GEK2001/SSA2202/GES1003

Changing Landscapes of
Singapore
Bicentennial Version
(2019 only)
LECTURE 9: LANDSCAPES OF
IMMIGRATION

DR . KAMALINI RAMDAS
 Outline
 Mini Quiz
 Recap – landscapes for the elderly
 Today’s objectives
 Global city hardware and software
 Immigration & landscape transformations in
Singapore
 Issues arising from immigration trends in Singapore
 Summary
Recap
 Understanding ageing vs ageism
 Singapore state policies toward population ageing
and its resultant landscapes.
 3 Landscapes: economic, care and
socialization/entertainment
 Older people’s response to spatial planning.
 Changing landscapes of the elderly in Singapore,
recent issues

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Today’s Objectives
 Reflect on immigration in relation to CMIO nation-
building ethos. Relevance? Need to adapt?
Lack of acceptance on the people coming to Singapore?

 What are immigrant landscapes? Dominant or

alternative? Bifurcated landscapes.
Some treated as dominant some treated as alternative.
 How successful have we been with integrating
immigrants?

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GAPORE: A GLOBAL CITY
How is globalisation changing
Singapore’s landscapes?

Keeping unique elements of Singapore

What kind of policy that will benefit Singaporean
(protect Singaporeans?)
Must be able to Adapt? If don’t adapt, it will not be able
to survive.

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Singapore’s vision for a global
city
Our city must be full of life, energy and
excitement…It must be a place where people
want to live, work and play, and where they
are stimulated to achieve, be creative and
enjoy life
- PM Lee Hsien Loong
National Day Rally, 2005

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 Global cities are also cultural
hubs…
Global cities attract people for:
◦education
◦leisure/play
◦artistic and personal interests
◦innovative pursuits of culture, ideas and fashion

◦People come and engage together. Such as embracing of the

different, celebrating the different festive

Two essential ingredients:

◦ material aspects: city in a garden, entertainment/buzz, spectacular
landscapes;
◦ human aspects: diversity, multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism
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“Hardware”: the urban
landscape
 Marina Bay – integrated resort, waterfront,
business and financial centre, exclusive
residences, iconic structures and buildings
 Rejuvenating Orchard Road – new malls like Ion
Orchard, pedestrian walkways, outdoor cafes

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“Software”: the people
The so-called “buzz” in a city is all about the people, not the
buildings…You need to create the whole atmosphere, the
whole ambience that will bring people here. We are just
giving them the facilities, the infrastructure, the open
spaces, the vistas, to make them feel excited – but people
are the ones who are going to make it all happen
Mah Bow Tan Former Minister of
National Development, cited in the
Straits Times, 26 August 2005

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Global cities & Transnationals
 A global city contains people from multiple nation-
states who are referred to as transnational migrants
(transnationals)
 Transnationals describe those who maintain links with
their countries of origin even while abroad

Transnationals are those people that has dual citizenships or

those that are holding a nationality while working at other
country ( have a span in other country) there fit are across
different places

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Global cities & Transnationals
 Lead lives that stretch across two or more nation-
states
 Transnationals in the global city have identities &
relationships that span more than one country
 How do they do this? Via social practices that
sustain “multi-stranded social relations” linking
together “home” and “host” societies

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Transnational communities
Transnationals flows of people converge in the
global city because it is a place of economic,
social and cultural opportunities
Types of transnationals in Singapore (Yeoh and
Chang, 2001) ( four groups of people)
◦ Professionals, entrepreneurs and other skilled
workers
◦ Low-skilled or unskilled workers (e.g. FDWs, FWs)
◦ ‘Creative class’ (e.g. athletes, artistes)
◦ International students

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Why does Singapore need
foreigners?
Global race for talent (Singapore’s ‘brain drain’)
Jumpstart Singapore’s economy, labour needed
for local companies to thrive and Singaporeans
to find jobs
Singapore’s low birth rate
- PM Lee Hsien Loong,
National Day Rally Speech, 2010

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But are all foreign workers
treated the same in Singapore?
Singapore’s Bifurcated Labour Migration Policy
(Yeoh, 2006)
Roll out the red carpet for foreign talent
(transnational business class, professional
elites on employment pass)
More limitations for foreign workers (unskilled
labourers on work permit)

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Transnational business class/
professional elites in Singapore
Highly waged, highly skilled professional,
managerial and entrepreneurial elites
◦ Associated with finance, banking and business services who
circulate among world cities

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Open door policy for foreign
talent
Depends on monthly income:
 Eligible for dependent’s pass
 Eligible for Long Term Special Visit Pass
 Can apply for PR/citizenship
 More information check MOM website:
http://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permits

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Outcomes of open-door policy
on Singapore’s population
composition
 Mid-2013: 3.31 million citizens, 0.53 million PRs and 1.56
million non-resident.
 Mid-2018: 3.47 million citizens, 0.52 million PRs and 1.64
million non-resident
 38% of population comprises non-citizens
◦ Highly selective criteria for PR and citizenship (an
outcome of our bifurcated foreign labour strategy)

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Low-skilled or unskilled migrants
in the global city
The global city is not only a crucial node in the
development of new geographies of skilled
professional and managerial workers but it is also
sustained by low-skilled, low-status migrants, who
service the needs of the privileged in both
residential and commercial settings

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Who’s building the hardware?
 Male migrant workers from China, India & Bangladesh
who work in the construction industry
 Current approaches towards them criticised as a policy of
“use and discard” (‘3D work’) – dirty, dangerous and
demeaning
 Obligated to follow work permit conditions imposed
◦ Marriage restrictions
◦ Not allowed to bring over immediate family members
◦ Do not qualify for PR or citizenship

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Gender biases in legislative
protection under work permit
 Male foreign workers are protected by the Employment
Act
 But foreign domestic workers (FDWs) are not protected
under the Act
◦ Not all get days off even though they are entitled to a day
off each week, not entitled to holidays, sick leave,
workmen’s compensation under law
◦ If found pregnant they’re required to be repatriated

Such as workers rights (give off day to the workers)

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Landscapes of Transnational
Communities
 Transformation of Singapore’s neighbourhoods
 Compare expatriate landscapes with foreign
workers landscapes (residential, recreational and
work spaces)
 How are ordinary landscapes associated with the
local population (i.e. ‘heartlands’) being
transformed?

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 Residential Spaces:
Housing FWs and FTs
Foreign workers Foreign talent
Makeshift housing at Condos, waterfront
construction sites, dormitories living, quality facilities
Homeless in void decks, small
rooms in the back of homes,
mattress on the floor
anywhere (including
storerooms)
Some live in dormitories but
this can be a challenge also:
Serangoon Gardens Dormitory
Debate
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Transformation of the heartlands
 But the heartlands are also becoming more
diverse
◦ Trickle of expats (likely to be on local contracts)
◦ Foreign workers dorms in selected HDB estates
◦ Foreign domestic workers in HDB estates

Woodlands Dorm 23
Foreign talents’
recreational landscapes
 Examples of expat landscapes
◦ Holland Village, Boat Quay, Dempsey Road, Serangoon
Gardens
 Which social groups could become excluded from
such landscapes? Why?
◦ Lower-income Singaporeans
◦ Lower-income foreign workers

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Foreign workers’
recreational landscapes
 Foreign workers known to congregate in:
◦ Golden Mile Complex (Little Thailand)
◦ Lucky Plaza (Little Manila)
◦ City Plaza and Joo Chiat Complex (Little Indonesia)
◦ Little India (Indian, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan workers)
◦ Peninsula Plaza (Burmese workers)
 But new FW landscapes are emerging such as in
Boon Lay MRT strip (see chapter by Junjia Ye in
the course book)

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 At these places they can…
 Socialise with their fellow nationals
 Consume food that is local to them
 Buy products that they are familiar with back home e.g. local
brands of goods
 Remit money home
 But they also experience surveillance and are unwelcomed
 Singaporeans shun them on weekends reflecting tensions between
these workers and Singaporeans (see Ye, 2013 on Boon Lay MRT
strip)
 alternative landscapes
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FWs come under surveillance
Little India’s South Asian workers under surveillance
in public spaces. More surveillance after Little India
‘Riot’ 8 Dec, 2013
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/stricter-rules-in-geylang-and-little-india-as-alcohol-laws-ki
ck-in

Shops in geylang and little india are also not allowed to sell
takeaway alcohol from 7pm on weekend , eve of public holidays
and public holidays instead of 10.30pm

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Migrant workers: no right to
public space?
 Filipino workers have had to find other places since the
building of ION replaced the Orchard Road MRT park where
they used to gather
 Signs that say no gathering, no blocking of entrances in
underpass and in front of shopping malls.
 Why is access to public space important?
 Need for more formal spaces for
foreign workers
NTUC Migrant Workers Centre (Serangoon Road)
Set up in 2009, bipartite initiative of the National Trades
Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National
Employers' Federation (SNEF).
Non-government organisation whose mission is to
champion fair employment practices and the well-being of
 migrant workers in Singapore.
Might this be read as a form of ‘containment’? Impact? 
less interaction between locals and migrant workers?

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Issues for
consideration

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 Issue 1: Foreign talent &
competition for jobs and
resources

Are foreigners taking the jobs of citizens?

◦ “They are doing the jobs that Singaporeans shun” (Law Minister K.
Shanmugam, The Straits Times, 8 Jan 2010
◦ Tighter rules for semi-skilled foreigners & raised income ceiling for
employment passes
◦ What about access to infrastructure and services? E.g. housing,
schools, healthcare and transportation

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More recent developments
when hiring foreigners
“From 1 August 2014, as part of the Fair Consideration
Framework, you may be required to advertise your job
opening on the Jobs Bank before you can submit your
Employment Pass application. The advertisement must be
open to Singaporeans and run for at least 14 days.” (MOM,
Singapore)

Large part of the workers are doing the jobs that

Singaporean’s don’t want to do

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Issue 2: Foreign Workers are the
“underbelly of globalisation”
Keeping foreign workers at bay and welcoming foreign
talent?
Bifurcated labour policies (Yeoh, 2006) – unfair, unpaid,
underpaid
Surveillance, lower pay, lesser access to public space

“SMRT Bus Drivers Protest Against Pay” (Straits Times, 26

Nov 2012)

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Issue 3: Impacts on nation-
building
Nation-building becomes more challenging: How
“rooted” is foreign talent to Singapore?
◦ New cleavages in the nation e.g. divide between
“new citizens and PRs” and Singapore-born citizens.
◦ Distinguishing between PRs and citizens

There are people that want to convert to citizenship

Such as china want to convert to sg

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 Citizens vs PRs

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/gap-between-citizen-a
nd-pr-widens-0

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Recent Issues: Changing labour
market and migration
 Labour market changes, aging population and need ‘foreign
talent’ and ‘workers’
 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/comm
entary-expats-foreign-talent-and-immigration-make-singapore-
10766870
 Citizens perceptions around ‘foreign talent’s’ taking away jobs
while remaining dependent on ‘workers’
 Issues of social diversity and inclusion
 Recent Issues: Migrant workers’
rights and needs in Singapore
Role of structural inequality, entwined with issues of ethnicity/identity in rights of
low-wage earning migrants
Need for increasing role of the state, employment agents and civil-society
organisations in ensuring legal and human rights of especially low-wage earning
migrants.
For example, The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics call for
inclusion of foreign domestic workers under Employment Act, limited work hours,
minimum wage
https://www.todayonline.com/voices/domestic-workers-deserve-same-rights-other
-workers-migrant-workers-group
Recent Issues: Migrant workers’
rights and needs in Singapore
 Free mediation services between employees, agents and
employers of FDWs by state accredited non-profit agencies like
The Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support
and Training (Fast)
 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/free-accredited-medi
ation-services-for-domestic-workers-employers-and-employme
nt-agents
 Summary
TN communities are essential components of global cities 
transformation of landscapes in Singapore
The dependence on two groups to sustain the global city:
Highly skilled, highly paid expatriate workers
Lowly paid “guest workers”
Singapore’s bifurcated migration approach (highly vs. lowly skilled) 
social divides & an underprivileged class of foreign workers
The co-existence of these (heterogeneous) TN communities with
Singaporeans presents new challenges to nation-building in Singapore

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