Prejudice and Discrimination Essay

Analytical Factsheet on Prejudice & Discrimination on Class Inequality Section 1: Executive Summary This essay is about prejudice and discrimination occurring in Singapore context to address Class discrimination. This essay will also show reasons to why prejudice and discrimination occurs and the effects of such inequity can cause to the society. In this case studies possible measures and solutions will be highlighted and suggested. Section 2: The issues and who are involved. This essay will discuss the discrimination against foreign workers working in Singapore. I will be elaborating on how class discrimination has adverse impacts on society on economic level and social levels. I define foreign workers as a group of minority that come from different countries to work in Singapore. According to the 2009 Singapore Yearbook of Manpower Statistics, 37. 6% of Singapore’s population are made up of foreign workers (1. 1 million %). This proves that foreign workers are an important component of our labour force. (Construction (70. 7%), followed by manufacturing (46. 8%) and service (28. 9%) sectors. ) The reason why I chose this topic is that knowing that this group of people had contributed to the country’s growth, yet they still suffer from social inequality and it is an important to address such issues and to understand what leads to such prejudice and discrimination against them. The common stereotypes of foreign workers are they are dirty, have weird body odour, lack of proper hygiene, creates disturbance in housing areas. They tend to speak loudly, creating a lot of noise and being responsible for the crime rates in Singapore. (The Straits Times Nov 2007 they eat, litter, get drunk, urinate, sleep and even fight,) They are also classified as poor people, cheap labour, being lecherous and not very well educated, and people with ill intension. These stereotypes then evolve into prejudices and discrimination and people tend to believe such information because it is consistent with their stereotypes while dismissing contradictory information. Having such stereotypes, people will tend to avoid and be unwilling to mingle with this group of people. For example in the case of the dormitory being setup for a group of foreign workers near the Serragoon gardens issue, it has brought about a big fiasco. Residences were worried about the safety and security in the neighbourhood. Working in a foreign country somehow shows that they are poor, in need of money and thus creating an impression that they wouldn’t hesitant to break in into houses to steal. (CNA October 3rd 2008 Dormitory decision upsets some Sera goon Gardens residents) It clearly shows how they are being mistreated by allocating their living quarters next to the cemetery to prevent any social conflict between the locals and these foreigners. (The Online Citizen Nov 2009 Social isolation – left among the dead) Many of them are being deprived of proper housing conditions where many need to be squeeze into a small room. Dormitories provided were usually poorly facilitated and has very low hygiene standards and others stay at worksite which can be dangerous. (The Online Citizen Sept 2009 Special Feature Is Singapore Slum Free? ) Unsafe transportations were used to ferry these workers to the worksites. Due to these factors, resulting in cases where foreign workers’ lives were lost because their welfare and safety weren’t factor in as priority. (Asia One News the New paper June 2010 3 death 14 hurt in latest crash) This group of people are commonly discriminated by the derogatory name( chinaman, bangala) given to them and being viewed a ‘2nd class citizen’ due to the low paid jobs they have thus having low social status. And because of this they are often being disrespected, taken for granted and exploited in the labour market. (The Online Citizen October 5th 2009 Chinese worker issued with receipt containing vulgarities) Section 3: Why it is important for us to talk about it? Currently there are laws and regulation in Singapore to protect these foreign workers but much can be done to improve on the current situation. According to civil society organisation Transient Workers Count Too, Ministry of Manpower hands out booklets to foreign workers upon their arrival in Singapore. These booklets regarding the employment act are available in different languages, hotline number is also provided for workers to report abuses. But employers and agents, in many cases, confiscate these leaflets and brochures, thus such informations are unable to reach them. Public endorsement of the exploitation of foreign workers seems to be allow for businesses and ports in Singapore to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year on foreigners because the economic market have created an industrial and work culture that requires them to accepting conditions that local workers would not agree to. Thus businesses are allowed to cut corners by squeezing foreign workers dry. The restrictive work permit system, which ties foreign workers to a single employer, makes it difficult for them to negotiate for better working conditions let alone higher wages. Many were afraid to speak up fearing that they might lose their jobs. Returning to their countries is not what they are looking forward to as many have taken out loans of up to $9000 just to work in Singapore. These workers have to work for long hours to support their families and to re-pay their debt. Contracts that are written are usually not made clear to the workers. Employers made the contracts solely to protect their own needs, rather than creating an unbiased relationship between themselves and their workers. Unions on the other hand are limited to how much they can do to assist and help demand for better working conditions. When workers are poor and lack legal protection, they are often willing to work longer hours for lower wages. Hence, the reason employers are willing to hire foreign workers in favour of local workers is because working conditions of all low wage workers in general are poor to start with. With such social inequality present in a multi racial country, it is important to address these issues in order to uphold the country’s goal to foster good relationship between different groups of people and to maintain a presentable image in the global world. Most importantly is to educate and ensure growth of such sectors should not be made at the expense of these workers’ rights. Being a small country, the effects if a strike will to occur will affect the country drastically, it will only tell foreign investors that we are not strong enough to provide a stable policies for business dealing and human rights are being abuse thus reflecting badly on Singapore’s reputation. Hence it is important to make sure fair treatment is giving to them. Negative effects will surface if they decided to vacant these jobs and it will definitely crumble the industries that which employments of foreign workers are high. Section 4: Where can we start to fix the problem? To tackle the problems of such inequality, by raising awareness and creating opportunities for interaction is ideal. Giving foreign workers a medium to voice out their opinions is necessary for human rights and the Government should initiate sharing sessions with foreign workers where translators could be brought in to break down language barriers. To help ease the problem of exploitation, laws which work against bad lodging can be further enforce with stricter consequences. For example, improve living conditions so as basic necessities are provided. Reduce discriminatory behaviours acted towards this minority group, the media can also play a part to show that what dangerous or risky jobs are taken up by them to make our living lifestyle better and to address and give credit to their contributions. In addition, subjects such as civics and moral education can be used to reach out to educate students about discrimination at a younger age. References: 1. The Online Citizen Nov 2009 Social isolation – left among the dead http://theonlinecitizen. com/2009/11/social-isolation-left-among-the-dead/ 2. Asia One News the New paper June 2010 3 death 14 hurt in latest crash http://news. asiaone. com/News/The+New+Paper/Story/A1Story20100623-223657. html 3. The Online Citizen Sept 2009 Special Feature Is Singapore Slum Free? http://theonlinecitizen. com/2009/09/toc-special-feature-is-singapore-really-slum-free/ 4. Transient Worker Count too http://www. twc2. org. sg/site/newsletters/2008-sept-oct. html 5. The Straits Times Nov 2007 they eat, litter, get drunk, urinate, sleep and even fight, http://www. straitstimes. com/print/Free/Story/STIStory_180230. html 6. The Online Citizen October 5th 2009 Chinese worker issued with receipt containing vulgarities http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/10/chinese-worker-issued-with-receipt-containing-vulgarities/ 7. Fit to Post June 24th 2010 Recognizing the work and sacrifice of foreign workers http://sg. yfittopostblog. com/2010/06/24/recognising-the-work-and-sacrifice-of-foreign-workers/ 8. The Online Citizen March 6th 2010 Foreign Workers Contract http://theonlinecitizen. com/2010/03/foreign-worker-contracts/ 9. Ministry of Manpower http://www. mom. gov. sg/Pages/default. aspx 10. CNA October 3rd 2008 Dormitory decision upsets some Serragoon Gardens residents http://www. channelnewsasia. com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/380077/1/. html.