Life Abroad (Christina Pelly TWC2)

Life Abroad (Christina Pelly TWC2)

By: Amol Mittal

What assumptions did you bring into this session? What expectations did you have?

Based on prior knowledge, I was aware of the harsh circumstances that migrant workers face when coming to Singapore. My standpoint on this issue was that the Singapore government was making it too expensive for these people to come from abroad, and that it was the government’s fault for not prosecuting employers who decided to exploit migrant workers. I also believed that Migrant Workers didn’t know that they could report and sue their bosses shall they disobey their powers. When TWC2 came, I expected them to simply talk about the harsh conditions as well as the struggle to pay back the debt.

Now that the talk has wrapped, what have you needed to rethink and why?

After the talk, I realised that the government had already placed laws to regulate the conditions that these migrants workers would have to work in. The real issue, as highlighted by Ms Pelly was that there wasn’t any enforcement. Migrant workers knew that they could report to the MOM, however, chose not to as it would endanger their job status and potentially get them removed from Singapore. Migrant workers who have a bad employer would sometimes never get a  pay-cheque. Furthermore, the workers would never argue about it as they knew that the employer could possibly get them removed from Singapore and send them back to their home country. This session really taught me about the struggles they faced, and I felt that these workers should be given the opportunity to move between employers and not have to pay extra agent fees in order to come back to Singapore. Organisations such as TWC2 wouldn’t exist if the government was enforcing the laws that are already placed.  At the end, most of them only come to Singapore as they wanted to generate a better income for there family.