Asia’s Temporary Migration Regime in a Time of COVID-19
There are very few who can claim that they have not been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in some way or form. There are, however, many who can testify to bearing the brunt of the pandemic’s sweeping impact across the globe. Migrant workers in particular fall under this category. According to the Singapore Ministry of Health, over 95 per cent of Singapore’s confirmed cases by 19 June 2020 were migrants.
In the fourth Sir John Monash Lecture series, Professor Brenda Yeoh, Raffles Professor of Social Sciences, Department of Geography and Director of Humanities and Social Science Research Office of Deputy President (Research and Technology), and Research Leader, Asian Migration Cluster, Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore (NUS), provided her expert insight and critical viewpoint in her lecture titled “Asia’s Temporary Migration Regime in a Time of COVID-19”.
Professor Yeoh opened with a description of new border regimes and stalled transnational mobility. She described the situation where the establishment of new SOP resulted in thousands of migrant workers being separated or stranded, increasing their uncertain status. Estimations by IOM indicated that by mid July 2020, some 3 million people were stranded. She proceeded to describe the flow of events, starting with initial mobility lockdowns that began in January to the start of vaccination deployment in 2021.
The outbreak of COVID-19 highlighted the disparity between the various social classes, where those who were hit hardest belonged to racial minorities and the poor. In a world of “haves and have not’s” the robustness of the healthcare system was brought into question as it struggled to respond to an ever-growing number of cases.
The “temporary migrant worker” class was impacted the most, where labour workers found themselves stranded on both sides of the border, neither able to enter or leave. Those within the border faced additional issues, their employment status resulting in them slipping outside of the various established social safety nets. These issues were accentuated by narrowing pathways to citizenship, ill-conceived temporary labour schemes, and the constant cycle of workers on short-term contracts. This segregation is often self-imposed, as foreign labourers preferred a form of enclavisation over integration, which was further reinforced by societies exclusionary politics.
Since the onset of the pandemic, there has been a significant shift in the way temporary migration is viewed. On one hand, it is spurring on automation to supplement foreign labour shortages while on the other hand, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to bring in foreign workers. This provides the powers that be with an opportunity to revamp the temporary migrant regime to become more inclusive.
Professor Yeoh suggested allowing temporary migrant workers to stay longer, thus reducing the churn of workers. This would result in savings in the form of reduced brokerage fees for the labour force. This was followed by the suggestion to incorporate migrants into society’s safety nets. This is crucial as it allows industry to keep operating despite the possibility of yet another wave of global lockdowns.
At the end of her lecture, Professor Yeoh urged consideration of integrating the foreign work force into society, which will help to reduce the social stigmatisation and isolation that is felt by a foreign group, thus preventing the rise of enclaves and grottos. Integration into society also ensures that a common sense of humanity is fostered, thus allowing for greater reaction times in the event of future outbreaks.