THREAD
1/ An op-ed for @washingtonpost today: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
Lawrence Wong, co-chair of the task force to tackle #COVID19, said things would have been done differently had they known things were going to turn out this way with the migrant worker dormitories.
1/ An op-ed for @washingtonpost today: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
Lawrence Wong, co-chair of the task force to tackle #COVID19, said things would have been done differently had they known things were going to turn out this way with the migrant worker dormitories.
2/ But there was no way #Singapore's government didn't know about the conditions in the dorms. NGOs like @twc2sg and @home_migrantssg have been raising this issue for *years*. Journalists like myself have been reporting on migrant worker issues, writing to the ministry for input.
3/ They also should have known about the risks of outbreaks or other diseases stemming from overcrowding and/or cleanliness and hygiene issues: NGOs and reports have flagged cases of chickenpox, dengue, zika, etc. twc2.org.sg/2016/09/04/for…
4/ A @BusinessTimes report yesterday flagged measles in the *same dorms* that are now #COVID19 clusters. singaporelawwatch.sg/Headlines/covi…
5/ Now, with #COVID19 spreading within dormitories, the government has sought to portray the situation as one of "two separate infections"—one among migrant workers, one among the "local community". That is to say: migrant workers aren't considered part of the local community.
6/ I couldn't go further into this in the piece 'cos it'd get too long, but this "two infections" framing matters: it perpetuates the Othering of migrant workers in #Singapore who are already treated as a different class with different visa restrictions from other non-citizens.
7/ "Two separate infections" means #Singapore doesn't take full ownership of the outbreak in dorms and see that our exploitation enabled this. "Two separate infections" builds upon the assumption that these migrants are "temporary workers" who aren't *really* here.
8/ When the govt talks of "two separate categories" and "ring-fencing" #COVID19 in dormitories, this feeds into racism that already stereotypes migrant workers (largely from Bangladesh or India) as "dirty" or "dangerous".
(Screencap from Lawrence Wong's April 5 presser.)
(Screencap from Lawrence Wong's April 5 presser.)
9/ There are already Singaporeans who blame migrant workers for the sharp increase in #COVID19 cases in #Singapore (which has made our international reputation not as rosy as it was just a few weeks ago). Then there's this sort of racism. ⬇️ mothership.sg/2020/04/migran…
10/ We cannot keep pretending that migrant workers are just "transient" and don't need to be considered as part of the local community. They are here. They are contributing to #Singapore in big ways. They need to be accorded respect and rights commensurate to their contribution.
