COVID-19 Exposes Singapore’s Shame

After the initial euphoria of managing the spread of COVID-19 in the country, and lauded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for its ‘all-of-government’ approach, Singapore was shocked when its figures suddenly spiked dramatically in a single day on 5th April 2020. 

 

 

The cause? A lapse on the policy makers’ part for not attending to the wellbeing of its more than a 1million migrant workers, a third of whom live mainly in packed dormitories. Despite years of warning from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) working with migrant workers about the conditions of these dormitories and the potential for the spread of diseases, initial efforts by the authorities to contain the virus focused mostly on its citizens and residents. 

 

 

Possibly conditioned by its usual ‘deaf ears’ when it comes to the welfare of the workers, who literally build, clean and maintain the garden city, free masks and hand sanitizers were given out only to citizens and residents in every household. The migrant workers were invisible on the radar of the planners, policy makers and strategists.

While contact tracing was done conscientiously among the citizen and resident population, no systematic testing was initiated among the migrant workers at their workplace or dormitories. It was as if they were dismissed, not prioritized or completely nonexistent among the concerns of the policy makers.  

 

 

Even the paragon of the Singaporean statesman Ambassador-at-Large Professor Tommy Koh didn’t mince his words in his 6th April Facebook posting – “…The government has allowed their employers to transport them in flatbed trucks with no seats. They stay in overcrowded dormitories and are packed like sardines with 12 persons to a room. The dormitories are not clean or sanitary. The dormitories were like a time bomb waiting to explode. They have now exploded with many infected workers. Singapore should treat this as a wakeup call to treat our indispensable foreign workers like a First World country should and not in the disgraceful way in which they are treated now.”

 

 

As a result of this neglect or discrimination, the government lost control of the outbreak and with it, its international reputation for the astute handling of the crisis. Before this sad development, the legendary singer Barbra Streisend tweeted how Singapore’s PM “speaks such common sense. He tells people the truth and they did everything that needed to be done to be ready for this virus”.

 

 

The truth is that Singapore did not do what needs to be done, and through its short sightedness a powder keg has been ignited.

 

 

The building code for dorm rooms allows for up to 20 people to be packed into a room of 90sqm so that social distancing becomes impossible.  

 

 

The result is simple science – a stupefying 10-fold jump in the number of cases, from 1,000 before 1st April to 10,141 on 22nd April with almost 80% of the cases attributed to workers living in the dormitories.

 

 

 

 

 

Above figures and table taken from the Ministry of Health, Singapore website www.moh.gov.sg

How is the situation being salvaged now?

 

The health experts scrambled to get those in the dormitories tested in order to isolate those who are infected from those who are not. The unexpected surge meant alternative venues have had to be found to house workers not exhibiting symptoms and provide accommodation for those performing essential services. Sports stadiums, exhibition halls, car parks, military camps, vacant old housing estates and even offshore floating lodgings (used by workers in the marine industries) were quickly converted to shelter those not infected while more targeted measures were enforced to maintain hygiene and food supplies to dormitories which have been quarantined. 

 

 

Teams of doctors and nurses volunteered to help out in the dormitories after their regular shifts in their hospitals and clinics to assist in testing and managing the workers’ health. 

 

 

Pamphlets were translated into the workers’ languages to help them understand more about the virus and what they need to do to protect themselves and prevent further spread.


Information from the National University Health Systems

 

 

Information sessions were conducted by the doctors not just to talk down to them but to engender a genuine dialogue facilitated by the workers’ representatives to discuss what is the best solution forward. The aim was to explain what is or isn’t feasible and how they can all work together to protect themselves from infection. The resulting decisions have been communicated to the rest of the workers through cell like groups. This is to ensure that the message got through to the workers from people they trust. 

 

 

Singapore needs to address this prodigious imbalance in power in the crafting of public policies. No one has adequate knowledge in today’s rapidly changing world, and that is why even the experts, the medical doctors, are now talking to the workers as equals to really understand what can and needs to be done in such a crisis. 

 

 

The politicians and decision makers should also learn that the more transparent they are, the more information they share and the more open they are to listening and heeding the repeated warnings of NGOs and CSOs, the better they are able to stay afloat and navigate the sea change that is disrupting every aspect of our lives today. 

 

 

If there is anything to be learned, it must be time they truly end the marginalization of migrant workers and not just pay lip service to the Foreign Workers Dormitories Act 2015. 

 

Even before 2015, NGOs and CSOs have fought hard to raise awareness of the conditions of the dormitories and this very piece of legislation was meant to improve the situation. 
 

 

Deplorably, half a decade later, the same problems persist, either through weak enforcement or just a wretched dismissal of the interests of these workers by the government. The whole country is now paying a most heavy price for their colossal lapses.