[國際新聞] Chuck Chiang: The dangers of a balance lost balance, country, example, foreign

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Chuck Chiang: The dangers of a balance lost

Riots: Singapore last week was an example of the need for foreign workers and their marginalization by their host country colliding



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Business/asia-pacific/Chuck+Chiang+dangers+balance+lost/9289031/story.html#ixzz2neIveNF3
If Canada needs a reminder of how delicate the temporary foreign worker issue can be — and how damaging it can be if a delicate balance is lost, even if temporarily — it needs only to look across the Pacific Ocean last week.
There, you will find an advanced island nation — one of the richest, most highly developed countries in the world — with an almost bulletproof reputation of lawfulness, high quality of life, modern market economy, ethnic diversity and harmony (a reputation very similar, in many ways, to Canada’s own image on the global stage).
And yet all of its virtues could not prevent it from descending last week into its first large-scale riot in more than four decades — an event that shook the psyche of residents who long believed the country’s harmonious and prosperous identity.
We’re talking, of course, about Singapore.
The country of more than five million has long been one of the leading examples of Asia’s prosperity — the IMF ranks their nominal per capita GDP 23rd in the world; the Economist puts its quality of life ranking at 11th globally. Since gaining independence in the mid-1960s, the former British colony has industrialized and modernized at breakneck speeds, culminating in its place among the famed “Asian Tigers” group (along with South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong).
Besides its wealth, Singapore is also known for its strict punishment for breaking the rules and for being a society that exemplifies tidiness and abiding-by-the-laws (For example, it bans — and has banned since 1992 — the import of chewing gum in the name of preserving the city’s cleanliness).
But that image took a direct hit on the night of Dec. 8, when a city bus ran over Sakthivel Kumaravelu, a construction worker, in Singapore’s Little India neighbourhood.
The accident quickly escalated out of control, and angry onlookers gathered and grew into a mob of more than 400 people, who attacked the bus, battled police and set cars on the street ablaze. At last count, more than 41 people were injured, and as many as 25 vehicles were destroyed.
Pictures of the riot — the first large-scale disturbance in Singapore since 1969 — rapidly spread on the Internet. Parts of Little India looked like a war zone, with smouldering cars and debris littering the street where the riot took place.
What makes this case especially complicated was who Kumaravelu was: He was a temporary foreign worker from India. And according to reports from Singapore’s The Strait Times, all 27 of the rioters arrested have been “foreign nationals” from South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan).
Reports indicate the vast majority of those involved were temporary foreign workers, who often visit Little India on Sundays to relax and find respite from the hectic daily life of a labourer.

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Police vehicles go up in flames after a riot broke out in Singapore’s Little India, on Dec. 8, 2013. A rare riot broke out in the Little India neighbourhood apparently after a foreign worker was hit and killed by a bus, a local television channel reported.

Flowers sit at the base of a tree underneath a tribute board on December 11 2013 set up for the foreign worker, whose death in a bus accident triggered a riot in Singapore’s Little India district, late on Dec. 8.

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Authorities are already clamping down on potential backlashes from the island’s citizens — a majority of which are of Chinese-Singaporean heritage. Speaking during a visit in Seoul, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told reporters “Singaporeans … have to be very responsible and measured in our reaction as a people.

“The anxiety and the alarm are quite understandable,” Lee said, as reported by The Malay Mail. “But if we express ourselves in unrestrained, unreserved terms and, sometimes, xenophobic terms even — on the Internet, you’ve seen quite a lot of those — I don’t think that is helpful.”

Lee’s cautionary words are understandable. Singapore is one of the most diverse nations in the world, with four official languages and a large foreign-worker population (some estimates put it as large as 20 per cent of the overall population). On top of that, the island’s permanent residents are made up of significant Malay (13 per cent) and Indian (9 per cent) contingents, in addition to the majority Chinese-Singaporeans.

In a society with such diversity, ethnic tension can be catastrophic if not properly managed (the last riots in 1969 stemmed from conflicts between the Malay and the Chinese). In addition to that, the riot also revealed the increasing tensions in the topic of Singapore’s foreign labour market. The migrant worker issue has been a political hot topic for years in Singapore, where the government is constantly balancing an acute need for foreign labour to fill construction and shipbuilding jobs and a local populace who view the workers as taking work away from residents.

The delicate nature of the balancing act can be seen in Singapore’s immigration policy and data: According to The Economist, there are 1.3 million foreign workers in Singapore — and 350,000 in the construction industry alone, signifying the nation’s need for these labourers (often for jobs that locals wouldn’t take, some observers say). And yet these workers are forbidden to marry Singaporean citizens, and only those making a certain wage or above can bring family to live with them while they are in Singapore.

It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that a large group of migrant workers, many paid poorly and poorly integrated into the local society, facing both the pressures of a job that can often be dangerous and the antipathy of their hosts, would simmer in discontent. And the riot, some observers say, may be signs that the tension is bubbling to the surface.

What can Canada learn from observing from afar? In recent years, growth in the energy and mining sectors have driven a large spike in the entry of foreign workers to B.C., Alberta and beyond. While the percentage of migrant workers aren’t as large as in Singapore, the basic discourse is still the same: Industry officials view the workers as integral to the growth of their business; locals are apprehensive about their jobs being taken away.

Neither side tends to view the social integration and well-being of these foreign workers as a key part of the equation. And while these issues simmer beneath the surface, we may be seeing what damage could be done if the stakeholders continue to dance around the issue without a more thorough, meaningful discussion.

In Singapore, the news have already put its government official on a PR defensive — Lee told reporters he is aware international investors and business interests are watching, and officials have temporarily banned alcohol (a contributing cause of the riot) and suspended some bus services in Little India.

But it may be time for a deeper look into the roots of the discontent — and it may also be time for Canadians to look, as well, lest Canada suffers similar unrest in the future (Stanley Cup Game 7 defeats notwithstanding