Category: [IGCSE] Writer’s Fortnight

Extorted, Erased, Excluded: Sarkar Debabrata’s journey as a foreign worker

 

Singapore is one of the most dependent nations on migrant workers according to the Straits Times. “There are about 1.4 million foreigners working in Singapore.” Considering the nation’s 5.6 million citizens, it means almost 1 out of 4 people in Singapore are foreign workers. However, the labour laws protecting these workers cause for most of the workers to turn to NGOs when in need, questioning the standard as to which the law is beneficial. Sarkar Debabrata came to Singapore as an S-Pass holder, which gave him a higher status than those with workers permits. After having his money stolen by his employer and his money repatriated, he is still stuck within the borders of Singapore.

 

Sarkar Debabrata came to Singapore late 2016, as an S-Pass worker. The S-Pass indicated he had mid-level technical capability and was to work on a higher pay than the migrating workers with work permits.

Not long after his arrival, Debabrata was subject to expropriation by his boss and his supervisor.

“At the beginning, boss took $500. I paid in cash. I also had to pay a supervisor another $500, also in cash,” Debabrata said.

Workers help from agriculture to labour (Photo by The Odyssey)

 

Debabrata’s troubles didn’t cease there, his employer cut $600 from his $2500 salary every month.

In early January of 2017, Debabrata filed a complaint stating that “[his] boss took [his] money” for the job.

It was discovered that his salary for 3 months — October, November,  and December of 2017 had not been fulfilled. Furthermore, his pay from the months preceding hadn’t been full pay.

Axiomatically, his employer cancelled his S-Pass and terminated his position. Debabrata was placed on a ‘Special Pass’ by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MoM).

In these cases, independent organisations come into the picture in order to assist workers in unstable conditions.

TWC2 is a non profit organisation (NGO) working to help the transient workers in Singapore. According to an interview they published with Debabrata, “the case is over.” And Debabrata “has received the amounts owed.” However, this is not the full story.

Debabrata was left with a Special Pass and the aid of TWC2 (Photo by TWC2)

 

So why hadn’t Debabrata left? Why was he still in Singapore unemployed?

 

‘We’re not done yet’

Most workers who find themselves in Debabrata’s position are forced to go back home. They aren’t allowed to bring family with them, and they usually have no one to turn to in Singapore.

However, Debabrata wasn’t staying back because he wished to, hewas staying back because of the MoM.

“[The] MoM is still investigating” Debabrata said. The MoM had opened a new case on Debabrata’s issue as violation of Section 22A of the Employment and Foreign Manpower Act:

“No person shall deduct from any salary payable to a foreign employee, or demand or receive, directly or indirectly and whether in Singapore or elsewhere, from a foreign employee any sum or other benefit. ”

According to TWC2 the “law encompasses acts and receipts made outside Singapore, though in practice, it is very hard to get sufficient evidence to nail those cases. But when the offence is committed in Singapore, and there is some prospect of getting evidence, MOM takes a very serious view of it.”

The fact that Debabrata was living evidence that the rarely reported offence occurred, compelled the MoM to take further action.

The metaphor used by TWC2 was that “[MoM would like to] lock Sarkar Debabrata in the evidence drawer so that he can be produced at will when he’s needed to testify in court against his former employer.”

Debabrata’s ‘special pass’ would be in the metaphorical locker, which is why he is stuck in Singapore for the time being.

The frustration occurs when Debabrata says that he “[has asked]  MoM many times but they cannot tell [him] when exactly he will be able to leave”

When enquired about his state of employment, Debabrata said that it is hard to get employed after having reporting your employer — “employers don’t like to employ anyone with Special Pass. They see that we have complained to MOM about something, and they don’t like it.” This makes sense as due to the ample supply of workers, employers are able to be picky with whom they hire.

While his case was being investigated Debabrata said that: “I am just waiting. I don’t know for what.”

 

‘Current state of Affairs’

The Straits Times reports that the migrant workers that have travelled from all across the world to get to Singapore, are not given the recognition they deserve from the Singaporean government.

“In 2000, the United Nations proclaimed Dec 18 International Migrants Day.” However “Singapore does not mark the day in a big way.”

The workers in Singapore that are injured or need assistance in any form, generally turn to these NGOs as they have no one else to speak with — their families and friends are back home and are not allowed to come with the workers.

With regard to the number of deaths and injury over the year, there is not a presently known statistic.

Singapore alone has various NGOs assisting the migrant workers.

The Ministry of Manpower acknowledges their presence as they have stated: “The NGOs, together with many other stakeholders, such as the unions and employer associations, complement MOM’s efforts to take care of the migrant workers.”

A migrant workers meeting (Photo by Lau Fook Kong)

Some of the largest NGOs in Singapore that are helping workers are the Migrand Worker’s Centre, Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, Transient Workers Count Too and HealthServe.

The Migrant Workers’ Centre is backed by various organisations and hence has the most power in terms of spending, according to the Straits Times.

A volunteer and representative for TWC2 named Seema highlighted the issue to UWCSEA high school students by pointing out how most of the workers were unable to understand English, therefore by signing the legal documents they were essentially “signing their life away.”

When asked a question about the MoM, Seema’s take was that it is possible the government and MoM are only taking action due to the statements made by NGOs fighting for rights, and that they might not have done anything if these NGOs didn’t exist.

Building off of the issue, it is possible that people are oblivious to the hardships faced by the transient workers.

Which is why Seema explicitly underscored the importance of raising awareness to cause change.

It is clear – from the Straits Times perspective – that respect for migrant workers must increase, and this change must come from the people of Singapore rather in order to make the government cause change.

 

References:

Alex. “The Man in the Ministry’s Locked Drawer.” TWC2, TWC2, 25 Jan. 2018, twc2.org.sg/2018/01/25/the-man-in-the-ministrys-locked-drawer/.

Chuan, Toh Yong, and Joanna Seow. “A Helping Hand in a Foreign Land: Kudos to NGOs That Help Singapore’s Migrant Workers.” The Straits Times, Singapore Press Holdings, 17 Dec. 2016, www.straitstimes.com/singapore/kudos-to-ngos-that-help-spores-migrant-workers.

Bonesteel, Kiersten. “Workers Help from Agriculture to Labour .” Odyssey, Odyssey, 25 July 2016, www.theodysseyonline.com/migrant-workers-important.

Kong, Lau Fook. “A Migrant Workers Meeting.” Straits Times, Singapore Press Holdings , 16 Apr. 2017, static.straitstimes.com.sg/sites/default/files/articles/2017/04/16/ST_20170416_LIFPOETRY_3077534.jpg.

I found the TWC2 talk to be very interesting as it raised questions about how we treat different socioeconomic classes in our society. I think that most people in our school are aware that we are amongst some of the most privileged people in our society. Seema, a volunteer helping TWC2 on their campaign to shift the Singapore government’s perspective on the transient workers, to whom they are heavily dependent upon. I think the talk was riveting since Seema pointed out the hardships many people have to face simply because of their socioeconomic background. Singapore possesses a remarkably well built economy which can be traced to the endless labour of migrating workers. Considering that there are such little precautions taken to ensure worker safety,  we as individuals need to reconsider how we think about our society. I was really surprised to find out how Seema was suspicious that the Ministry of Manpower could plausibly only be taking action in order to maintain their public persona.

I thought that the talk was beneficial since most of us are enclosed within this digital bubble and we are oblivious to issues that need to be addressed right now. A quote that really came to my mind when revisiting the talk was:

“The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

                                                                                                                              -Hubert Humphrey

Deborah Emmanuel is a Singaporean poet, her talk was emotional and complemented with unique poems. Emmanuel talked to us about fitting in, and how to accept our cultural roots. She described her life as a third culture child having backgrounds from Singapore, India and America. I think she was very effective in adding music to her poetry as it enhanced it from being words read aloud to impassioned script. Emmanuel’s speech was very thought provoking to me since, as an Indian who has never lived in India, I don’t feel a home-like connection to it. Something that really stayed with me from her talk was that she was very straightforward and confident when speaking about her past, considering her time in jail. Most people who have had such experiences tend to block it out from their memories and chose to leave it in the past, however the way Emmanuel saw that it had shaped her to become who she is today, was inspiring because of how true it is. Every moment in our lives, good or bad, has shaped us to become the people we are today.

I really liked how confident Ms. Emmanuel was about herself. She didn’t seem to let the events of her past let her down and she was proud of her personality and herself. I believe that everyone present at the talk gained a lot of respect for Deborah Emmanuel and poetry, seeing its ability to share messages, emotions and stories.

Robyne Hayes is a social photographer who uses photography as a medium of communication and raising awareness. I found her talk very interesting as she spoke about the prevailing issues of child marriages and male supremacy in LEDCs. I found it inspiring as to how Mrs Hayes found an issue she was passionate about and followed a different method of raising awareness (social photography) for it after seeing that the current methods (writing/presenting) were simply not as effective. I think that this really stayed with me since it shows how you should find better ways of doing things, rather than doing something just because everyone else is. Mrs Hayes presented us with some of her photos, one of which I have posted above. I really thought her talk was meaningful as she demonstrated how a small symbol like giving cameras to the young girls, for their perspective, can cause for such a large amount of change to come out of it.

Chetan Bhagat has been ranked as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people on the planet. Mr Bhagat has a very amiable personality which he complements with his sense of humour. Mr Bhagat’s talk — “Authorpreneur” was about success and how the term is generally misunderstood. Mr Bhagat started off by stating how there are two types of successful people: Those who beat the game and those who change the game. His strategy was to change the game. He realised, while working his accountancy job, that Indians were starting to learn English as a collateral caused by the popularity of English-based smartphones. There was a discernible market for English novels catering to now millions of Indians, however there were no novels targeting it. Mr Bhagat started off writing part time while he worked as an investment banker. His novels were relatable and filled an open market — instantly they became bestselling titles. Today, 5 of his 9 novels have been modified into blockbuster films, their most prominent characteristic being how relatable and down to earth they are. Mr Bhagat gave a nod to Charles Darwin by quoting:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

He described how the dinosaurs were unable to adapt and hence went extinct, in comparison to the lowly cockroach which has managed to adapt and survive for millions of years. He said that this is present in almost all industries as you have to find new ways to make yourself present rather than trying to defeat the companies and people already at the top.

Mr Bhagat then explained long and short effort goals, which are defined by the time it takes to observe a difference by their respective titles. This led to the analogy that nothing is impossible since impossible goals are simply big achievements, which in turn are just long effort goals. However, I would say that one of the most important things to take away from Mr Bhagat’s talk was his advice that you should always “underpromise and then overdeliver.” This is applicable to almost any scenario as doing more than what you are told is almost always better than doing less than what you promised. He stated that to reach a goal there were a few steps to proceed with:

1. HAVE A CLEAR GOAL TO BEGIN WITH

2. HAVE A REASON TO ACHIEVE THAT GOAL

3. FIND YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE (WHO TO MARKET)

4. HAVE A DEALING METHOD (TO COPE WITH FAILURE)

5. HAVE FAITH IN YOUR GOAL

I thought that Mr Bhagat gave a really influential speech in how it gave us insight and motivation to reaching our goals. His constant humour also kept the talk interesting and memorable.

Steve Dawson, a well established commentator for Fox Sports, helped clarify what it means to think as a writer during his perceptive speech. Mr. Dawson used anecdotes from his time as a boxing reporter and Straits Times author to give us a better understanding and feel of the art of professional writing. As an interviewer, he gave us the following tips to ensure that our questions were answerable and comfortable for the interviewee:

 

THE FIVE MAXIMS OF INTERVIEWING:

1. ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

Provide some challenge for the interviewee, but don’t be pushy

2. SET THE ANSWER FREE

Don’t add unnecessary parameters, they restrict the answer

3. DON’T INTERRUPT

You’re not there to talk about you, let the interviewee talk

Doing so allows for you to absorb more information and for them to be articulated

4. BE A SINGLE SHOOTER

Don’t ask double-barrelled questions – the first one is almost always ignored

5. DON’T BE A FAN: BE PROFESSIONAL

Being serious about the matter will cause the interviewee to gain a lot more respect for you

 

While these tips are helpful in hosting a good interview, Mr Dawson also gave us insight into how important connections are in the interviewing business since having a wider network allows for a greater range of potential interviewees. Mr Dawson left us with a note that each interviewer – like an artist – needs to maintain their signature style. The specific case in point being Larry King, who’s strong personality made him a famous interviewer.