Thai Male Migrant Workers in Singapore
by Junya Prompiam (Yimprasert)
Thai Labour Campaign
published in Journal of Social Research CUSRI 1996
1. Introduction
Lack of labor has been a problem for Singapore
since the early 1960s. In the next three decades, Singapore statistics
show that there were 300,000 legal migrant workers (1992). The
main nationalities and economic activities were:
180,000 Malaysians, mostly in factories
and shipping industries.
50,000 Thais, (20,000 of whom were illegal)
in construction industries.
40,000 Filipinos, mainly in domestic work.
20,000 Bangladeshi and other South Asian
nationals, in construction.
10,000 Professionals and businessmen of
various nationalities.
2. Statement of the Problem
The demand for unskilled workers has been increasing
since 1984 when there were various large construction projects,
for example electric trains, airport and housing complexes. As
legal workers were insufficient to fill the rapidly growing demand,
a large number of illegal workers from Thailand as well as from
other countries were hired.
After the notorious Saudi Arabia
episode (robbery of jewellery from the Sultans Palace by a Thai
worker), the Saudi Government stopped granting work visas to migrant
workers from Thailand. Saudi Arabia used to be the largest labor
market for Thai workers, but after this diplomatic retaliation,
Thai migrant workers had to turn to the job markets in Southeast
Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei) and East Asia (Japan, Taiwan,
South Korea, and Hong Kong).
Thai migrant workers in Singapore
face a number of varied problems: their status as undocumented
aliens, language barriers and work-related problems. One such
problem is the mysterious deaths among Thai male migrant workers.
This "unexplained nocturnal death syndrome" caused more than 200
workers to die from 1984 to1991 and at present there are seven
to eight workers dying every month on average.
Realizing the extent and seriousness
of the problems faced by the Thai migrant workers, a research
team was brought together at the end of 1991 comprising a Thai,
a Singaporean and a German.
3. Research Purpose
3.1 To
study the situations of Thai migrant workers in Singapore
so as to obtain information for making recommendations to
various concerned parties, and upon which means could be devised
to offer assistance to workers who need it.
3.2
To publish a handbook that would help the Thai migrant workers
already working in Singapore and those interested in working
in Singapore. The handbook will comprise (a) laws pertaining
to employment of foreign migrant workers; (b) rights of migrant
workers; and (c) the NGOs that could offer assistance when
problems occur.
3.3 To
establish networks for communication and support among Thai
migrant workers.
3.4 To build
a database for the use of interested NGOs.
3.5 To
build up networks for long-term projects to assist Thai migrant
workers in Singapore, with the collaboration of labor unions
and/ or Thai NGOs.
4. Research Methodologies
4.1 Review of
secondary data, mainly daily newspapers.
4.2 Observation
at the workers meeting places (Golden Mine Complex,etc.).
4.3 Interview
with relevant persons, eg., officials, monks.
4.4 In-depth
interview with four main groups of workers at the following
sites:
4.4.1 Gey
Lang (building complex coustruction)
4.4.2 Bukit
Batok (housing coustruction)
4.4.3 Hougang
(multi-level roads)
4.4.4 Jalan
Gayu (horticulture) (Other groups met outside working hours,
both legal and illegal workers were also talked to for further
information). The in-depth interviews used the following procedure:
selection of 3-4 workers from each site and interview them
during the 3-10 approaches/ interviews. The major contents
of these in-depth interviews included (i) Socio-economic and
demographic backgrounds, (ii) The process and procedure of
migration, (iii) Working conditions, (iv) The problems related
to life and work of the migrants.
5. Summary of findings from in-depth
study
As can be seen in Table 1, roughly
90% of the interviewed workers were between the ages of 26 and
40, more than half were engaged in rice farming before emigrating
to Singapore and all came from the Northeastern provinces of Thailand.
Table 1. Age, place
of birth and previous employment
|
Characteristics
|
Number
|
%
|
|
Age
|
|
|
|
20-25
|
1
|
5
|
|
26-30
|
7
|
35
|
|
31-35
|
4
|
20
|
|
36.40
|
7
|
35
|
|
Over 40
|
1
|
5
|
|
Total
|
20
|
100
|
|
Place of Birth
|
|
|
|
Nakon Ratchasima
|
7
|
35
|
|
Nakon Phamom
|
3
|
15
|
|
Nong Khai
|
3
|
15
|
|
Udonthani
|
2
|
10
|
|
Buriram
|
2
|
10
|
|
Khon Kaen
|
1
|
5
|
|
Ubon Ratchathani
|
1
|
5
|
|
Total
|
20
|
100
|
|
Previous employment
|
|
|
|
Rice farming
|
11
|
55
|
|
Emigrant workers
|
4
|
20
|
|
Laborers
|
4
|
20
|
|
Banking
|
1
|
5
|
|
Total
|
20
|
100
|
Table 2 shows that the majority
of interviewed workers went to work in Singapore through legal
work placement agencies, which they knew of through their neighbours.
The minority went through illegal placement agencies which recruited
them. The Table also shows that the cost is higher if one uses
legal placement agencies as compared to illegal agencies (40,000-47,000
Baht as against 15,000-19,000 Baht).
Table 2.
Means and cost of emigration and access to placement agencies.
| Characteristics
|
Number
|
%
|
| Means
and cost emigration |
|
|
|
(a) legal placement agencies |
14
|
701
|
|
Costing 25,000-29,000 baht *
|
1
|
5
|
|
30,000-34,000 baht
|
0
|
0
|
|
35,000-39,000 baht
|
1
|
5
|
|
40,000-44,000 baht
|
6
|
30
|
|
45,000-47,000 baht
|
6
|
30
|
|
(b) illegal placement agencies
|
6
|
30
|
|
Costing 15,000-19,000 baht
|
4
|
20
|
|
20,000-24,000 baht
|
0
|
0
|
|
25,000-29,000 baht
|
2
|
10
|
|
Total
|
20
|
100
|
|
Who
referred you to the placement agency?
|
|
|
|
(a) legal placement agencies
|
14
|
70
|
|
neighbors
|
10
|
50
|
|
the agencies themselves
|
2
|
10
|
|
father or brothers
|
2
|
10
|
|
(b) illegal placement agencies
|
6
|
30
|
|
neighbors
|
4
|
5
|
|
the agencies themselves
|
1
|
20
|
|
father or brothers
|
0
|
0
|
|
found the agency by himself
|
1
|
5
|
|
Total
|
20
|
100
|
*Approx. US$ 1 = 25 baht.
From the in-depth interviews, the process of immigration
to Singapore can be shown as follows:
Figure 1. Steps
of immigration to Singapore
Legal
Illegal
It takes about 2-3 months to go
through the migration procedure if the workers use legal placement
agencies, while it takes no more than one month should they use
illegal placement agencies. Nonetheless both types of workers
travel from their homes to Hadyai by tour bus/coach, which takes
at least one day. From Hadyai to Singapore takes another, 20 hours.
The reason for using illegal placement
agencies is that the procedure is quicker and that the workers
are made to believe, incorrectly, that after three months the
agencies will help legalize their work status. Thus, while they
remain illegal workers, they face additional hardships; they have
to live and work in secret, are subjected to their employers who
tend to exploit them and if, caught, are also subjected to caning
and imprisonment if they overstayed more than 3 months.
Thai migrant works are allowed
to stay and work in Singapore for a maximum of four years (two
employment contract). Therefore, those who want to stay longer
will usually return home, change their name and passport and return
to Singapore on another contract. This strategy is also used by
Thai workers in Japan.
The majority Thai male migrant
workers are engaged in manual labor, such as constructing housing
complexes, offices, roads, airport, or horticultural work and
gardeners in public parks. The working hours are usually 7.30-19.00.
The wage they get is lower than
their Singaporean and Malaysian counterparts. That is, the daily
wage of Singaporean construction workers was S$ 40-50 and the
Malaysian workers S$ 17-30 when S$ 1 = 15.50 baht.. The Thai and
the Bangladeshi, on the other hand, get the lowest wages of S$
15-20 and S$ 15-17, respectively. The over-time pay is also lowest
among the Thai and Bangladeshi, being S$ 2-3 and no more than
S$ 2 per hour, respectively. Of the 20 workers interviewed in
depth, eight received the wage of S$ 15 per day, five got S$ 17,
three got S$ 18, and only two received a wage of over S$ 20 per
day.
The wage per month is very low,
about S$ 450-600 or about 6,900-9,300 baht. This low wage, coupled
with the migrants desire to save more money, makes the Thai migrant
workers eager to work over-time. As they have to compete with
the Bangladeshi who accept lower pay, the Thai migrant workers
need to accept equally low pay of S$ 2 per hour, not the S$ 3.
Expenses, on average, come to about
S$ 150 (2,300 baht) per month for daily maintenance, such as food
and necessary goods and services. This amount does not include
remittances to the home country, nor luxury goods and services
such as alcohol, entertainment and women.
6. The major problems of Thai migrant workers.
The problems of Thai male migrant
workers in Singapore are various. The major ones are:
1. health problems, including
actual hygiene, lack of proper diet, deaths from and fear
of nocturnal death syndrome, mental stress and strain, homesickness.
2. money-related problems, including
debts incurred in Thailand in the process of emigration and
misuse of income on gambling and women.
3. problems related to labor law and
the status of illegal workers, including strict laws that
limit the bargaining power of the foreign workers, failure
of the law to stipulate social welfare benefits for the foreign
workers, and the Levy law requirement that employers who employ
foreign migrant workers must to pay S$450 for a worker per
month to the Singaporean government as the premium for hiring
foreign workers.
4. problems related to civil and criminal
laws and law enforcement, including illegal entry, illegal
stay and illegal employment in Singapore, fights resulting
from drinking and women, murders, drug trafficking and robberies.
The laws are severe and uncompromising, resulting in many
Thai nationals being subjected to corporal punishment by hanging.
5. problems related to verbal communication
and socio-cultural adaptation, including lack of language
skills leading to limited chance of being promoted, and to
being isolated from and feared by other ethnic groups and
the Singaporeans.
7. Conclusion and recommendations
The problems of Thai male migrant
workers in Singapore are severe and deserve more attention from
the government and NGOs of both Thailand and Singapore. The Thai
government, in particular, should pressure the Singaporean government
to pay more attention to the welfare of the Thai migrant workers.
More specifically, it is here recommended
that:
1. There should be a change at the policy
level. The Thai government, particularly the Ministry of Labor
and Social Welfare, should play a key role in pressing the
Singaporean government to revise its labor law such that the
Thai migrant workers are more fairly treated and receive higher
wages and more social benefits than they do at present.
2. There should be an increase in the
number of labor attaches so that the number is proportional
to the number of Thai migrant workers which was estimated
to be around 50,000.
3. Relevant information should be made
available to concerned parties including NGOs in Thailand
and in Singapore. The NGOs in Thailand in particular should
provide factual information and counselling to would-be migrants.
4. The Thai public, especially families
of Thai migrant workers, should be made aware of the multitude
of problems faced by the workers. Hopefully, this would have
the effect of generating greater frugality on the part of
the families receiving remittances so the workers could thus
return to the families sooner.
5. There should be a serious attempt
to create jobs in the rural area and/or promote alternate/integrated
agriculture, so that rural people could be more selfsufficient
and have less need or desire to go to work abroad.
6. There should be an organization to
assist the Thai workers in Singapore, the organization should
be culture-oriented because it would reduce loneliness, homesickness
and isolation. It is important to note that the setting up
of such an organization is not against the Singaporean law,
while organizing among workers is.
|
