Changing Landscapes of Singapore

Ho, Elaine Lynn-Ee, Wong Chih Yuan and Ramdas, Kamalini

Published by NUS Press Pte Ltd

Ho, Elaine Lynn-Ee, Wong Chih Yuan and Ramdas, Kamalini.

Changing Landscapes of Singapore: Old Tensions, New Discoveries.
New ed. NUS Press Pte Ltd, 2013.
Project MUSE. muse.jhu.edu/book/27560.

For additional information about this book

https://muse.jhu.edu/book/27560

[ Access provided at 17 Mar 2022 19:20 GMT from National University of Singapore ]
 8
Migrant Landscapes:
A Spatial Analysis of South Asian
Male Migrants in Singapore
Junjia Ye

Introduction

Did it ever occur to you that the people we interact with daily are as
different as we are similar? (Singapore Heritage Festival Website)

The question above was featured on the homepage of the Singapore Heritage
Festival that took place in August 2010. It makes reference to Singapore as
an immigrant port-city that is, and has always been, diverse. The transnational
movement of migrants into a global city such as Singapore means diverse
groups must work, live and play in a shared urban setting (Yeoh 2004).
Drawing from personal interviews conducted as part of a larger research
project, this chapter focuses on the lives of low-waged and temporary
male migrants in Singapore to illustrate the constraints and exclusions they
experience in Singapore. This chapter further shows that there are instances
of spontaneity and informality that arise in the urban spaces used by low-
waged male migrants in Singapore during specific times of the week when
they have a rest day. I use examples of public spaces in Boon Lay that are
popular amongst Bangladeshi low-waged male migrants to highlight the power
relations that undergird these landscapes when migrant workers appropriate
public spaces.

142

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 Migrant Landscapes 143

The next section contextualises the Singaporean case within broader

patterns of regional labour migration. It also discusses briefly the gendered
implications of these migration processes. The gender dimension is crucial
because much of the current research on migrants’ identities and experiences
have been analysed from the perspective of female migrants. While a
number of scholars have examined the reproduction and experiences of
masculinities, research on the experiences of migrant men remain limited
(for exceptions see Jackson 1991; McDowell 2003; Datta et al. 2009). The
chapter addresses this under-researched dimension by showing how low-waged
migrants, in particular Bangladeshi men, are incorporated into the labour
force. Bangladeshi male migrants experience a segmented labour market in
Singapore and spatial constraints in terms of work and accommodation.
However, they claim particular public spaces to illustrate their agency as
gendered actors in urban space. The chapter highlights how certain informal
landscapes have been used by these workers to negotiate the inequalities they
face in everyday life. It further argues that public spaces are not only sites
where state and institutional responses towards these migrants manifest but
are also landscapes of co-presence where migrants live their lives alongside
locals. The chapter refers to an example of a pathway in Jurong West
to suggest how public space is claimed informally by migrants as they
congregate there regularly. The discussion demonstrates how these processes
unfold into a spontaneous space where migrants share a common physical
space with Singaporeans.

Segmented Labour and Masculinity in Global Cities:

The Case of Singapore
Featuring both “source” and “destination” countries, Southeast Asia is an
important location for the development and emergence of dynamic migratory
flows. The movement of people to and within Southeast Asia offers an
important perspective into the economic geography of labour migration. On
one level, migrants are entering the region as highly paid, highly skilled
workers recruited to facilitate knowledge transfer to local skilled workers
(Beaverstock 2002). On another level, other migrants from places with surplus
labour move to fast-growing, export-oriented economies in the region that
are experiencing labour shortages, particularly in sectors that locals regard
with disdain. Within this regional context, Singapore illustrates the case of
an aspiring global city with a high dependency on, and an unusually high

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 144 Junjia Ye

degree of control over, migrants in various sectors of its labour force. The
bulk of its recent population growth is made up of migrants (The Straits
Times 2 June 2012). Singapore’s segmented labour market creates a mobile,
cosmopolitan labour force of highly skilled workers who are willing and able
to embrace social and career mobilities while low skilled workers become
increasingly exchangeable, replaceable, and most vitally, cheapened (McDowell
2003; Yeoh 2006).
Gender emerges as a significant factor in the way migrants are positioned
in the labour market. Indeed, it has been argued that women from developing
economies are seen to be suited for jobs in the textile and electronics
industries because of persistent assumptions about their obedience, patience
and dexterity. As a result of such attributes, they are also paid low wages,
denied job security and given limited work benefits (Mills 1999; Parrenas
2001; Wright 2006; Elmhirst 2007). While the impact of migration on
gendered identities and work has generally focused on female migrants, there
is a growing scholarship on the reproduction and experiences of masculinities
(Jackson 1991; McDowell 2003; Datta et al. 2009). This chapter draws
insights from scholars who research the interface of migration and gender,
but also extends their arguments towards analysing the spatial manifestations
of migrant masculinities.
The increase in Singapore’s non-citizen population has grown rapidly
since the turn of the century but was particularly sharp between 2006 and
2010. This is a direct consequence of the city-state’s restructuring policies
to recruit foreign labour (The Straits Times 2 June 2012). The workforce
has been configured strategically to incorporate a large foreign labour pool
that can be broadly divided into two categories: foreign talent and foreign
workers. Both groups of workers are brought into Singapore strategically
but they are treated differently (see for example, Yeoh 2006).
Migrant workers fill a gap in the labour market where physically
demanding, yet low-paying jobs are rejected by locals. Work permit holders
earn no more than $2,000 a month. The permits are valid for either one or
two years and, depending on the availability of work, can be renewed for up
to two years (Ministry of Manpower 2012). They take on jobs that require
manual labour or shift work in sectors such as manufacturing, construction,
shipbuilding, personal services as well as domestic work (The Straits Times
9 December 2009; Yeoh 2006). Gender, nationality and ethnicity profiles
shape the sort of work these migrants can access. Yeoh and Huang (1998)
have argued that the feminisation of migrant labour is apparent in the way

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 Migrant Landscapes 145

female migrant workers are channeled by state policies into domestic work
for Singaporean families. On the other hand, physically demanding labour,
such as construction and shipbuilding, is largely performed by foreign males,
with Bangladeshis and Chinese nationals among the most visible, though a
large number of Thais and Burmese also work in these sectors. Seventy per
cent of the labour force in construction is done by foreigners, far higher
than the national dependency ratio on foreign labour of 37.6 per cent
(The Straits Times 9 December 2009).
A measure of regulating foreign workers and the division of labour
that has not received much scholarly attention lies in the system of approved
source countries that varies according to job sector (see for example,
Rahman 2000). These are divided into “traditional source countries” (TSC),
“non-traditional source countries” (NTSC), North Asian countries (NAS)
and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Employers of each sector are
given regulations by the state to recruit only from the approved sources.
For example, in the manufacturing industry, only workers from Malaysia
(TSC), NAS and the PRC can be recruited, thus excluding migrants from
NTSC. In the marine and construction industries, however, workers can
be recruited from all the source countries. The exclusion of NTSC
migrants  from the services and manufacturing sectors channels them
towards construction and shipbuilding/repair work in Singapore. Malaysians,
on the other hand, have fewer entry barriers into the Singaporean labour
market, thus accounting for their presence in many other sectors of the
economy. It is the enforced division of labour and structural unequal
access to work in Singapore that explains the concentration of workers from
particular sending countries in selected sectors, which is in turn interwoven
with the dynamics of “race”/ethnicity and nationality (Ho 2006). Migrants
on the work permit are also highly dependent on their employers as
stipulated by the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act in Singapore.
According to the Act, aside from their wages, workers entering through
the work permit system rely on their employers for housing, daily meals,
transportation to and from the work site, medical insurance and also
eventual repatriation.


NTSC migrants come from India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Philippines
and Pakistan.

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 146 Junjia Ye

Migrant Landscapes of Constraints: Private Spaces

An estimated 120,000 Bangladeshi nationals work in Singapore, an increase
of some 20,000 from the year 2000 (The Straits Times 2 September 2010;
Rahman 2000). This is likely to be a conservative estimate as the actual
numbers are not released to the public and also do not include undocu­
mented Bangladeshis taking on spontaneous work under tourist visas.
Of this number, 90 per cent are on work permits and employed in the
construction and marine industries (Bangladesh High Commission Website).
These divisions in legal status manifest tangibly in the segregated landscapes
inhabited by temporary migrant workers compared to other populations in
Singapore. Shipyard and construction jobs entailing shift-work means that
Bangladeshi male migrants may work in the day or at night, and they
generally work on sites away from interactions with the public. There is
a high degree of spatial constraint in the daily lives of the Bangladeshi
workers as the everyday lives of migrant workers are highly reliant upon
their employers. The Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) guidelines and the
Employment Act stipulate that employers must provide accommodations for
work permit holders These come in the form of purpose-built dormitories
that are commercially-run, industrial and/or warehouse premises that have
been partly converted to house workers, temporary quarters on work-sites,
harbourcrafts (such as ships and marine vessels) and to a smaller extent,
HDB flats (MOM Website).
Off-site dormitories such as Simpang Lodge in the northern part of
Singapore and Singapore Contractors Association Limited dormitory (SCAL)
that is located in the far western part are often “self-contained” in that they
include amenities such as provisions and barber shops as well as recreational
facilities like basketball courts, canteens, television rooms and gymnasiums
(SCAL Website). Another type of housing for foreign workers is the recently
converted old school compound in Serangoon Gardens, an upper-middle
class neighbourhood. This conversion was hotly debated amongst
neighbourhood residents, grassroot leaders and the Member of Parliament
for the area. While there is no space here to discuss the not-in-my-backyard
syndrome (NIMBYISM) that became evident during this episode, it must
be highlighted that dormitory operators have been instructed to install
surveillance cameras and implement rules on noise levels. The facility will
also have adequate amenities, including provision shops, so that workers
will have “little reason to leave it” (The Straits Times 12 October 2008).
Finally, the site area will be reduced, setting it further back from homes

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along certain roads and creating a “buffer zone” between residents of the
Gardens and the foreign workers (The Straits Times 12 October 2008). These
measures serve to constrain workers spatially by containing and regulating
their movements, thus creating an enclave that is quite different from its
surroundings. The private living space of the migrant worker becomes a
landscape of surveillance and power. As the marketing director of Simpang
Lodge says,

I want to make the police presence felt to keep the residents on their
toes.… In other dorms, they can’t cook, so they’ll go out and explore.…
They may not approach girls, but girls may approach them.… We have
two guards, one going around, one just outside checking people. No
girls can go in.… Sex (work) in workers’ dormitory happens infrequently,
but this could be because of the workers’ physical needs. This must be
properly managed within the law instead of allowing them to prowl in our
neighbourhood residences. The dormitories’ security system (CCTV, entry
passes), guards, patrolling, strict discipline enforcement and working with
neighbourhood police to deter such cases would help to prevent such things
from happening.… (The New Paper 18 January 2009)

The above quote illustrates that while female sex workers are stigmatised
as “on the prowl”, it is the male foreign worker that must be kept in check.
His sexual urges are “to be deter(ed)” since he can easily fall prey to feminine
lures, even if he does not solicit for sex. His intrinsic “physical needs” as
a foreign, heterosexual male appear normalised yet under the gloss of this
rhetoric, these qualities pathologise him as a subject for close surveillance.
Containing workers within the company’s dormitory allows for policing and
remote supervision through the CCTV to prevent “unlawful” acts. These
housing regulations therefore recreate the low-status male foreign worker
as a person that needs to be disciplined, controlled and kept subordinate,
reaffirming unequal relations of power and hierarchy embedded within the
daily lives of male migrants. There is hence a landscape of surveillance in
the daily lives of these migrants where discriminatory politics are imbued in
the way space is regulated in and around their dormitories.
Indeed, male migrants continue to be stigmatised and excluded from
the everyday spaces of locals. In public spaces at HDB blocks they are also
often seen as a nuisance or as a danger to Singaporean residents. As one
resident of Bedok housing estate who was interviewed by the newspapers
remarked, “the workers sometimes call out to [our wives] when [they]
come home late” and that they see foreign workers “sitting, drinking and

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 148 Junjia Ye

sometimes sleeping at the void deck of Block 151” (The Straits Times
4 July 2010). Official responses to these contentions reinforce the “us” versus
“them” divide. The MP for Bedok in 2010 sought to “create another hub
for the workers to congregate”. The manager of a large migrant dormitory
in the neighbourhood of Pioneer housing estate also expressed, “We try to
have all these facilities [within the dorm’s compound] so that they don’t
have to go outside and disturb the residents when they are not working”
(Author’s interview 2012). As Yeoh and Huang argue, “[w]hen the dominant
concedes certain spaces to the ‘other’, it is not only seen as the power of
benevolence on the part of the dominant, but also simply redraws the lines
that divide” (1998: 594). Indeed, from the quotes above, it is possible to
argue that attitudes advocating the segregation of foreign workers become
powerful ways in which processes of “othering” become written into space.
Consequently, these measures to keep migrant men within certain tightly
controlled spaces create wider landscapes of exclusion against them. This,
in turn, heightens the mobility constraints these migrants face in their lives
in Singapore. Examining low-waged migrants and their use of public space
highlights the ways in which existing power relations can be negotiated.
However, migrants can negotiate their use of public spaces in ways that
destabilise the regulations over their use of space temporarily, as will be
discussed in the next section.

Migrant Landscapes of Spontaneity: Public Spaces

This section discusses the ways in which Bangladeshi male migrants,
conditioned by the exclusions and constraints, create what I call “landscapes of
spontaneity” by claiming particular spaces during specific days of the week.
Dominant power relations within these spaces become subject to negotiation
by migrants. In this regard, these spaces become part of the informality
of migrant landscapes. Yeoh and Huang (1998) draw attention to the way
Filipina domestic workers use public spaces, such as Lucky Plaza at Orchard
Road, on their rest day which is usually on Sundays. During this day locals
tend to avoid going to Lucky Plaza, hence, there are fewer opportunities for
encounter between the female migrants and local shoppers. Yeoh and Huang
argue that the temporary but regular appropriation of these spaces by female
domestic workers as well as the ways in which they are accommodated reflect,
reinforce and sometimes circumvent unequal power relations at these public
spaces temporarily.

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I argue similarly that Bangladeshi male migrants assert their presence

within different public spaces in the Singaporean landscape in complex and
contentious ways. This space, however, is different from the informality that
emerges at Lucky Plaza. The spontaneity described in the following section
illuminates the unplanned encounters that take place between Bangladeshi
male migrants and locals in this space. The spaces where Bangladeshi male
migrants congregate are indicative of their co-presence with other urban
residents, even if this exists alongside broader power inequalities that are
unfolded across space. The spontaneity that emerges from the encounters
within these spaces are indeed significant when we consider the constraints
these migrants face, for example, in their living spaces. An investigation
through the lens of landscapes highlights the power relations characterising
the use of space by these migrants in Singapore.
Figure 1 features a corridor behind Boon Lay MRT station frequented
by the Bangladeshi respondents that participated in this research project. This
path is parallel to Jurong Point Mall where many middle-class Singaporeans
and migrants go for a meal, catch a movie, shop or meet their friends.
During peak hours in the morning and in the evenings, this stretch is
busy with workers who work at nearby factories, manufacturing plants or
offices at the shipyards. They walk briskly, sometimes in duos or in groups
towards the MRT station to catch the train home or perhaps to meet
their friends for dinner. These are mostly Singaporeans and foreigners from
Malaysia and China. This public pathway is a space of transit for them
as it acts as a corridor allowing them to get from the bus bay where they
alight from their company buses and walk to the subway station that is
about 20 metres away. Once in a while, there will be employees from
the adjacent Jurong Point Mall taking a break to smoke here, often only
accompanied by their “smartphones”.
From about 6.30 pm onwards on both weekends and weekdays, this
stretch becomes crowded with migrants who spend their evenings here—in
particular, Bangladeshi male migrants (see Figure 2). On any given night,
with the weekends being the most crowded, one would see mostly groups of
men from Bangladesh, with smaller groups of Indian men. They sit, stand
and lie on the dry concrete slopes of the MRT station building. Sometimes
individuals chat on their mobile phones with families back home instead.
These social groups are quite fluid, often with different men joining the groups
at different times during the evening. These male migrants meet relatives
or friends of their friends that are waiting for them along the path. The

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 Figure 1  Boon Lay MRT corridor

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Source: Author’s personal collection.

7/30/13 10:35:55 AM
 Figure 2  Male migrants along the corridor on a Sunday night

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Source: Author’s personal collection.

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 152 Junjia Ye

spontaneity of this space comes from the informal ways in which these male
migrants use this pathway. While there is rarely direct interaction between
migrants and other users of this pathway, the spontaneous encounters are
characterised by looking, hearing, observing and sometimes gossiping about
the other. Low-waged male migrants mark their presence in the city by
appropriating public spaces that are unused by other urban residents such
as the sloped surfaces along the pathway. In other words, while their use
of such spaces is largely a result of exclusion from other urban areas, such
as shopping malls, the act of appropriating space and encountering locals
spontaneously allows them to challenge the constraints they face in much
of their daily lives.
This way of using public space therefore becomes an example of the
agency exercised by these male migrants. The pathway was not planned as
a site for such informal social gatherings
Agency in this context refers to nor encounters between people of
the actions taken by migrants to
different backgrounds but is part of the
rework the power relations under-
pinning their social positions in infrastructure or facilities that support
society. the adjacent transportation landscape.
The appropriation of this space becomes
an important node for the social survival strategy of many Bangladeshi male
migrants who work in the western part of Singapore. There are often social
gatherings before or after someone returns to or from Bangladesh, with the
sharing of news and food from home during such occasions.
As one respondent who visits this pathway every Sunday evening and
who has been working for four years at a shipyard in Jurong West says,

Boon Lay MRT is very close to my dormitory. So much closer than

Little India which takes me about one and a half hour by public transport.
I only go Little India maybe once a month. I like to come (to Boon Lay
MRT station) also because my friends and relatives are here and we can
sit, talk, joke, eat something, talk about news from our village(s), relax
and enjoy. Very easy to relax with other Bangla men. If I have friends
who just come from Bangladesh to work in Singapore, I will bring
them here also because there are many Bangla men here. I don’t go into
Jurong Point because everything inside very expensive so I sit outside
here with my friends. I also would like to have Singaporean friends but
you know, Singaporeans earn a lot of money. The places they can go,
I cannot go.

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This pathway is, therefore, important in reinforcing the Bangladeshi identity of

these men through their social networks. This quote and the earlier observations
discussed about this place are suggestive
Social capital refers to the
of the sort of social capital needed
reciprocity and trust needed amongst
for one to use the space legitimately.
social actors in order to become
Language, food and humour become included within particular group.
forms of social capital that are shared
and allow people to access the informal practices in this space. It is this
social capital that gives this public space an air of intimacy and exclusivity,
a distinctiveness that marks it as different from say, the spaces within the
mall where Bangladeshi male migrants seldom linger.
As the above quote suggests, the concentration of migrants in these
public places is a manifestation of their social networks and also shaped
by social positioning. Attitudes of prudence and thrift, amongst the
working class, are regulated by their specific positions in the division of
labour and by what they can afford. It has been argued that this attitude of
being thrifty is very much part of the social construction of a responsible
male breadwinner who spends the money earned through hard work in
specific, calculated ways (Osella and Osella 2000). These attitudes are
spatialised within this space through some of the economic activities that
take place here, such as the undocumented hundiwallas that operate in the
pathway at Boon Lay. Cash is displayed openly and change hands rapidly
here; men sometimes count $50 or $100 bills under a street lamp so that
they can see better. Another respondent sums up the practice of remittance
by saying,

I also send money here because the rates are better. Inside Jurong Point,
(the licensed remittance companies) cheat our money. Rates so high. I must
send this back every month—that is why I come to Singapore. To send
money back because I am the only son and I also have a wife who would
be happy that I send money back.

Through their own notions of fulfillment and self-expression, Bangladeshi

male migrants negotiate powerful meanings about what it means to be a


Hundiwallas are undocumented remittance agents who transfer funds back to Bangladesh
on behalf of the migrants.

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 154 Junjia Ye

man working in a globalised labour force. The way in which migrants use
this physical space of the pathway is, therefore, part of a broader strategy
that is intertwined with their economic livelihoods in Singapore and their
transnational linkages to Bangladesh. The use of space here, as the quote
suggests, articulates a larger ongoing identity project where male migrants can
practise their masculine roles as the family’s breadwinner. Such relationships
are highly valued in that they enable the migrants to navigate the difficulties
of adaptation in an unknown place. The social networks that are forged in
these places are a significant source of emotional and often practical support.
The social relations that flourish in this pathway become a way in which
circulating flows of low-waged Bangladeshi workers stake an enduring claim
to the city’s public spaces despite the short-term duration of stay allowed by
their work permits. Through their regular, informal claims to this space, the
pathway behind Boon Lay MRT becomes part of the spontaneous landscape
inhabited by Bangladeshi male migrants.

Concluding Notes
This chapter has explored how the lives of Bangladeshi male migrants in
Singapore are not an exception to the fabric of Singaporean life, rather they
constitute ongoing urban processes in the city. Through the case study of a
pathway at Boon Lay, this chapter shows how male migrants can use public
spaces in ways that are not only different from other urban residents but
also contrary to how the space was meant to be used. Such unplanned
ways of using space become the informal means by which migrant workers
recreate certain public spaces as an exercise of their agency. The spontaneity
of their encounter with the other, however, is not only shaped by their
status within Singapore’s labour market but also a result of their social
relations with other urban residents. Such spaces enable them to maintain
transnational linkages with Bangladesh, such as through the remittance
activities. Remittance money fulfils economic as well as social roles as the
male migrants reproduce their identities as responsible breadwinners for
their families back home. The agency of the migrants is thus reflected in
the landscape but also highlights the power inequalities and negotiations
they face in Singapore.
Though there is much discrimination and exclusion in the lives of low-
waged Bangladeshi male migrants as reflected in the constraints they face in
the private sphere, the spontaneity of their encounter with Singaporeans in the

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public sphere affords these migrants some agency. Landscapes of constraints

and spontaneity, therefore, co-exist in that the significance of one cannot
be understood without the other. In this sense, the ways in which male
migrants use private and public spaces are part of a broader landscape of
power, as discussed in the introductory chapter (refer to Chapter 1). Indeed,
these landscapes not only shape and are shaped by the experience of the
Bangladeshi male migrant in Singapore, but also provide insights into the
contours of landscapes of power in Singapore.

Discussion Questions
1. Other than the Bangladeshi male migrants discussed here, how do
other groups of migrants, low-waged or otherwise, use public spaces in
Singapore?
2. How do you think Singaporeans interact with these other groups
of migrants? An interesting activity to investigate this would be to
spend an afternoon at a site that has both Singaporeans and migrants.
How do they share the space and how do they interact with one
another?
3. What are the implications of Singapore’s growing cultural diversity for
notions of citizenship and belonging in the city-state? In your answer,
consider which types of migrants are included or excluded from
citizenship and belonging in Singapore.

Further Readings
1. For an analysis on how female domestic workers use and claim urban
spaces: see Yeoh, B.S.A. and Huang, S. (1998). “Negotiating public space:
Strategies and styles of migrant female domestic workers in Singapore”.
Urban Studies 35: 583–602.
2. For a discussion on how migrant masculinities have been discussed in
geography, see Datta, K., McIlwaine, C., Herbert, J., Evans, Y., May, J.,
and Wills, J. (2009). “Men on the move: Narratives of migration and
work among low-paid migrant men in London”. Social and Cultural
Geography 10 (8): 853–73.
3. Jackson, P. (1991). “Towards a cultural politics of masculinity: Towards
a social geography”. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
16: 199–213.

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 156 Junjia Ye

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