‘Inadequate punishment for recalcitrant employers’

By Andrew Loh

Lee Chiang Theng, 58, was a supplier of labour for ship repair. He was a director of three employment companies: Gates Offshore Pte Ltd, Goldrich Venture Pte Ltd and S1 Engineering Pte Ltd.

In 2008, according to this report on Yawning Bread, he brought in a total of 618 migrant workers, ostensibly to work in the shipyards. However, what transpired was nothing of the sort.

Instead, the workers were housed in dilapidated accommodation and were not given work. Conditions in the make-shift dormitory were so bad that the workers became ill — with one of them eventually dying from a chicken pox infection, and 10 others hospitalised for the same condition.

Workers were reportedly only given two meals a day, consisting of watery curry and plain white rice. Often, the food given to the workers, as some of them revealed when visited by the media, had turned bad by the time they were given it. On some days, food didn't arrive at all.

The workers endured such conditions for up to eight months before the case came to light after online media reported it. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) eventually closed down the dormitory and moved the workers out to another one.

The workers had each paid between S$4,000 to S$7,000 each to come to Singapore. None of them, after arriving, were given regular work or paid even basic salaries.

On the death of the worker, Lee was reported to have said: "I have 700 to 800 workers in the dormitory. It is not unusual if someone dies a natural death."

In 2009, Lee was charged for the illegal employment of workers, failure to pay salary to Gates Offshore workers and Goldrich Venture workers, and failure to provide acceptable accommodation.

In November 2011, some two years after the incident, Lee was sentenced to four weeks jail and a S$36,000 fine.

He appealed for no jail time but it was dismissed by Justice VK Rajah.

Vulnerable to abuse

The abuse and exploitation of migrant workers in Singapore have been issues for some years now. The authorities have often pledged to clamp down on these. Both the MOM and Justice Rajah have described these migrant workers as being "especially vulnerable" to abuse.

In Lee's case, Justice Rajah did not mince his words. He said Lee's actions were "undoubtedly severely deleterious". He added, "Most pernicious is the fact that his breaches resulted in his foreign workers living in unsafe conditions in which a life was lost."

The judge said "the totality of Lee's offending conduct was entirely unacceptable."

Yet, the sentence meted out by the lower courts to Lee, who is involved in one of the most serious cases of abuse of these workers, does not seem to underline the seriousness of the matter, nor would it be a deterrent to would-be recalcitrant employers.

A four-week prison sentence and a paltry S$36,000 fine is no deterrent to exploitative employers who profit by the hundreds of thousands of dollars from these workers. Lee himself is reported to have brought in more than 1,100 workers in total, each paying thousands of dollars to gain entry into Singapore.

It is also puzzling why the Attorney General's Chambers did not appeal the original sentence passed down by the lower courts.

Suggested steps

Russell Heng, President of Transient Workers' Count Too (TWC2), an NGO which looks after the welfare of migrant workers in Singapore, said the four-week sentence and the S$36,000 fine on Lee "were an inadequate penalty."

"In our view, a delinquent employer in a case such as this should have to pay all the salaries outstanding, plus compensation to the workers for housing them in appalling conditions, and pay a punitive fine on top of that. This would then be a serious deterrent to such behaviour." (Straits Times forum page, 1 December 2011)

Heng said that those who are tempted to behave in a similar way "need to be made to know, in no uncertain terms, that they will not come out of either trial or mediation with a net financial gain and minimal career damage from their actions."

With more than 850,000 work permit holders in Singapore, it is imperative that the welfare and well-being of migrant workers are seriously looked into and improved. What is also clearly needed is a justice system which will brood no tolerance of abuse and exploitation of these workers.

In the meantime, the MOM should continue its dialogue and engagement with the NGOs on the ground, namely TWC2 and HOME (Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics). In this regard, it is good to see the new Minister of State for Manpower, BG Tan Chuan Jin, pay a visit to TWCs in November, the first such occasion in the 7-year old NGO's history.

While such face-to-face engagements are important, what would ultimately and effectively curb abusive behaviour by employers are first, consistent vigilance by the authorities, and second, to bring the weight of the law to bear on recalcitrant employers.

Sadly, the woefully inadequate sentence meted out to Lee, who is involved in one of the most serious cases of abuse here in Singapore in recent years, will instead send the message that the worst behaviour will only bring light punishment.

If the authorities are serious in wanting to stamp out such behaviour by employers, punishment needs to be more severe.

After all, these workers aren't just people to do our dirty work, so to speak. They are fellow human beings who, in the words of Heng, should be accorded dignity and respect — whether they are lowly- or unskilled workers or not.

Andrew helms publichouse.sg as Editor-in-Chief. His writings have been reproduced in other publications, including the Australian Housing Journal in 2010. He was nominated by Yahoo! Singapore as one of Singapore's most influential media persons in 2011.