“The Bangladeshi Worker,” by Md Mizanur Rahman

In Md Mizanur Rahman’s piece, “The Bangladeshi Worker,” he explores the reality of migrant workers in Singapore through conversations with Habibul, a young Bangladeshi worker. Throughout the reading, Rahman switches from historical and data-driven explanations of the Singaporean economy to personal anecdotes from Habibul’s own experiences. The paper’s methodology heavily relies on integrating personal accounts and historical evidence to discuss the migrant labor system in Singapore. Throughout the article, Rahman often refers to the economy as a primary reason for the prevalence of “low-skilled” migrant laborers. Rahman notes that Habibul is one of the “70,000 Bangladeshi migrants in Singapore” who work primarily in shipbuilding and construction. The paper attempts to grapple with the tension between Singapore’s “strict laws and harsh punishments” and the city-state’s ability to appear as a place of freedom and economic opportunity for millions of migrant workers. Rahman reconciles this tension by quoting Habibul, who contends that Singapore offers him a better quality of life and the potential to succeed. Interestingly, Rahman argues that the Singaporean economy depends on “the immigrant mentality of wanting to succeed in a globalizing economy” (Rahman 2). Overall, the paper discusses labor immigration in Singapore in terms of economic forces, propelled by the demand of temporary labor and capitalistic mentality, which have been shown to “benefit” both Singapore and the migrants’ countries of origin (Rahman 4). 

While the paper certainly offers a general overview of Singaporean migrant labor structures, it falls short in several ways. First, Rahman references only one individual to convey the general experience of migrant workers in Singapore. Drawing from a single person’s experience cannot fully depict the spectrum of migrants’ experiences in Singapore. Rahman briefly mentions that migrant workers emigrate from “neighboring countries,” including “Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines,” but he does not further explain why these countries send the most migrant workers. Instead, he offers a quite vague explanation for the forces of migration, noting that Singapore follows a system based on labor demand, and the “demand-driven” system mutually benefits the worker and the Singaporean economy through remittances foreign workers send back home. Again, Rahaman references Habibul’s positive sentiment on the Singaporean economic system to solidify his argument around economic mutualism. 

Furthermore, Rahman frequently quotes Habibul throughout the paper but does not offer a compelling connection between Habibul and other migrant workers. For instance, when Rahman asserts that migrant work in Singapore offers other “benefits and costs,” he cites Habibul’s pride in the prestige of having a stake in Singapore’s labor market, and by extension, his family also has a stake; by working in Singapore, Habibul’s family is granted a certain social capital that permits them to hold more clout in their village. While Habibul may hold this sentiment, it is not representative of all migrant workers’ situations. If Rahaman had opted to singularly focus on Bangladeshi migrant workers (as the title might suggest), perhaps this argument would be more compelling. However, since Rahaman does not fully focus on Bangladeshi works and haphazardly references other migrants from parts of South and Southeast Asia, the argument falls flat. Thus, the reader is left wondering how do migrants of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders navigate or fit into the Singaporean economy? 

Such a homogenizing argument does not offer any nuance about how different individuals experience migrant work. For example, for women migrant domestic workers, the fear of abuse and exploitation might be higher. A 2017 report from CNN World found that “some 60% of maids in the city-state are exploited by their employers” (Westcott and Hunt). The paper mentions domestic workers once, noting that they comprise one of the largest groups of foreign workers in Singapore; Rahaman uses this statistic as a bit of a throw-away, given that he never explains or elaborates further. However, the role of women migrants in domestic work in Singapore is integral in understanding how labor migration operates. In the book Multinational Maids by Anju Paul, she describes the concept of “stepwise migration,” a process by which women (largely from Southeast Asia) plan their migration route through labor contracts that eventually lead to their preferred final destination (usually the U.S. or Canada). The book outlines the intricate forces of migration that compel women to become migrant workers, including the roles of placement agencies and market intermediaries in propelling or even forcing these women to migrate. While Rahaman touches on economic prosperity as a force of labor migration, the paper simply does not offer any nuanced argument or additional reasoning about forces of labor migration. 

References: 

Paul, A. M. (2019). Multinational maids: Stepwise migration in a global labor market. s.n. 

Westcott, B., & Hunt, K. (2017, December 4). Most Singapore foreign domestic workers exploited, survey says. CNN World. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/28/asia/singapore-domestic-helpers-maids/ind…

Questions: 

1. In what ways do foreign workers in Singapore carve space for themselves socially, politically, and culturally in a landscape of “temporary” citizenship? 

2. How are the experiences of Bangladeshi workers in Singapore distinct from other foreign workers? 

3. How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted labor migration, and how might this change affect the inclusion and treatment of migrant workers in Singapore? 

Quotes:

• “While some of these workers will soon leave Singapore with shattered dreams and broken hearts, this is not a widespread phenomenon. Most of them are happy to remain in Singapore, by any means necessary” (1). 
• “This almost ironic sense of freedom felt by Bangladeshis working in a country known for its strict laws and harsh punishments has made Singapore a popular destination for other foreign professionals and low-skilled workers such as Habibul” (2).
• “This life-cycle approach to the management of foreign workers has proven to be economically beneficial for the development of Singapore and the source countries of these workers” (4).