In this engagement, I attended the online forum of the Institute of Policy Studies which discussed the ‘Policy Responses and Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic.’
The first panellist Mr Jeremy Lim talked about the conditions the migrant workers were put at in height of the pandemic, and also what had let the infection numbers rise so rapidly, which I found very interesting. First Mr Lim mentioned the situation of the pre-Covid time. He pointed out the problem of how the healthcare system that ensures employers to pay for the workers is not put to practice due to power dynamics and financial constraints, thus leading to workers unable to have timely access to healthcare. The condition of the dormitories which has especially gathered attention was also mentioned as well. He noted that most of the time, the dorm operators hold the responsibility to take care of the dormitories. This had not changed for a while after the Covid-19 outbreak, in which the government simply left the role of maintaining hygiene regulations to them. There was a problem to this, however, since dorm operators already had difficulties sticking to the current measures. The fact that the government and MOM did not take the problem to their hands until the issue had turned too big, should have been one of the reasons the breakout amongst the migrant workers turned out so big.
Mr Walter Theseira, who talked about the economic factors of migrant workers, another factor that has become more visible in this situation also left a strong impression on me. I was especially interested in what he said about the structure of the foreign worker system-since we are employing foreigners since they accept cheaper wages, are easy to fire, and gain control over them in the first place, it becomes a big challenge to change the structure when looking at this issue from an economic perspective. However, he also highlighted that we have an ‘ethical duty’ to attempt to improve this issue, which also connects the concept of human rights.
Overall through the forum, the main idea that came in common amongst the panellists’ opinion was that ‘The government needs to hold more responsibility and create more policies, and in order for that to happen Singapore citizens must show their concerns to this issue, and their acceptance to changes that may happen.’ Panellists also pointed out how young people are showing more of their interests towards migrant workers, and now that the Covid-19 outbreak has happened, more people may show their willingness for change. However, it would be always difficult to sacrifice the economic gains we receive from them.