Controlling the Undesirables
In my taxi home from grocery shopping yesterday we went by a vast new complex of modest housing. “Worker housing,” said the driver, “So now we can keep track of them.” Like other countries I could mention, Singapore depends on hordes of underpaid immigrants to do almost all the landscape and construction work while the natives earn (relatively) big bucks in finance, tech and the skilled trades. But unlike those other nations, Singapore provides housing for its immigrants. Out of the goodness of its heart? you inquire. Mais non, ma petite! or rather, No, lah! It’s for the better policing of the workers.
So at this new complex the workers will have their own rooms, instead of individual cots in a vast warehouse (the current arrangement) or rooms rented from independent landlords. And the workers (code name for dark-skinned Bangladeshi men) have to go past a security desk whose occupant will jot down their comings and goings. So, my driver explained, if a worker were to commit a murder, it would be easy to figure out who did it – the guy in Block 4 without the alibi. A much better system than in Malaysia, where murderous workers just melt into the background without a trace.
Heck, I wonder, how many murders happen here anyway? Isn’t it more common for families to beat their maids (Thai, Phillipine or Malaysian) to death than for manual laborers to kill people? A whole lot of firepower going to control a non-problem.
Addendum: My neighbor says that this is actually not a non-problem. There are apparently a lot of arguments and fights among these men, some of which escalate into actual armed conflict, with mayhem as a result. Not surprising, I guess, when you consider that these are thousands and thousands of young men far from home, with no families, no wives or girlfriends, no support system, and no fun form of release except drinking and prostitutes, or possibly gathering in Little India on Sunday nights to exchange news with their fellow villagers. So much strength and testosterone, so few outlets! Maybe someone needs to organize a proper cricket league for them.