The story of Krishnasamy, one of about 400 workers who did not receive pay for six months or more. But isn't it exploitation to get people to work when the company has no intention of paying them. Come to think of it, isn't it exploitation to pay only $18 a day for the work these labourers do?
Today, 6 July 2004
Going hungry in a land of plenty
Modern-day coolies who are left high and dry
Krishnasamy is 22 years old and arrived in Singapore more than a year ago to earn money to settle the debts that his farmer parents incurred educating him.
He also had a dream — to get out of the poverty trap his parents were in. He is part of the new generation of workers — Chinese, Thai and Bangladeshi — that Singapore needs to do the essential jobs rejected by Singaporeans.
He is also part of a long line of Indian labourers, the coolies brought in as indentured workers by the British and who had helped build Singapore from the days of Raffles.
But Krishnasamy, one of the workers helping to build modern Singapore, is different from the early coolies. He chose to come here of his own free will after hearing that Singapore was corruption-free and that workers received fair treatment.
He now says he won't come back to Singapore. He is one of about 400 workers who did not receive pay for six months or more.
During these months he has known hunger in a country where there is food everywhere. One of his compatriots even offered himself up for arrest just to be fed. But the police refused. They were looking for illegal workers, not hungry workers.
Krishnasamy has known fear; he has experienced rejection, frustration and helplessness in a country which is rich, which has laws to protect workers and a trade union movement to look after the welfare of its members. But Krishnasamy has no access to these benefits.
Krishnasamy, whose labour Singapore needs, is not a worker that ranks high on the list of Singapore's valued personnel. Even the official representative of his own country, who is responsible for the welfare of its citizens here, has not been able to alleviate his plight.
The whole saga started with the dream to see an end to his poverty.
He had completed the Indian equivalent of A levels and two years at an Industrial Training Institute to qualify as a lathe mechanic.
But, this was not sufficient to get him to Singapore. He then had to complete a 60-day training course to obtain a skills certificate which freed the hiring contractor in Singapore from the $300 levy that the Government imposes — as against the $30 for skilled labour — for each unskilled worker.
For this certificate and his plane ticket here, Krishnasamy forked out $5,600 to an Indian agency.
On arrival in Singapore he was hired by a contractor as an unskilled worker at $18 for an 8-hour workday and $3 per hour for overtime work.
He was given dormitory-style housing, but got neither meals nor health benefits. By comparison, a Singaporean can earn $6 an hour waiting tables. On Sundays and rainy days, when the weather halts all work, he gets no pay.
Now, here is the big blow.
Krishnasamy continued working despite not being paid for the last six months because he believed the contractor who told him he would be paid.
One can say "tough luck". These things happen. Businesses go broke; people get laid off and there is very little one can do to prevent these things from happening.
But isn't it exploitation to get people to work when the company has no intention of paying them. Come to think of it, isn't it exploitation to pay only $18 a day for the work these labourers do?
Why did things have to reach the stage of desperation for these workers who came here legally, were contracted to do a job and whose levies were paid?
More importantly, when something goes wrong who sets it right?
The one redeeming factor in the sorry state of affairs affecting Krishnasamy and many others in the same boat is the generosity of individual Singaporeans who stepped forward to help after learning of their predicament.
Yes. There are negotiations going on and something is being done to help the workers. But that is only treating the symptoms and not addressing the cause of the problem.
Can we go one step further and address the problem? For instance, why is Singapore, a First World country in many respects, tolerating Third World conditions for some work permit holders?
Sources and Relevant Links:
Today Going hungry in a land of plenty 6 July 2004
Think Centre: Singapore: 200 Indian Workers protest at Indian Embassy 29 June 2004
Jakarta Post Indonesian maids in S'pore prone to human rights violations 28 June 2004
