How a sinkhole revived a debate about migrant workers' rights in Singapore

BBC News

5 days ago

When a 3m (10ft) deep sinkhole on a busy Singapore road swallowed a black Mazda on Saturday, a group of workers at a nearby construction site sprung into action.Grabbing a rope from their work site, they tossed it into the sinkhole to the female driver, who had by this time made her way out of the car.In under five minutes, they managed to pull her to safety."I was scared, but every feeling [sic] was that this woman must be rescued first," construction site foreman Suppiah Pitchai Udaiyappan later told reporters.Footage of the incident quickly went viral on social media, with many hailing the workers as heroes. Mr Udaiyappan is a "migrant worker" - a term used in Singapore to describe the 1.17 million labourers who come to the wealthy city state from lower-income countries like Bangladesh, India and Myanmar.A vast majority of them work low-paying and labour intensive jobs that Singaporeans shun.This is not the first time migrant workers have served as first responders to save lives in Singapore. In April, four of them helped rescue children trapped in a shophouse after a fire broke out.Their recent actions have revived a debate on the rights – or lack thereof – of low-wage labourers in Singapore.
Singapore's fast-growing economy is built on the backs of these workers who make up nearly three quarters of the country's foreign workforce. Many of them work in sectors like construction, marine shipyards and manufacturingWhile Singapore has no minimum wage, the workers earn as little as S$300 ($233; £175) a month according to advocacy groups, and they live in crowded dormitories that are often situated away from residential areas. Yet they are often subject to abuses by recruitment agencies and their employers, including overwork, unpaid labour and poor living conditions. These issues are well-documented, but activists say little has changed over the years."Today, you celebrate them. Tomorrow, you will go back to generalising them as cheats, liars and dirty," social worker Suraendher Kumarr wrote on Instagram, in response to the sinkhole incident.During the Covid pandemic in 2020, their living conditions were laid bare after worker dormitories emerged as a virus hotbed, with hundreds of workers testing positive daily. It sparked a public discussion about their conditions - which advocates had for decades warned about – and authorities later took action to improve dormitory standards.Another persistent issue, on which the sinkhole incident has again cast a spotlight, is the use of flat-bed trucks to ferry these workers."There is something poignantly poetic about the fact that migrant workers, likely transported on the backs of lorries, went out of their way to save a Singaporean in her car," said Mr Kumarr, who is a member of rights group Workers Make Possible.Singapore laws prohibit people from travelling on the cargo decks of such trucks – except in medical emergencies. But it is allowed if they are employed by the owners of the trucks.Sometimes, as many as 12 workers get packed into the back of a flat-bed truck with no seatbelts on. This is an economical option for many employers who also use the trucks to transport goods. But this has led to multiple accidents, some involving deaths. In April 2021, two foreign workers died and more than a dozen were wounded after the lorry they were in crashed into a stationary flat-bed truck. In 2024, at least four workers were killed and more than 400 injured in similar accidents.
Activists have long lobbied to ban this mode of transportation – the issue has also been debated time and again in parliament – but little has changed.The Singapore government repeatedly says that while it has been encouraging companies to transport workers on buses, an outright ban on such trucks is not feasible for small businesses."Many of them could be forced to shut down, causing workers, both local and foreign, to lose their jobs," a senior minister of state told parliament in February."It will also lead to delays for critical projects like [public housing], schools, hospitals and [train] lines, and result in higher costs for Singaporeans."Activists criticise authorities for reducing the workers' rights to mere economic considerations, noting that other countries that rely heavily on migrant workers, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, have outlawed transporting people on trucks.The levies collected from foreign workers could be used to subsidise other modes of transport without passing costs on to businesses and consumers, Mr Kumarr suggested.The government's rhetoric "preserves the status quo [and] places disproportionate power in the hands of employers, over the lives and livelihoods of migrant workers," said Jaya Anil Kumar, senior researcher with the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics, another organisation that advocates for migrants' rights.A ban on lorry rides is just one in a list of changes advocates have been calling for, which include a living wage, stronger whistleblower protections, and subsidised healthcare.Despite dedicating decades of their lives to Singapore, these workers also have no way of putting down roots because of the type of work permit they hold, which are different from that of foreign professionals and executives.They cannot qualify for permanent residency, no matter how long they've worked in the country. Mr Udaiyappan, who directed last weekend's sinkhole rescue effort, for example, has been working here for 22 years.Work permit holders also need government approval to marry Singaporeans - another issue activists have highlighted for years. "Legislative change has been slow as there has been insufficient political will to enact impactful change," Ms Anil Kumar said.
Recognition or tokenism?
Earlier this week, authorities presented the seven workers involved in the sinkhole rescue with commemorative coins, with a minister of state describing their actions as "a very good example of how migrant workers help society in general". But many have criticised the move as tokenism. "No amount of 'thanking' them for their heroism should excuse the exploitative economic model that oppresses them every day to sustain the lives we live in Singapore," said Mr Kumarr.Many echoed these thoughts on social, saying the men deserved more acknowledgement. Some called for them to be granted monetary rewards and even permanent residency.Singapore's manpower ministry said in a statement to the BBC that it is "encouraged to receive feedback calling for more forms of appreciation" for migrant workers but did not address the specific suggestions raised."Their everyday acts of care and bravery deserve to be acknowledged and celebrated as part of who we are as a community," the ministry's spokesman said in response to queries.Migrant rights group Its Raining Raincoats has raised S$72,000 ($55,840; £41,790) from its own fundraiser, which will be divided equally among the seven men."So many times, we have seen how these migrant workers risk their own lives to rescue many citizens, including children, from dangerous situations," said AKM Mohsin, who runs an activity centre for Bangladeshi workers in central Singapore."They make the news and are held up as excellent examples of humanitarian work, but their own humanity and human rights are constantly being violated at their workplaces, in how they are transported, and how they live," Mr Mohsin said.However, there has been an increased awareness around migrant workers issues over the years. Advocacy groups and the government have organised activities that bring workers and the broader community together. Mr Mohsin, for instance, runs a space for migrant workers to write, dance, and play music – Singaporeans have helped translate and publish their works, and often provide an audience for their performances.But some activists say most in the country still see migrant workers as a class that is separate and inferior to the local community. Many live and work in industrial areas that are often further away from the city's residential regions. In 2008, some 1,400 residents in Serangoon Gardens, an upper middle-class neighbourhood, petitioned against the construction of a migrant worker dormitory near their homes.To placate them, authorities reduced the size of the dormitory and built a separate road for workers to access the dormitory."We basically see them as a different class of people. We expect to be served by them and believe that is the reason they are here," said Alex Au, vice president of advocacy group Transient Workers Count Too."Servants are supposed to leap to the aid of their masters."