Foreign workers at void decks leave residents seething

The following article was published in the Straits Times on 25 Nov 2007.

Foreign workers at void decks leave residents seething
Happy-hour sessions disturb residents, but police say workers are breaking no laws
By Nur Dianah Suhaimi , Shuli Sudderuddin
Nov 25, 2007

IT IS a weekday night at Block 651A in Jurong West Street 61, but it is 'happy hour' for the 40 or so Indian foreign workers hanging out at the void deck.

They sit on the floor, in small groups of three or four with fellow workers from the same village in India, and eat their curry dinners, snack on nuts and nurse bottles of Indian beer or arrack.

But the happy-hour session, which starts at about 8pm and can go on till 2am during weekends, does not always end happily.

On good nights, empty beer bottles and styrofoam food boxes litter the void deck. On bad nights, drunk workers can be found sleeping amid the litter and strong stench of urine.

Early this month, after a particularly noisy Deepavali happy-hour session, a resident in Block 651A wrote to The Straits Times to complain about the problem.

Ms Ng Hui Ying, 32, a cinema manager, said she wrote to the paper because the situation has not improved despite numerous complaints to the MP and the police.

She said: 'The workers drink beer, get rowdy and urinate all over the place. Once, they fought using beer bottles. Sometimes, they pass out at the void deck after drinking too much.'

She and her neighbours have formed an informal vigilante group, which patrols the neighbourhood to 'catch' workers who sleep and urinate at the void deck.

One upset resident who lives on the ground floor of Block 653A admitted that he fought with a foreign worker earlier this year after he caught the foreigner urinating outside his kitchen window.

Mr Lee Chia Poon, 38, a plumber, said his wife, who is a member of the patrol, had alerted him to the worker urinating.

'I ran out and grabbed him and we got into a fist fight. My fist was bleeding and I hit his head so hard that an ambulance came to patch him up.'

He said the foreign worker did not report him to the police because he knew that he was in the wrong.

There are about 10,000 foreign workers staying in dormitories that are just a 10-minute walk away from the block.

Factory worker Rahim Mohamad Nor, 54, said that seeing so many men hanging out at the void deck makes his family 'scared'.

'When they're drunk, they get into fist fights and pee all around. My children are scared to go downstairs.'

The discomfort that he feels is long shared by residents in other HDB estates which have also become gathering points for foreign workers.

Residents in Block 151, Bedok Reservoir Road, which is just across the road from three dormitories housing about 9,000 foreign workers, dub their block 'the foreign workers' club'.

They, too, complain about the foreigners getting drunk and littering.

Housewife Lim Siew Kwan, 32, who has been living in the block for 19 years, said she does not wear any jewellery when she goes out. 'I don't feel safe any more,' she said.

In the Serangoon Road area, residents at Buffalo and Chander roads have put up steel barricades around their blocks to keep foreign workers out.

Residents at Rowell Court, a cluster of 10 blocks near Little India, are following suit. They plan to build a hedge and fence around their blocks.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong touched on the issue in Parliament this month when he called on Singaporeans to be more understanding and said foreign workers do contribute to the economy.

The jump in the number of foreign workers here speaks volumes about the size of their contribution: from 248,000 in 1990 to 756,000 last year. The bulk of them are low-skilled workers here on work permits.

Among Jurong West residents interviewed, the attitude towards foreign workers ranged from one of suspicion to reluctant acceptance. Some accused the foreign workers of stealing shoes left outside flats and molesting women, but none could provide proof.

In their response to Ms Ng's letter, the police said that they did not take any action that night because the foreign workers were not breaking any law.

Shopkeeper Tony Poh, who sells beer to the workers, said Singaporeans tend to overreact. 'If these workers accidentally touch someone, they'd be accused of molestation. But they're generally harmless.'

Foreign workers interviewed by The Sunday Times said not all of them are bad hats who become rowdy or litter.

Mr Shekhar, 24, a construction worker from India, said: 'We just need a place to eat our dinner and have drinks after work. We're not allowed to drink at the dormitories.'

The workers said residents have thrown bags of water and urine at them.

A 28-year-old construction foreman from Tamil Nadu, who has worked here for more than eight years, said he had helped build the flats in Jurong West.

'And now I'm not even allowed to sit at the void deck with my friends?' he asked.

Dr Jayan Jose Thomas, a research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, explained that in India, it is common for men to gather in large groups for drinks after work.

He pointed out that many foreign workers come from large families. 'Over here, they are alone and without their families. So they gather with friends from the same village or state,' he said.

Dr Jayan also said that many Indian cities lack proper infrastructure and public toilets are unheard of in some rural areas. That, he said, could explain the problem of the workers urinating in public places.

Steps are being taken to educate the workers. The police and Residents' Committee members have visited dormitories to inform workers of the appropriate social norms in Singapore.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has also put up posters to reinforce the message.

The Ministry of Home Affairs recently repealed a regulation forbidding beer drinking in dormitory compounds.

The MP for West Coast GRC, Mr Cedric Foo, has suggested that dormitory operators set up recreation centres where workers can socialise and drink beer.

He has also visited the dormitories to speak to the workers on social norms here.

A spokesman for Blue Star (Jurong West) and Kaki Bukit hostel said it is thinking of setting up a beer garden outside its dormitories.

In the meantime, placing more dustbins and installing portable toilets near the void decks would address the problems of littering and urinating, said shopkeeper Mr Poh.

He said: 'Foreign workers are people too, and they have their own needs and problems. But it's only fair that residents have a safe and clean environment.

'Both points of view must be heard before this misunderstanding can be solved.'

Fisticuffs over worker urinating
'I ran out and grabbed him and we got into a fist fight. My fist was bleeding and I hit his head so hard that an ambulance came to patch him up.'
MR LEE CHIA POON, 38, a plumber, recounting how he got into a tussle with a worker whom his wife caught urinating outside their kitchen window

Request for a place to relax

'We just need a place to eat our dinner and have drinks after work. We're not allowed to drink at the dormitories.'
MR SHEKHAR, 24, a construction worker from India

Consider both points of view

'Foreign workers are people too, and they have their own needs and problems. But it's only fair that residents have a safe and clean environment.'
SHOPKEEPER TONY POH, who sells beer to the workers

Act 1: How to treat your foreign maid

The following article was published in the Straits Times on 18 Nov 2007.

Act 1: How to treat your foreign maid
By Debbie Yong
Straits Times, 18 November 2007

Young Singaporeans set out to correct stereotypes about foreign workers

ON THE dimly-lit second storey of a Little India shophouse, Singaporean Sha Najak, 25, raised her voice - and a clenched fist - at Indonesian maid Ummairoh, 27.

'You thief! That is my sister's ring, I recognise it,' shouted Ms Sha.

But Ummairoh burst out laughing.

Singaporean Susy Bungsu, 30, and Indonesian maid Nurifah Rasidi, 40, who had been calmly watching the scene from the side, both chipped in: 'You must look more fierce, Sha.'

The four women, along with a third maid Suwarni Kramadirja, 42, and Singaporean students Shaun Teo, 19, and Alex Lee, 23, are part of local youth arts group Migrant Voices and they have been rehearsing from 2pm to 6pm every Sunday for a play.

Their 15-minute production, titled Binded, Blinded And Trapped In Love, will be staged in the open space on Lembu Road outside Mustafa Centre on Dec 16 for International Migrants Day. It depicts three common scenarios between foreign workers and their local employers.

Ms Sha, who is president of Migrant Voices, said: 'There are already existing advocacy groups so we wanted to use the arts to encourage the exchange of artistic and cultural know-

ledge between migrant cultures and Singapore society, especially among youth.'

After recent public discussions over the unwelcoming attitude towards foreign workers here, young Singaporeans are speaking out to try and set things right.

Full-time National Serviceman Vicknesh Varan, 22, joined Migrant Voices recently as he 'wanted to be more involved' after filming an independent documentary on foreign workers in January.

His film, a project that he took on while attending a writing workshop at the Singapore Media Academy, highlights the plight of an Indian construction worker in Singapore.

The worker was suspended from work, denied compensation and even had his salary docked after injuring his back at work in January.

'It was unjust and I wanted to do something to highlight his plight,' said Mr Vicknesh, who communicated with the worker in Tamil.

For many young people, it was while they were doing research for school projects that they learnt to empathise with the plight of foreign workers here.

A first-year accountancy student at Singapore Management University, Grace Tan, 19, visited workers' hostels in Jurong and Kaki Bukit to document their living conditions for a report on unethical issues in the construction industry, for her business, government and society course.

She said: 'I used to be quite afraid of them and held many stereotypes like they were dangerous to be around.

'But I realised they are actually quite gentle and very shy. They wouldn't even speak to me when I tried to approach them!'

Nanyang Technological University student Ziqi Nadia Chan-Zielinski, 24, said: 'I don't think many Singaporeans look down on foreign workers, we just take them for granted.'

She and her classmate Dian Melati, 23, produced a 70-page book titled Foreign Talents for their final-year project. It was filled with colour photos and profiles featuring foreign workers and their talents in sports, acting, writing and music.

She found out that some workers were even degree-holders.

She said: 'It's just basic humanity not to look at people differently just because they do menial tasks. At the end of the day, they are just like you and me, trying to make a living for themselves and their families back home.'

Third-year National University of Singapore sociology student Eugene Zakariah Tan, 23, admitted that he used to view foreign workers as 'others' and turn a blind eye to their existence.

He started viewing things differently three months ago, when he began organising a photography exhibition and a forum with migrant workers' rights groups Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) and the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) as part of a service-learning project.

His team of 10 undergraduates visited popular foreign worker hang-outs and Home's shelter for foreign workers to take photographs and interview the workers about their lifestyles.

The pictures were put on display for three days at NUS last week.

About 40 students attended the two-hour forum last Friday. They posed many questions to the panellists: TWC2 president John Gee, Home founder president Bridget Lew and two migrant workers.

'Just as we have certain stereotypes about migrant workers, it's a form of stereotyping to say that Singaporeans are prejudiced against them,' Eugene said.

'There are people working to make the lives of migrant workers better here. I'm glad this issue was brought up so this positive side can be presented.'

Mr Gee said: 'The main concern of most young people is not so much integration as seeing that justice is done and fairness prevails.

'But the effort to find out about how migrant workers live and the readiness to be more accepting are perhaps a step towards integrating migrant workers into society over time.'