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On Anti-Racism in Singapore


Heads up: there’s a lot of reading involved. Skip to Section 5.2 for a list of resources to look through if you don’t want to attend this unwanted TED talk. Thank you.

I thought it would be easier to sort this absolute unit into sections, so here you go.

 

1. Introduction

“The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.”

Ijeoma Oluo

A lot of the activist-adjacent conversations I’ve seen on social media from my UWC friends (who might be reading this! hi there! I love you!) are centred on the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA and UK. It’s been fantastic to see, and there are vital, valuable conversations happening around racism, prejudice, protest, and change, sometimes coming from unexpected people.

Global solidarity is a beautiful thing, but I’m left wondering if our approach is farsighted. Put plainly, we might be overlooking racism at home.

I’ve just graduated. I’m aware that we’re a highly international community, and that a very small percentage of the Class of 2020 will stay in Singapore once travel restrictions are lifted. But I was born here, I’ve grown up here, and I’m spending the next four years of my life here, minimum; Singapore is home, truly (sorry). I know it is for some of you as well. And I know there will be some people from other grades who will be spending a few more years at least in Singapore.

So I’d like to draw attention to one of the most marginalised groups in Singapore: migrant workers. While I do so, I’ll also examine my own position in this issue.

For the purposes of this piece, I’ve invented a strawman that asks me convenient questions. Here goes:

Why are you making this about you? If you’re trying to talk about what migrant workers go through, why write about your own racism and classism?

I’ll return to the quote at the beginning:

“Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself.”

If I said I was ideologically pure and prejudice-free, I’d be lying. If I didn’t highlight my own limited, subjective perspective, I’d be lying by omission. I know a lot of people have started thinking about racism and prejudice, and how to combat it in themselves. If this helps even a single person, I’ll be happy.

 

2. Overview of issues

I made a presentation for Global Politics in April that covered how COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing structural inequalities for migrant workers in Singapore. At its beginning, I defined what I meant by ‘migrant worker’:

“There is no explicitly agreed-upon definition for ‘migrant workers’ in a Singaporean context; the terms used are various, and can be loaded and inaccurate. ‘Foreign workers’ could also be expats, but that’s often not what people mean when they use the term. I will use ‘migrant worker’ to refer to low-wage work-pass holders who reside in workers’ dormitories.”

That’s the definition I’ll be working with here.

 

The presentation deals with:

  • migrant workers’ living conditions pre-COVID;

  • how COVID-19 has made those living conditions worse, turning structural inequalities into public health concerns;

  • how human rights, inequality, and development tie into this issue;

  • one specific example of the structural violence migrant workers face;

  • the non-state actors involved in helping;

  • how stop-gap fundraising is simply not enough to address this issue, and the Ministry of Manpower needs to make changes to legislation and policy to protect migrant workers.

Disclaimer: it was made in April and the situation has changed since then, so it’s out of date. It’s still a useful resource, as it draws on the work of important actors in this situation (various NGOs, academics, and public figures). However, this list is hardly exhaustive. I’ve added a more comprehensive list of resources at the end for those interested.

Another disclaimer: it fails to explicitly say that dorm conditions are not the biggest problem that migrant workers face. I’ll address this later.

 

3. By the way, I'm racist.

The TL;DR of this bit.

The stigma that migrant workers face is appalling. I’ve heard children and adults alike implying that migrant workers are unsanitary and predatory. Classmates made racist jokes, and people advised girls to avoid construction sites and not look at construction workers. Whether the intent was malicious or came from a place of genuine worry, it was prejudiced, a symptom of the stigma that served to further it. I knew it was wrong when I was younger: I didn’t laugh at those jokes, I didn’t agree with those statements. But I didn’t call them out.

Humans are creatures of nature and nurture. I absorbed some of those beliefs, however unwillingly, and those translate into snap judgements about and reactions to people. So yes: I’m racist.

 

In case you forgot about it, here’s the strawman again:

But you’re the Think Equal girl. Isn’t being racist kind of hypocritical? Is this problematic? Do we have to cancel you now?

 

Perhaps a more palatable rephrasing would be that I hold racist beliefs. Perhaps if I were more inclined to protect myself, I’d immediately say that I have felt immense shame and disappointment with those beliefs, that I am actively working to unlearn them, that I make a focused effort to recognise the dignity and humanity of every single person I interact with. I can acknowledge now that I didn’t have the vocabulary or courage to call my classmates out in primary school. I’ve learned to not judge myself so harshly for the first, instant thought I have about a situation or person, instead opting to examine where it’s come from and whether it’s in line with the rest of my beliefs.

All of those things are true. It’s also true that I contribute to and benefit from racist systems. In the specific context of migrant workers’ labour: they’ve built the houses I’ve lived in, the schools I’ve attended, the infrastructure that gives me easy access to goods and services, the capital and privilege that assure me I’m living in a highly economically developed country. How much have I done to make sure they’re being compensated fairly?

 

But Tanisha, you’re brown too.

 

Yes. That doesn’t change the fact that, in the lottery of birth, I ended up in a position of great financial and social privilege, distanced by so many degrees from the daily, lived struggles of migrant workers. Maybe a more accurate title for this piece would be On Anti-Racism and/or Anti-Classism in Singapore, Because Issues Are Intersectional And Resist Easy Definition.

That’s less catchy, though.

 

4. Back to the issue

4.1. The structural stuff

We’re born into racist societies. We’re taught by various actors (like parents, friends, teachers, the government, media executives, etc) to be racist. The consequences of this vary depending on who you are and what boxes you fit into. Yes, it hurt me to hear the racist jokes my classmates made about migrant workers. But those jokes were rooted in classism, too, and my purely emotional, temporary hurt is by far eclipsed by the structural, cultural, and direct violence migrant workers face as a result of that classism:

  • low and unpaid wages;

  • harsh working environments;

  • poor living conditions;

  • indebtedness;

  • sudden termination of employment;

  • abandonment by employers;

  • physical and psychological abuse;

  • forceful repatriation.

 

These issues have been highlighted by Dr. Charanpal Bal, a researcher at the University of Western Australia who has conducted “groundbreaking work on migrant labour political economy in Singapore. His research was based on in-depth interviews and ethnographic participation observation where he ‘worked’ as a steel-fitter in the industry for four months.” (Bal, CAPE)

In fact, the source I’ve just quoted (linked at the end) goes on to present the issues migrant workers face, in order of their significance to migrant workers themselves:

Screenshot of CAPE’s explainer on migrant deportability, linked here.

 

Alex Au (from Transient Workers Count Too) has written an article titled “The dorms are not the problem”, which he concludes by saying: “Dorms are not the problem, they’re only a manifestation of a much deeper, structural problem.” This structural problem is Singapore’s addiction to cheap labour. The economy has become dependent on it; in order for it to continue, its people must view migrant workers as expendable, disposable parts of our society. If we view migrant workers as separate from the rest of Singapore, there’s no cognitive dissonance when we consider how we treat Us versus how we treat Them.

Migrant workers are denied the fruits of their labour. Their work gives us shelter, safety, education, healthcare; they give us room for human flourishing. At about a third of Singapore’s three-million-strong labour force, and making up almost half the workforce in the manufacturing and services sectors, they are a vital, integral part of Singapore’s economy (Bal). Why are they denied its benefits?

 

4.2. The cultural stuff

This could perhaps be seen as a smaller issue, but I think it’s one of the root causes of the bigger, structural things. Do we really recognise the humanity of migrant workers?

I’m not talking about seeing them on lorries and construction sites, worrying about their safety and if they’re being treated fairly. Migrant workers are more than the inequalities they are forced to face; they are their pain, yes, but also their friends and family, their art, their joy. To be ignorant of this is to not fully accept their humanity.

It feels ridiculous that it took eighteen years for me to stumble across art by migrant artists. In Section 5.2, I’ll also create a list of art created by migrant workers: I’ve only been able to find poetry, writing festivals, and film. It’s by no means exhaustive, but hopefully it can act as an introduction.

 

5. Solutions?

5.1. The internal and the external

It’s an issue of economic and racial injustice. There are two ways to approach it (both equally necessary):

  1. Challenge racist beliefs within yourself, your friends, and your family. This works to reduce the stigma surrounding migrant workers, and will inspire more people to change along with you. By educating yourself (links at the end), hopefully you can better navigate these situations and conversations.

  2. Address migrant workers’ needs. This can be done through contacting local MPs and campaigning for change, advocacy, donating to organisations that support migrant workers, and supporting artists within the community. Links at the end.

Prejudice is passively learned, and often unconsciously enforced; the fight against it is active.

 

5.2. Okay, but what can I do?

AWARENESS & EDUCATION:

An amazing resource on race relations in Singapore.

**If you do nothing else, PLEASE watch this.

Read! Watch! Discuss with your friends! Start a conversation however you can.

 

CONTACT LOCAL MPs:

This is an open letter compiled by @mir.andy (with whom I have no affiliation). The document (linked here again) outlines a letter you can write to local MPs to ask for job security for migrant workers during and after COVID-19. It also contains good advice for how to move forward with this issue.

You can find your MPs using the following:

Yes, you can copy-paste the letter, but be aware that spam filters may be put up, and it could be more useful to write your own email. Personalise it.

Tell them why you care.

 

SUPPORT MIGRANT ARTISTS:

WRITING

SERIES: Our Pandemic (complete collection)

An illustrated collaboration that visualises the experience of migrant workers in Singapore and how this circuit breaker has affected them.

Some poems in the collection include:

“The Death of Wishes” by MD Sharif Uddin -- illustrated by Joy Ho.

“GLOBALISATION” by N Rengarajan -- illustrated by Marie Toh.

“Look What You’ve Done (covid-19)” by Sugiarti Mustiarjo -- illustrated by rose_kulfi.

“Me Migrant” by Md Mukul Hossine

The poems were originally written in Bengali, then transcreated by Singapore poet Cyril Wong based on English translations by Fariha Imran and Farouk Ahammed.

 

FILM

I Dream Of Singapore by Lei Yuan Bin

$alary Day (2020) by Ramasamy Madhavan

 

FESTIVALS AND GROUPS

 

DONATE:

 

CAMPAIGNS:

Welcome In My Backyard -- aimed at welcoming migrant workers into new neighbourhoods.

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