I read this with a considerable amount of dread. I quote:
Dormitory operators said townships will be similar to this, but on a much larger scale.
Director of Mini Environment Services Pte Ltd, Mohd Jinna, said: “We will be able to handle 18 to 20 thousand workers in one location, with segments of maybe four dormitories.
As if having 1000 foreign workers in one place isn’t a big problem on its own, try for a moment to imagine a riot breaking out, because of alleged ill-treatment or discrimination, a wage dispute, a minor misunderstanding between a foreign worker and a fellow Singaporean or even simply because of Singapore beating them in a soccer match. Now let us recap:
Aug 23, 2005 (Taipei Times) – Furious with what they saw as inhuman personnel management, some 300 Thai workers in Kaohsiung set fire at the management center, a work dormitory, cars and other facilities Sunday night, police said.
June 20, 2008 (Reuters) – A group of Nepalese Gurkhas in a contingent attached to Singapore’s police “scuffled” last week in a dispute over wages, a rare display of indiscipline in a force renowned for its bravery and devotion to duty.
And even if we treat them so well they don’t have reasons to target us, what about difference within their own community and it end up as some kind of sectarian violence? For e.g. rival gangs of foreign workers barricading their part of these townships to fight one another as a result of political or religious differences back home? Do we have to end up sending security forces – some of them made up by our own fellow citizens – to go and break it up, and then later spend our own money to clean it up later. I wonder if we are going to built some army camps or have army personnel stand by near these places on weekends.
While it makes economic sense to have dormitories for foreign workers – which in a way makes it cheaper for companies to house them (and transport them too) – the concerns for security of our fellow citizens is real. Only now I fully understand some of the concerns my fellow citizens in Serangoon Gardens have regarding the dormitory in their estate. Do note I am not pointing out that crime rate will increase, since I have personally once observed some self-policing among foreign workers and also read about them, nor am I looking at this from a racist point of view, but consider the above ‘what if’ scenarios. How are we Singaporeans to be assured that our safety will be ensured in the event of Agent Provocateurs of nations unfriendly to us stirring up anger among them?
On top of which, I believe we can agree that putting a large group of people with the same cultural background together is a creating the potential for trouble. Otherwise, why would the HDB place quotas to prevent estates from turning into ethnic strongholds? By allowing such large number of foreigners to be at one single place, I must ask, if our government gahmen trust foreigners more than they trust us? Are we Singaporeans are even less capable of behaving and living in harmony with one another compared to foreigners that such a quota is enforced?
Our confidence is already shaken over the numerous security brouhahas in the recent months. This simply make me wonder if the guys in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) are proactive in looking at potential problems and preventing them at all. In fact, it makes me wonder if it is not already the time for our 3-million-dollar talents-in-white, to look within their group for someone more capable of taking up this portfolio since I clearly no longer have confidence in the current one to ensure my security.
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Agree with you. Congregation of large group of same kind of people is a hotpot for trouble. HDB sees it long time ago.
But funny – these non-citizens and all males, in much condense, with less vested interest (here on 2-4 years contract only) – shouldn’t that be a greater threat?
I am also very angry with all the hyprocrites who keep saying it is ok to live with them – as long as it is not their burden to bear. Poor SG residents – the first of many casualties to come.
Granted, true. Any ideas or solutions?
Rachel‘s last blog post: Whine or Shine?