Covid-19: Time to consider migrant workers as part of our community
29 April 2020
The Straits Times has published an article titled "Coronavirus: Figuring out what to watch". In this article, the author makes the point that at the moment, the exact numbers of those being infected within the dorms "are not of critical importance in terms of policy decisions", as workers in the dorms have currently been isolated, and non-essential work has been stopped. The author makes the further point that these numbers will become important once dormitory workers start work again, and when they risk infecting people in the broader community.
Such a view only reinforces existing attitudes that migrant workers are not individuals with equal worth as the rest of the population, but dispensable digits to our economy - we can include them in policy decisions when it affects the wider Singaporean population, but we can exclude them when it doesn't, and when issues related to their well-being can be contained unto themselves. If anything, the current outbreak has underscored the need for change in our societal attitudes that are discriminatory.
Claiming that infection numbers among the migrant worker community are not of ‘critical importance’ is also a callous attitude to take. Is this an indication that we will allow infections amongst the workers to spread as long as we can contain them within the dormitories? Apart from workers providing essential services, little has been done to reduce the density of the the number of men living in the dormitories to allow for safe distancing. Overcrowding remains a concern. Their well-being should not be depicted as being secondary to that of the rest of the population.
The author’s statements also ignore reports that the virus is a complicated one, and that medical experts are still discovering new traits about it - accounts have shown that the virus may give rise to complications such as unexplained blood clots, and cause people to be susceptible to strokes - regardless of age. It is therefore a false reassurance to the migrant worker community, and to the Singaporean population at large, to say that large numbers of infections in the dormitories are not a grave problem as those infected are “young and healthy”. We must accept that we are dealing with a novel enemy - we should avoid sweeping generalisations about how the virus will affect our bodies. We should also not ignore the fact that migrant workers in these dormitories have continuously complained of food insecurity - they continue to receive food that is incompatible with their palates or which is not fit for consumption, causing them to consume much less food than they are used to. This may adversely affect their immune system and strength, leading them to be more vulnerable to the virus than they otherwise would be.
The strategy of dividing our daily infection numbers into migrant workers who are living in dormitories and 'community cases' may be useful in providing insights into infection patterns and for epidemiological reasons. However, it should not be used as a tool to segregate and 'other' our already disenfranchised migrant workers. We should not believe that we have won the battle against the virus as soon as numbers in our community have gone down, while hundreds of migrant workers are hospitalised each day with the virus and the rest continue to face the fear and uncertainty of having the virus lurk in their living spaces.
Saying that our measure of success “is not the hundreds of new cases identified daily - mostly foreign workers in dormitories - but in the number of cases in the community”, as the author put it, is therefore a dangerous simplification of the extent of the problem, and also dismisses the systemic concerns that have been raised by and on behalf of migrant workers. It also dehumanises the workers to celebrate any “success” while they are in such distress. That we may be on track to bringing ‘local cases’ of the virus under control but not in the dormitories is not an indicator of success, but a reminder that we have failed our migrant workers.
Migrant workers have played an indispensable role in building our nation - their well-being should be a matter that is of national concern. We must draw them away from the fringes of society and into the fold of our community. We can do better than to promote narratives that attempt to erase their visibility in our society.