to educate society against the discrimination of FDWs, lobby the government, and also provide onthe-ground support to FDWs (providing shelters to runaways, free meals, counselling, and legal advice) (TWC2 2011b, Gee and Ho, 2006). The instrumental assistance helps the workers with urgent day to day issues, but do not bring about transformative change. However, they also perform research and advocacy work, which include the commemoration of international events like the International Migrants Day10, and consultative participation in international conventions (International Convention for Domestic Workers at ILO). These help maintain visibility for
10

Certified by UN to be 18th of December. The local police did not approve permit for vehicle procession for the commemoration (TWC2 and Home 2010).
37

migrants issues in the media, public and political sphere. Even mainstream media has regularly performed investigative reports on migrants situations, at times prompting feedback and action from the authorities.11 In the area of migration, NGOs have become widely recognised as an authoritative benchmark to evaluate and challenge current migration policies (de Guchteneire and Pecoud 2009, p.29). Since the imperatives of the state and the market often run contrary to the benefits of the migrant workers, the responsibility of advancing their welfare thus often falls upon the shoulders of the institutions of civic society.

On the other hand, Singapores trade unions have been relatively quiet in this area since NTUC, the main trade union, is strongly linked to the government. Thus, there is no trust between the NGOs and NTUC, and there has been minimal cooperation between the two (Piper 2005, p.22). In theory, the FDWs should not be disallowed from participating in trade unions that will represent their rights, but no such associations exist in Singapore due to the countrys particular political climate (Piper 2005, p.8). Hence, migrant workers receive negligible representation from this front.

One criticism that has surfaced about NGOs is on how their direct services can sometimes reinforce the negative structure. An example is the way that some Catholic churches and organisations counsel FDWs - advising them that they should try to accept their situation so that there will be less discontent and increased harmony within the workplace dynamic (Cooper 2011, p.19). This strategy encourages acceptance of the norm, and discourages any challenge to
11

Examples include national newspapers, news channels, including Channelnewsasias Get Rea! series. The most recent feature airs on 13th September 2011, titled Lost in Transition. It explores abusive employers and the legal system that determines the migrant workers.
38

the pre-existing system, thus deterring any positive change.

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5. Recommendations and Conclusions - Whereto now for a country at political crossroads In the Asian context, Singapores migrant policies have always been placed at the lowest rung, with countries like Japan and South Korea at the middle, and Hong Kong at the top with its active civic activism (Piper 2009, p.180). The core of this difference lies in tolerance for civic activism, which has assisted the latter city to champion for more rights for the migrants. With the above in consideration, it is worth monitoring the political situation in Singapore, and should the arena of human and labour rights become less taboo (which should happen, according to political observers based on the relenting of state leaders in response to public sentiments), it will be easier to integrate topics on migrant workers rights into immigration and labour policies. Already, state agencies are courting international NGOs to set up their headquarters in Singapore (SEDB 2011). Even though the current focus is only on professional associations and other safe areas, there is no saying that the scene would not thrive with some rights-based organisations once the general political position is more relaxed.

Recently, the Ministry of Manpower released a press statement (MOM, 2001d) stating their findings from a nationwide survey on FDWs and their employers. Amongst other objectives, the survey asked if the workers understood some of their basic rights. The fact that the government has taken the step to commission such a research study is telling about how they are taking steps to respond to criticisms on the situation in Singapore, even if the survey appears to be a bureaucratic response. The ministry spokesperson concluded that they have put in place measures to improve the employment conditions and well-being of FDWs (MOM, 2001d), and conceded that they were reviewing the framework as to issues on day-offs, and the role of the agencies. However, what we can see here is that the state is still very much keeping the main
40

structure in place, and pushing the blame to other factors like the agencies, or even on the FDWs and employers. On the other hand, Yeoh et al (2004) also pointed out that the government can be responsive to court proceedings and media coverage, as demonstrated by the case when the Penal Code was changed as a response to the increase in the number of complaints and court cases against employers who abused their maids, so that penalties for specific abusive crimes would be increased to 1.5 times the normal penalty. Continual pressure on the state, and public discourse will definitely help to steer progress in the right direction, which is critical at a point when the international economic situation is looking dismal, and migration issues have become a rallying-point for political populism (de Guchteneire and Pecoud 2009, p.27) all over the world. At the same time, Cohen (2006) reminds us that the state also has the imperative to change based on its material stake in improving the conditions of the workers, and also its moral claim on the international stage.

As we realize that no one angle is sufficient to cover the multi-dimensional experience of the migrant worker, the recommendation would be to consider a multi-pronged approach that will yield more results. This should cater to both practical and strategic interests (Rai 2002) - since soup kitchens, shelters for runaways and helplines serve immediate practical purposes, and awareness and lobbying campaigns can work to change attitudes and policies that bring about more constructive change in the longer run. In order to effectively reduce cases of abuse and rights violations, the presence or even ratification of human rights agreements and conventions will not be enough. Transformative change needs to be achieved by altering deep-seated social attitudes, and committing to a structural overhaul of state and market mechanisms. These could be addressed with a combination of different rights-based arguments that are covered in this
41

paper. The approach should not focus singularly on human rights, but should address a basket of rights (Cunningham-Parmeter 2009).

At the same time, it is also important to recognise the fallacy that countries need to depend on cheap and pliable labour to keep costs down for ensuring efficient development. One of the counterarguments to this was highlighted by a local opinion leader, who explained that in his working experience in the global construction industry, he had come to realise that cheap does not necessarily equate quality or efficiency, and argues to invest in human capital (Torrijos 2011). By increasing workers human capital, the economy also benefits.

Piper concluded in her case study (2005, p.23) that the situation for improvement might come down to political will. Especially in a country like Singapore where the state wields an overwhelming influence and power over most aspects of life, including political, economic, or social, it is imperative to have support from the state for civic progress. However, as illustrated, the relationship between the state, market and social actors are interlinked and inter-dependent, and civil society can continue to exert pressure on other actors using rights instruments to improve the conditions for migrant workers. In order for the international agreements to have effect in reality, states also need to have comprehensive policies that will better govern the market players, and the host society needs to be primed to combat xenophobia and discrimination (ILO 2004, p.14).

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58. Singam, C., Fu, K., and Cristopher, L., 2003. Understanding Domestic Worker Abuse in Singapore: The Cultural Aspects of Exploitation, The Working Committee 2s Research Papers. 59. Singapore Department of Statistics, 2011. Time Series on GDP at 2005 Market Prices and Real Economic Growth. [online]. Available at: <http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/themes/economy/hist/gdp1.html> [Accessed on 23 August 2011]. 60. Singapore Economic Development Board, 2011. Industry Background. [online]. Available at: <http://www.sedb.com/edb/sg/en_uk/index/industry_sectors/nonprofit_organisations/industry_backgr ound.html>. [last accessed 24 Aug 2011]. 61. Skeldon, R. (1997) Migration and Development: A Global Perspective. Harlow: Longman. 62. Standing, G. 1978. Labour Force Participation and Development. Geneva: International Labour Office. 63. Standing, G. 1999. Global Feminisation through Flexible Labour: A theme revisited. World Development, Vol.27, No.3, Mar. 1999, pp. 583-602 64. Suhaimi, N.D., 2008. No wages, no work, poor living conditions. The Straits Times, 28 Dec 2008. 65. Taran, P., 2009. The need for a rights-based approach to migration in the age of globalization. In: De Guchteneire, P., Pecoud, A. and Cholewinski, R. eds. 2009, Migration and Human Rights: The United Nations Convention on Migrant Workers Rights. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 150 - 168. 66. The Online Citizen. [online] Available at: <http://www.facebook.com/theonlinecitizen> [last accessed: 31 Aug 2011]. 67. The Singapore National Comittee for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM Singapore), Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME), and Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), 2011. Made to Work: Attitudes towards granting days off to Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore. 68. Torrijos, E. 2011. Can Singapore wean itself off cheap foreign labour? Yahoo News Singapore. [online]. Last updated 18 Aug 2011. [last accessed 25 Aug 2011]. 69. Touzenis, K., 2009. Migration and Human Rights in Italy: prospects for the ICRMW. In: De Guchteneire, P., Pecoud, A. and Cholewinski, R. eds. 2009, Migration and Human Rights: The United Nations Convention on Migrant Workers Rights. New York: Cambridge University Press. 70. Transient Workers Count Too, 2011a. Is 'maid abuse' (violence against foreign domestic workers) a serious problem? TWC2. [online]. Available at: <http://www.twc2.org.sg/site/faqs/7.-is-maid-abuseviolence-against-foreign-domestic-workers-a-serious-pro-2.html>. [last accessed: 31 Aug 2011]. 71. Transient Workers Count Too, 2011b. Direct Services. TWC2. [online]. Available at: <http://www.twc2.org.sg/site/direct-services/index.php>. [last accessed: 5 Sep 2011]. 47

72. Transient Workers Count Too, and HOME 2010. An Appeal to Singapores Law and Home Affairs Minister. [online]. Available at: < http://www.twc2.org.sg/site/what-s-new/an-appeal-to-singaporeslaw-and-home-affairs-minister-2.html> [last accessed: 13 Sep 2011]. 73. Unifem Singapore 2011. National Committee for Unifem. <http://www.unwomen-nc.org.sg/> [last accessed: 10 Sep 2011]. [online] Available at:

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Appendix A DATA COLLECTED ON LOW-SKILLED MIGRANT WORKERS IN SINGAPORE Content A.FDW runaways Number of FDW runaways in 2010 Number of Indonesian FDW runaways in 2009 Number of Indonesian FDW runaways in 2010 4,000 According to FDW embassies and shelters for foreign workers (Basu 2011) (Basu 2011) (Basu 2011) Figures Remarks

2,030 2,530

B.Number of foreign workers on Work Permits Number of foreign workers on 856,000 (Home, TWC2,2010) Work Permits in 2009 (includes 196,000 FDW) C. Wage Claims Wage claims at MOM in 2007 1,514 Wage claims at MOM in 2008 3,480 Wage claims at MOM in 2009 4,500 (first half) D. FDW abuse cases 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 E. FDW suicide cases 1999 - 2005

(Home, TWC2,2010) (Home, TWC2,2010) (Home, TWC2,2010)

(TWC2 2011) 89 82 87 41 43 70 59 59 42 68 53

147

(HRW 2005)
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Appendix B Q&A WITH A FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKER - MINH MINH Minh Minh is a Foreign Domestic Worker from Myanmar, who is currently working with her second employer in Singapore.

Q: Hi Minh, do you mind if I ask how old you are now? A: 36 years old. Q: Can you tell me why you decided to come to Singapore? A: To support ageing mother financially Q: Was there ever a choice for other countries instead? A: No. Only know Spore. Worked here previously. Q: Do you think life in Singapore is better than in Myanmar? A: Yes. Q: Even for you? A: Yes... Can get electricity 24 hours by 7! Q: Is there anything that you're working for for your life/ family? A: Buy more land, build bigger house, better life. Q: Do you have any long term plans? A: Always dreamt of working abroad since 10th standard, 16 years old. No current plans for future. Q: Why did you end with your previous employer? A: Too much work, constant complaints from ex-employer.

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Q: What do you think about your previous employer? A: Too many complaints, fussy. Q: About your agency? A: Good. Q: About Singapore? A: Good. Happy here, but uncomfortable with crowds. Q: Are you happy in Singapore? A: Happy. Q: Do you think you might like to try to work in another country in the future? A: No.

Note: When asked about human rights, she replied that she knew nothing about it. When reposed with a question on Aung San Suu Kyi, she replied that the political leader was good, and was not able to furnish more opinions.

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Appendix C EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE WITH AN EX-FOREMAN AT A CONSTRUCTION SITE. Acknowledgements and thanks to Mr. Joshua Wu for his responses.

Q1. Do you think the living conditions that were provided to the workers then were of good standards? A. Compared to Singapore standards, I wouldnt think they were good. I remember visiting their hostel before, it smelt nasty. But they seemed comfortable, they were chatting and cooking for each other.

Q2. Do you think the foreign workers were treated the same way as locals? If yes/no - why? A. No. The workers were quite lazy and slow, and the approach by the foremen were to use carrot and stick to keep them working hard. Carrot - Promise them overtime work on another task when they complete this task. Overtime hours are paid 2 times more. Stick - If they piss us off, we can opt to fire them, revoke work permit way, they really needed the job and money. and send them back to their country. Either

Q3. Were there distinct cases of abuse that you could think of while working there? A. Nothing too serious. If they were skiving or doing things slow, we would use something to knock their safety helmet. And coupled with some vulgarities. There were some inter-racial conflicts now and then though. Between Bangladeshi workers, Thai workers, Chinese

workers.....Shouting at each other and sometimes small skirmishes.

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Q4. How do you think the workers feel about working in Singapore? A. I did have a chat with one of the workers. What they earn here is good money when they send it back. So I guess there is nothing to like or dislike about working in Singapore. The goal was to work off their contract, earn the money and go home to their family.

Q5. Do you think their conditions/rights should be improved on - e.g. living conditions, wages, working hours, working conditions, social life. A. At that time, I thought their living conditions could be improved. And I have seen it improved. Their living quarters looks cleaner now. (I visited a friend in a construction site, The Interlace). As to wages and working hours, I think its fair. They got their social life in little India so thats covered. The government also launched programs to enhance workplace safety. I remember its called occupational safety and health administration, OSHA. It was launched during the period I was in Air Force and headed by MOM. All workplaces in Singapore, including maintenance hangars in air bases, had to comply to safety standards. I had to go for courses at MOM and met a couple of safety officers working in construction sites. So I guess there is more emphasis on safety over time.

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Appendix D

EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE WITH VICE-PRESIDENT OF MIGRANT VOICES A local NGO specialising in community arts charity for migrant workers

Q1: What do you think are the main problems facing these workers in Singapore? A: In my experience, the issues are to do with basic dignity. This is quite broad and can encompass many things. One basic dignity is the right to wages. If one were to visit the Ministry of Manpower and talk to workers there, they will tell you that they have wage problems, illegal deployment issues, housing or work injuries. Domestic workers face almost similar issues but they also face very serious physical abuse cases and emotional trauma. Domestic workers also face transfer problems wherein they're not readily allowed to switch employers if they find the current work situation not suitable. There are also other migrants in the form of sex workers and these are mainly PRC, Vietnam, Thai, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh. Some of these workers are on a Special Pass which allows them to be in Singapore but they cannot work. They are basically immigration offenders as termed by the state and have to produce an air ticket out of their own pocket. The irony is that these women would turn to sex work in order to save up money for a ticket back home. Their issues have to be with abuses by customers, health and the fear of being caught working on a Special Pass. They also face poor housing conditions, lack of nutrition and stigmatization from the public and police officers who often are their customers too. There is also more to say about the role of training centres. Even though they are not located in Singapore, the impression these centres set up for potential FDWs is a stark contrast from what they experience in Singapore. For some, they did not know about the loan deductions they have
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to pay off using their salary once they are hired in Singapore. These women would not get wages for up to 6 or 8 months in order to fulfill the debt the've incurred. In other words, the women are in debt bondage and one can imagine that should they experience abuses in the workplaces, that they remain silent for fear of losing their jobs and not being able to pay off the debt. When you don't pay off debts, your family or assets will be jeopardized. You can read more on this through a research paper I've contributed in -http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/12/training-centres-todomestic-workers-you-have-to-obey/ Some references that can be useful to understand the extent of abuses faced by workers : Access to Justice: http://www.twc2.org.sg/site/images/stories/TWC2-Law-Access%20to%20Redress.pdf

Q2. How has your organisation tried to address their problems? Do you think these methods are effective? Do you think more needs to be done? A:In my previous job with TWC2, the organisation would use the media, advocacy tools and a direct services programme to assist workers. The cases help formulate an advocacy stand and the media are usually responsive to reporting them. In Migrant Voices, we use a different approach. Our aim is to engage workers into the arts as an outlet of expression. How effective are these methods? I would say they can only reach a limited number of people as the facilities are not sophisticated. Migrant Voices does not employ a staff and solely run by volunteers. We face a lack of funding and resources but would count on contacts to give us free spaces or subsidized rates. We used to own a space but it has been taken over by the National Arts Council. For now, we run courses like photography and dance. These methods are effective in providing a less threatening platform for the public to engage in volunteerism but it would not address larger
55

policies that needs changing. More can be done in terms of expanding our resources to better strengthen our current programmes and have committed staff members to oversee them.

3. Do you think most of these issues should be addressed at state level? If so, are they just tackling the problems at a superficial practical level, and how do you think we can achieve more transformative change? A: The issues must be addressed at a state level for Singapore is hiring more foreign workers. Despite our booming economy, we do not have a mandatory day off for workers nor do we have a minimum wage which does not benefit lower income Singaporeans either. The state tackles these problems through actions on the ground whenever a major issue is brought up however they do not look at the two issues mentioned above. They do make policy changes and engage NGOs on this however the basic rights I mentioned above would give them more edge in terms of reaching an international standard of living. Transformative change in Singapore is very slow and large parts of it has got to do with how it benefits the economy. If the state does not think it is wise to give a mandatory day off, it is because there are employers who don't agree with it. We have to make more effort at a grounds up approach as this proves to be one way of constructive advocacy. For this to happen, combined efforts are crucial and civil society plays a role in this.

Q4. How do you think the public and civil society can help to improve their situation? A: Civil society is small here. But the pockets of groups who're working to raise awareness and get the public engaged can be useful in some sense. Some groups use the internet a lot to engage and some use a combination of both online and face-to-face engagement. I don't know how best to solve the issue of improving a situation but I do know it takes many little efforts/groups with a
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common goal. Q5. In your line of work, have you come across any feedback from the migrants themselves that express what are the areas that they would like to see addressed as a priority? A: I think a lot wants a mandatory day off. It's the basic right, you can't work all week.

Q6. How relevant do you think international conventions and organisations have securing better rights or conditions for the workers?

been in

A: It gets the institutions talking. This is healthier than not communicating at all. They will try their best to show that Singapore is doing this or that to improve conditions for workers. The international community would also have ground reports from NGOs to compare if anything is being done or not.

Q7. Would you agree that the activities of Migrant Voices are organised along the principle of recognising their agency? Do you see the organisation supporting and encouraging the migrants to pursue more rights on their own? A: MV's work is fairly different from advocacy NGOs where we use a softer approach such as media, visual arts to approach the topic in a safe manner. The workers who took part in our photo workshops are able to forget about being FDWs and just being artists for once. So in a sense, we've grown into more than just recognising FDWs as FDWs. Our works reach a wider public including the arts community and the general public which some NGOs may not have access to.

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