Townships for foreign workers

According to ChannelNewsAsia, Foreign Minister George Yeo said that the Ministry of National Development is considering the creation of sustainable and self-contained townships for foreign workers to solve the housing problem faced by the increasing number of foreign workers in Singapore.

This throws us back to colonial times when separate townships or enclaves were marked out by the British for the different ethnic groups. And where did that lead us?

Segregating foreign workers may make it easier to manage them initially and is a simple solution to appease the population, but how would it help the workers to integrate into Singapore society? More importantly, how would it help to change Singaporeans’ attitudes towards them?

No doubt the view is that most of these workers are transient migrants, but as their numbers grow larger, they will become a bigger social force.

Keeping them out of sight of Singaporeans may, I fear, be a mistake. We need to learn to live with foreigners in our midst. Just as how we have embraced the other ethnic groups and expatriates among us, we also need to learn to accept our ‘guest workers’. Where do you draw the line between these different groups? Race? Gender? Income status? And where or how will this line be redrawn in future?

It perturbs me that there were even some teenagers and young Singaporeans among the vocal Serangoon Gardens residents who voiced their concerns about having foreign workers as neighbors. What does this say about us as a nation? What values are we imparting to our children?

We are after all a nation of immigrants so the issue of co-existence between cultures has always been critical to our development. So far, the government has done well to maintain racial harmony among citizens, but as the number of non-citizens continue to rise, it must take the initiative to set the tone for our relations with them. 

We need to develop measures that contribute towards tolerance, and not just resort to simple short-term measures that only sweep the differences under the carpet. 

I seriously hope the government would reconsider these townships. It’s our attitude that needs to change to adapt to the new reality.