SOC 320 Sociology Of Law

Fluri (2014), asserts that the term security and migration are interconnected and irretrievable because due to the risk of the security and safety the individuals are migrated. Since, the migration leads to the increase in the population in the country therefore this become create the risk for the people who already living there. Further, a significant body of work on the securitisation of migration has revealed the manner in which the states invoke tropes of dread, uneasiness and threat to legitimate the segregation or administration of migrant bodies. Two interconnected line of investigation could be identified here. Primarily, previous effort connected with the securitisation of migration expands the general principle of the securitisation.

Reasons due to which temporaty migrant workers in Singapore are perceived as criminal threat to Singapore Society

The main reason due to which temporary migrant workers are believed to be criminal or threat to Singapore Society is that they belong to other society which is usually less developed. As they are not part of Singapore society they cannot be easily accepted. According to Kitiarsa (2014), these sociological strategies together enable migrants to be administrated as per the local rules made by the government which leads to the control of the activities of the migrate workers on the basis of the risk perceived by the local society. Furthermore, this activity operates with security on a major scale, a second, latest approach to the securitisation of migration functions firstly with the individual body.  The securitisation is conceptualised like a distributed procedure exercised according to the estimations of risk and possibility, by which migrant bodies are controlled by the host society as a consistent practice.

The myth that migrant are danger rather than victims  keen to thrust significant security studies ahead of the local level obsession with analysing armed policy, in the direction of deliberation of different modern uncertainties. The theory adopted by the Copenhagen School of security studies to disclose how much speech-acts are organized to position migrants as existential threats to the nation-state. Moreover, for example, the manner in which management of the EU’s outward precincts took place by regulations related with radicalism and prepared after deemed the area of inner safeguarding security along with complicated lists that accumulate shapes of individuals considered as probable for the crime has supported the myth that migrants are danger rather than victims.

Moreover, the emphasis has also been made on the provision of the act of deportation relating to ‘palpable sense of deportability’ followed through the conditions for unregistered migrant workers as a susceptible and tractable commodity. Furthermore, the most significant impact of securitisation of migration is materialised with the Greece-Turkey border zone as exercising of negative abscond migrants to go under the Aegean Sea. Another securitisation policy which centres on the risk related with the body of the migrants outlining that shatters the issue up in (Bondi, 2014). On the basis of the study related with the safeguarding and the migration which have frequently focused on overseas considered unlawful and useless that is the discarded of globalisation which should be set out of with stakes keen to state control over their own country.

The same leads to the appearance of borders as a fundamental place of analysis. In addition, it has been scrutinized how discourses relating to 9/11 have been utilised to legitimate keen border control. Thus, these incidence force to have a thought to assure that whether the migrant workers are threat or not. With accordance to Lewis, Dwyer, Hodkinson, Waite( 2015), conceptualisation of the border as delegated and personified keeps on stay to be committed to a concept of safety based on the fact of who and how an individual is excluded from state territory . Thus, through analysing facts and provision, it can be assessed the situation of migrants in terrible to a significant level.

Believing migrant as threat leads to wrongful treatment with them

DeGenova’s make the effort in which deportability is discussed as a possibility relatively than an act is intimately aligned with the arguments. It is disputed that migrants who are not deportable that are specified their regularised status are similarly subjected to a situation of insecurity and eternal temporariness. Thus, as they are not part of the country it is not easy to trust on them due to belief that migrants are threat to the society. For instance as the migrants of Bangladesh comprehend that their work-permits will be applicable only for twoyears at a time and that they could not be transformed into permanent residency in spite of how long the migrant has lived in Singapore. It can be accessed from this fact due to negative perception relating to migrant wrongful treatment is done with them.  Furthermore, De Genova argues that deportability imbues everyday life, so in alignment with same, it is argued that permanent temporariness becomes present in daily life of migrants through their encounters with state power (MHA, 2014).

Even the procedure applied by the employer is a fraught one since applications to take advanced examinations are reliant on managers’ approval. They might desire to keep them at inferior levels to continue the lower salary cost in order to secure employees from moving to clinical jobs in hospitals once they become eligible as ENs or RNs (Koh and etal. 2017). The possibility exist that the reason behind keeping them at inferior level is the negatives characteristic of temporary migrant workers. Not shockingly, some opt to resign their jobs as NAs working with 30-40 patients in nursing homes, to operate as foreign domestic employees for a family with one or two aged patients.

Tariff is believed as quick to reproach the executors of the event, stating that fighting is no use in terms where the state is a vault to crack down on violence swiftly and efficiently. These phrases of respect for Singapore’s law are ways through which migrants fold mutually different encounters by the state power in order to represent themselves as individuals with profound esteem for orderliness. Thus, they refuse state-led presumption of themselves as hazardous, lawless persons. Along with this, migrants assess state power as allowing the movement of good migrant bodies. As per the study of Baey, Yeoh (2015), most of the Bangladeshi migrants describe Little India as places in which threat of being deceived by other migrants make them anxious. This is the reason behind being possessive regarding the potential of the police to ensure safety in this region.

Strategies applied back by migrants due to wrongful treatment

Due to specified inappropriate treatment, as per the study of Tan (2015) migrants also set up procedures of occupancy. While migrants limit their congregation to open-spaces legalised by police patrols and video surveillance, crowds enable migrants to baffle state power.  It was common for the contributors to recommend that the sheer number of migrants who assemble on evenings of Sunday provides regular activities of securitization ineffective. For example, it is computed that thirty to forty thousand individuals assemble here on these nights so much in order that police will not handle many individuals. It was evident that police could not test out everybody’s documents or seek out for minor crimes as overwhelming crowds makes people migrant bodies imperceptible. The main disparity among migrant domestic employees and healthcare employees is that the state identifies last’s upgrade qualifications, even those employees who are on  work permits. Therefore, allowing them to move about from the work consent to S-pass and also gradually declining the tax paid by managers.

The article ‘Buy a discount maid at Singapore’s malls by Malay (2014) states about the Bukit Timah Shopping Centre  in Singapore which was established in 1970 where there are five stages of brightly lit rooms and galleries known as home keeper and budget maid. The article is related with the activities of the women and also describes how the women are treated in the country.

Along with the domestic woman worker there are so many other women who belong to other country such as Indonesia, Myanmar and so on. They women workers show as a display and they giving evidence to their responsiveness and hard work or promoting for getting the proper earning. Further, several companies who hires the women and make them available to other as a house keeper. Local employees, when the client is coming they shows that they are engaged in the activity. At the same time, in other gallery woman cots a baby doll and tries to show that they are changing the cloths of baby. Moreover in Singapore at malls such as Shopping Centre on Mountbatten Road, also shows the same situation.

The chief associate of Transient Workers Too (TWC2) Moreover, Shelly Thio, points many issues relating to the conditions related with the employment such as the non-payment of the salary, excessive working hours, and discrimination by the employer and so on. Furthermore, Thio stated that the live-in condition is unacceptable since it merely results in abuse and several women become weakdue to the exclusion of connectivity technique, which separates them from their family members.

Malay (2014), asserts thatthe live-in condition may abscond vulnerable to sexual mistreatment. Last year, a similar incident came forward in which sexual abuse of Cambodian domestic worker by the family member of the employer, with whom she had to share the premises. She protested against the company as well as that family member, but no action was taken by them prior to the abuse. Thus, it can be assessed that the condition of migrants is too critical and required to be improved in a significant manner. In Singapore, migrant workers are foundin overcrowdedplaceswith deprived sanitary conditions. In one case, it has been determined that many migrant employees were sharing the washrooms.Moreover, the article specifies that supervision provided by the ministry of the Indonesia was not adequate, which has led to the fraud practices such as high fee, and  unreliable norms of the company at the time of the slecetion of the employee.

In some aspect, due to the corruptpractices, the management and the monitoring of the training centre in inventing country are very inadequate(TWC2, 2015). As per the managing director of the training centre, situated in Indonesia, stated that at the time of the inspection by the local police of the training centre, the police accept the bribes from the centre as a condition of the concealment. Many employees who came to Singapore have significant credit due to the placement fee paid to the agencies which are paid from the deduction of the monthly salary.

Shelley Thio, the chief member of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), said that there are very cases, where the debt of the domestic worker around $4500 to their agencies and average debts women around $2500 to $3000. As per the Wham, agencies as per their own norms levy the significant amount of fee from the workers and the woman paid the fee as they thought that there is no choice available with them, therefore they have to pay the high fee to the employer.Further, in Singapore, local workers are also working illegally as there are many workers who are not eligible for the working because of the age but still they were employed by the employer.

In Singapore, the treatment with the migrant worker is not justifiable as the migrant worker has faced the situation of the adverse working environment along with the reduced wages for their performance as compared with the local person of Singapore. The legislation of Singapore also does not provide the protection to the migrant along with no minimum wage rate system for the migrants.

However to address the problems of the migrant the government has started taking action which leads to the excellent fare of the migrants. Government realize that foreign workers play anessential role in the industry. Therefore, workers should provide the proper wages and the good working environment in the workplace.

In the local newspaper of Singapore, the article related to the foreign worker published. In this article, it was stated that government make the order of the penalty of $ 45000 to the housewife due to the misbehaviour with the worker. An incident specified in the article reports that in this a household lady employs the two Indonesian ladies for the working of the home. The household lady of the house ordered her two maids to clean the window by climbing on to the structure. Both the maids by using the safety equipment such as safety belt, gloves, large and extended wiper, and mask performed the work. The lawyer of the Ministry of manpower named as Shanty expressed the judge that if the maids were fell down from the wooden floor, and then even though they using the safety belt but the safety belt did not ensure the protection of the maid at the time of slipped off. Along with this, Shanty said that there is no proper and essential measure which leads to the safeguarding of the maids. Moreover, the Indonesian woman is not get training for performing the work at height.

In the investigation, it has been analysed that household lady asked one maid to perform the activity as the maintenance and repair work and as a supporter (Yea, 2017).  Even though the pass of the maid did not allow for performing such type of the task. After sometime the household lady with the help of her maid around in four hours prepares the structure, which is nearly above 4.5m high. Further, the household lady evaluates the structure and find that the structure is stable and functional than an order to the maid to climb on the structure for the paint, varnish on the wooden wall which was at the back of the house.

However Shanty contented that the essential features such as railing and guardrails are not attached to the structure. On the opposite of Shanty, another Lawyer named as Shashi Nathan contented that there is no proof the maid was forced by the household lady for the climb on to the structure and perform the task, and there is a perfect relationship between the maid and household lady.

Now, both he maids left the employment of the household lady, one is returned to the home country,and another maid was working for another house.Ministry of Manpower declared in the statement that employer is accountable for the protection of the employee; it is a legal duty of the employee to provide the proper safety working environment at the workplace(Alkhatib,2018). Along with this, the Ministry of Manpower also said that employer should certify that the foreign domestic worker should perform their activity as per the norms and rule set up by the ministry related with the safe work practices at the workplace.

In this case, the risk to the maids was real as it is directly related with the safety of the maids. Therefore the ministry of manpower took the strict action against the household lady. The household lady entreated guilty failing to provide the secure working environment to the maids,and the work which was ordered by the household lady was not according to the legal norms of the law. Due to the all above reason the household lady was charged the penalty of $46000.

Apart from the above, employment of foreign manpower act also provides the various penalty provisions for the employer at the time of committing the offence related with the foreign migrant workers.

Since there is a significant difference in the economic condition between the countries, some countries are very developed,and other countries have slow economic growth. Therefore there is shifting of the workforce from the less developed country to developed country in search of the occupation. Specifically, in Singapore, the female migrant workforce above 50% as compared with the year 1990. The migrant female workforce is substituting the local female workforce in many areas such as housework, childcare and so on.

Earlier in the Singapore behaviours with the migrant workforce was not appropriate as the employer did not understand their obligation and responsibilities towards the worker and there is also the substantial differentiation in the wage structure of the migrant workforce. To solve this issue, the government of Singapore approved employment of the foreign manpower act, which describe the accountability and the duty of the employee at the time of employing the foreign worker, leads to the protection and the security of the rights of the migrant workforce in Singapore.

On the basis of an article published in the international newspaper, it has been seen that the migrant women are treated in a very misbehave manner by the employer. In the article, it was stated that in the shopping malls the maids are displayed as a commodity thing for the sale. Along with this, the women did not get sufficient food at the time of working, which is a basic necessity of every person. Further, the live-in requirement leads to sexual harassment by the employer. Overall the condition of the women worker was deplorable if assessed on the basis of international new.

In the article published in the local newspaper, it has been analysed that the household lady did not take care of the safety of the maid of her house as at the time of the working by the maid there was the risk as if maid slipped off from the structure then she may get harmed. In this case, the ministry of manpower charged the fine on the household lady. On the basis of this article, it has been concluded that recently the government started to take care of the migrant workforce and realized the responsibility as well as the importance of the migrant worker. Moreover, they are concerned to a significant extent relating to migrants.

In the article of Bal’s, three central myths have been discussed about the less-salary short term migrant employees who are broadcast by the state government and by he community and they are:

Myth1: at the time of return to home migrant workers rich

Singaporeans have a commonview that whilst migrant employees can receive fewer salary, nearby S$250-S$1000 in thirty days; it is considered as a large value in their nation of origin(Bal, 2017).When they return to home, the doubt is, they are capable of constructingbig houses for themselves as well as for their family and live contentedly. It has been stated by Huang and Yeoh, (2015) that because of the norms of employment structure and government rules, such results are incredibly improbable. There are some reasons behind the same, primarily; for the prohibition of the employment in the Singapore the migrant workers have to pay the high fees of the selection..  Thus, changes in the provision relating to the same should be made so that more benefits can be transferred to the migrants (Kaur, Tan and Dutta 2016).

Fee payment to the agent incur without any assurance. No official rules are there in Singapore or in distributioncountries, which enables migrant employees to proclaim reimbursement related with the selection fee incur to the overseas when service is impulsively ended.

Myth 2: Migrant employees are victims of delinquent workers

Under this myth, it is stated that migrant employees are descended by people and not bylaw, their mistreatment along with abuse are extraordinary situation instead of proper. In reality, though rules of the government participate in the proper utilization and exploitation of migrant employees’ aspect. Further, they are mistreated not due to the few workers unable to consider the rule but specific rules built a tendency for workers to misbehave employees. There are few regulations which lefts employees vulnerable to misuse. Inadequateprovisions take place to prevent employees from mistreatment.

Myth 3: Migrant employees are a menace to society

Temporary workers are not represented as dupes of misbehaving workers but posed adanger to the community of Singapore. These are observed as probable immigration criminals who might also be participated in the offence for example theft, burglary and sexual abuse. Further, they are perceived as individuals whose community rules and customs are lower to and irreconcilable with their manner of living. Their manner of performing things return to home, their proclivity for attack, disturbance and violence, probable intimidate the amity and steadiness that is enjoyed in Singapore. These myths are problematicalnot because they are infrequently recovered by specific proof, instead they majorly hinder, public discusses on problems which affect the welfare of foreign employees along with of their society (Bal, 2013).

With accordance to the current International Labour Organisation computation, there are 11.52 million migrant employees across the world. Further 237100 of them inhabit in Singapore and judging the tendency from last years; the numbers are anticipated to increase. There are some changes in Singapore’s law relating to the poor conduct of migrant workers described as below-

The inventiveness of Ministry of Manpower

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has taken a decisive role in advocating for positive working connections among workers and FDWs that is Foreign Domestic Workers. Moreover, MOM’s Manager’s Guide and FDWs pitches for open communication, sharing of concerns and assisted family integration where managers try to assimilate FDWs into their home. According to MOM (2015), it methodically involves subject matters that range from medical expenses to overseas leave.  

As per assertions of Guerette (2016), in order to decrease the tension among managers and FDWs, MOMs modified policy in 2010 to make sure that security bonds are not forfeited if the FDWs breach Work Permit regulations that are endorsed to its own behaviour. Furthermore, security bonds are at uncertain only when managers not succeed to examine the conditions of the relationships or in limited exceptional cases (Ghai, 2018). Relaxation of rules assists managers to untie their control over their workers since managers will not lose their depositstill the time theycomply with the cited conditions.  

Regulations for Errant Manager

According to TWC2 (2013), weekly rest day has been given in order to make sure that FDWs have a constant psychological and emotional break from their domestic responsibilities (Ye, 2016). Along with this, FDWs are sanctioned to substitute their rest day for a day’s wages or an alternative rest day taken within the similar month. Further, if FDWs gets monetary reimbursement rather than using the rest day reliant on mutual contract among manager and worker.

In spite of this development, there are some variances in the content and enforcement of associated legislation (Rahman, 2017). Few workers might have family members that entail around the clock care of FDWs. In accordance with the fact of a survey conducted by HOME in the year 2015 reveal that 54% of 670 foreign workers have a weekly day off (Broadhurst, Lee and Chan, 2016). At the same time, 40% of the contributors stated having a rest day less than once a week. After analysing the whole situation, it can be assessed that the main issue comprises in the strictness of application of provision relating to migrant workers. Though the situation has changed a bit still significant changes are required in order to improve the phase. One of the main action which can improve the condition of migrant workers is making them aware of relating to their rights as well as the changed regulations by the government. Thus, through this initiative, they will be able to ascertain the manner they have to deal in case they are abused or exploited. As many of the workers don’t even observe that they are being misused or exploited by their bosses.Eventhe government requires to take much more sincere attempts to provide information relating to their rights as an employee and jurisdiction where complaintsregardingthe same can be made in order to give justice to them. Moreover, people are also required to change their perspectives towards employee and need to deal with them by considering humanity. The way of treating housemaids is necessary to change as they do require love and affection. Government authorities are needed to make strict provision and heavy penalties regarding offences done for not dealing with employees (housemaids and servant) in an appropriate manner.

Alkhatib I.S., (2018). Housewife fined $46k after maids spotted working on scaffolding outside house. Retrieved from <https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/housewife-fined-46k-after-maids-spotted-working-on-scaffolding-outside-house>.

Baey, G., Yeoh, B.S.A., (2015). Migration and precarious work: negotiating debt, employment, and livelihood strategies amongst Bangladeshi migrant men working in Singapore’s construction industry, Working Paper 26, Migrating Out of Poverty, University of Sussex, Retrieved from < https://migratingoutofpoverty.dfid.gov.uk/files/file.php? name=wp26-baey-yeoh-2015-migration-and-precarious-work.pdf&site=354 > .

Bal C., (2017). Myths and Facts: Migrant Workers in Singapore. Retrieved from <https://newnaratif.com/research/myths-and-facts-migrant-workers-in-singapore/>.

Bal, C.S., (2013). The Politics of Obedience: Bangladeshi Construction Workers and the Migrant Labour Regime in Singapore. PhD thesis. Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, Perth

Bondi, L., (2014). Feeling insecure: a personal account in a psychoanalytic voice. Soc. Cultural Geogr. pp15 (3), 332–350

Broadhurst, R., Lee, K. W., & Chan, C. Y. (2016). Crime trends. In Understanding criminal justice in Hong Kong (pp. 75-98). Routledge.

Fluri, J.L., (2014). States of (in)security: corporeal geographies and the elsewhere war. Environ. Plann. D: Soc. Space, pp32 (5), 795–814

Ghai, Y. (2018). Migrant Workers, Markets, and the Law. In Global history and migrations (pp. 145-182). Routledge.

Guerette, R. T. (2016). Migration, culture conflict, crime and terrorism. Routledge.

Huang, S., &Yeoh, B. S. (2015). Foreign Domestic Workers in Singapore: A Neglected Social Issue?.In 50 Years of Social Issues in Singapore (pp. 167-187).

Kaur, S., Tan, N., & Dutta, M. J. (2016). Media, migration and politics: The coverage of the Little India Riot in The Straits Times in Singapore. Journal of Creative Communications, 11(1), 27-43.

Kitiarsa, P., (2014). The ‘Bare Life’ of Thai Migrant Workmen in Singapore. Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai.

Koh, C. Y., Wee, K., Goh, C., &Yeoh, B. S. (2017). Cultural mediation through vernacularization: framing rights claims through the day?off campaign for migrant domestic workers in Singapore. International Migration, 55(3), 89-104.

Lewis, H., Dwyer, P., Hodkinson, S., Waite, L., ( 2015). Hyper-precarious lives: migrants, work and forced labour in the Global North. Prog. Hum. Geogr. 39 (5), 580–600.

Macey, D., 2009. Rethinking biopolitics, race and power in the wake of Foucault.Theory, Culture Soc. 26 (6), 186–20

Malay M., (2014). Buy a discount maid at Singapore’s malls. Retrieved from<https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/06/buy-discount-maid-at-singapore-malls-201462495012940207.html>

MHA, (2014), Ministerial Statement on the Little India Riot Ministry of Home Affairs, 20 Jan, Retrieved from< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX5Mfn52k1U > .

MOM, (2015), Foreign Workforce Numbers Ministry of Manpower, 17 Sep, Retrieved from< https://www. mom.gov.sg/documents-and-publications/foreign-workforce-numbers > .

Rahman, M. M. (2017). Immigration and Integration Policy in Singapore. In Bangladeshi Migration to Singapore (pp. 27-52). Springer, Singapore.

Tan, C.C., (2015). Gathering Spaces for Migrant Workers in Little India: A Study on the Spatialisation of Control. Masters thesis. Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore.

TWC2, (2013). Migrant worker housing: a survey of men in TWC2’s Cuff Road Project, Transient Workers Count Too, Retrieved from< https://twc2.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ Housing_conditions_report_v6-9.pdf > .

TWC2, (2015). Caught spitting and a life may be ruined, Transient Workers Count Too, 20 Jun, Retrieved from< https://twc2.org.sg/2015/06/20/caught-spitting-and-a-life-may-beruined/ > .

Ye, J. (2016). Class inequality in the global city: Migrants, workers and cosmopolitanism in Singapore. Springer.

Yea, S. (2017). The art of not being caught: Temporal strategies for disciplining unfree labour in Singapore’s contract migration. Geoforum, 78, 179-188.