This is our petition to the President of the Republic of Singapore for the convening of an independent Commission of Inquiry to inquire into the circumstances and contributing factors that allowed for the rapid and massive spread of COVID-19 in Singapore’s migrant worker community. The severity of the spread was not inevitable. Steps could have been taken to contain it at an earlier stage. We must understand how this happened, so we may do better next time.

 

TL;DR:-

• Public health crisis in migrant worker community
• 93.51% of SG’s COVID-19 cases were migrant workers residing in dormitories (as of 31 May 2020)
• Migrant workers remain in strict isolation for our protection
• Mistakes were made
• Underlying systemic conditions contributed to these mistakes being made
• We must understand all of this, how this happened, before we can move forward
• Independent COI should thus be convened
• Focus of COI is on root causes and long-term change
• We owe this to our migrant worker community and ourselves
• Please sign and share this petition
• Thank you

 

As the dust settles, and we ready ourselves for the new normal, let us not forget the one group of people that we have let down: Singapore’s migrant workers.

The official statistics show that, as of 31 May 2020, there were a total of 34,884 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Singapore. The vast majority of them were migrant workers residing in dormitories. Of the 34,884 confirmed cases, 32,619 were dormitory residents. That’s 93.51%.

By as early as February 2020, reports of cramped and unsanitary conditions in migrant workers’ dormitories had begun to flow over social media, and several migrant workers’ groups were sounding the alarm. People were concerned that the conditions in the dormitories would provide a hotbed for the rapid and massive spread of COVID-19 should no mitigatory action be taken.

We have now seen that that was exactly what happened. At the start of April 2020, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Singapore’s migrant worker community began its unprecedented spike.

As April 2020 progressed, our nation rallied in support of our migrant worker community. Our government took serious measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 among the migrant worker community, and assured them and their families that we would look after their health, their welfare and their livelihoods.

We also took matters into our own hands. We organised, and gave much-needed moral, financial and logistical support to our migrant worker brothers in our time of collective crisis. Hundreds of young volunteers helped to distribute supplies, disseminate crucial information (quite creatively), and raise funds. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations were raised.

 

We did this because we understood that we, as a nation, owed them a heavy responsibility.

 

Our migrant worker community remains in strict isolation for our protection. This comes as the rate of local community infection dwindles. The rate of infection among the migrant worker population is still in the many hundreds per day.

Let us be clear, this is a sacrifice they did not choose to make.

Now is the time for us, publicly and as a nation, to express our deepest thanks to our migrant worker community.

More than this, we must affirm our shared commitment to a better future, where their safety and decent living conditions are guaranteed.

We cannot begin our task unless we understand, fully and dispassionately, where and how we went wrong. The systemic conditions that allowed for this to happen. The chain of decision-making along which the initial concerns were lost or overlooked.

We therefore make this petition to the President of the Republic of Singapore for the convening of a Commission of Inquiry to inquire into the circumstances and contributing factors that allowed for the rapid and massive spread of COVID-19 in Singapore’s migrant worker community.

 

 

Note:   The Commission of Inquiry is a public investigative body which consists of persons appointed by the President of the Republic of Singapore to undertake an inquiry into the subject-matters set out in the Terms of Reference. At the end of the inquiry, the commission will generally submit a report which sets out its findings and recommendations.

Please see below for the proposed Terms of Reference.

 

 

PROPOSED TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE RAPID AND MASSIVE SPREAD OF COVID-19 IN THE MIGRANT WORKER COMMUNITY IN OR AROUND APRIL 2020 APPOINTED UNDER SECTION 3 OF THE INQUIRIES ACT (CAP 139A)

The COI’s Terms of Reference are to:-

1. Establish the systemic conditions (economic, social, and historical) and other contributing factors that allowed for the rapid and massive spread of COVID-19 in the migrant worker community in or around April 2020 (the “Spread”);
2. Establish the policy response to the Spread;
3. Make recommendations to improve the systemic conditions (economic, social, and historical) and to minimise the recurrence of similar incidents;
4. Make recommendations to improve the policy response to similar incidents, and in particular the policy response at the early stages of similar incidents;
5. Conduct itself in accordance with the provisions of the Inquiries Act;
6. Consider evidence from independent civil society bodies;
7. Hold the whole of the inquiry in public; and
8. Make and submit a report of its proceedings, findings and recommendations to the President of the Republic of Singapore.

 

 

PS:   The aim of this Commission of Inquiry is to seek meaningful long-term solutions that guarantee our migrant worker community’s needs and welfare moving forward. It is not a finger-pointing exercise.

We must examine the underlying structural problems, or systemic conditions, which allowed for this crisis to happen. These structural problems are not new. They have been identified by advocacy groups for several years now. Singapore’s heavy reliance on cheap migrant labour and the lack of participatory governance in our migrant workforce (i.e. migrant workers not having a voice or say in the decision-making process) are two of the key structural problems underlying this crisis that were identified. Unconscious biases may also have influenced policy decisions to peripheralise migrant workers physically and socially, such that they were constantly kept at a distance from the community. This allowed us to develop a collective blind spot when it came to migrant workers’ concerns.

Our hope is that such structural problems, or systemic conditions, will be thoroughly analysed by this Commission of Inquiry. It is important for us to understand, publicly, the root causes of this crisis. Only then can we adjust our point of view, and make meaningful long-term change.