Singapore Parliament passes bill for licensing of larger foreign worker dorms

Singapore's Parliament on Tuesday passed a Bill requiring foreign worker dormitories with a capacity of at least 1,000 beds to adhere to specific standards into law, as several members of parliament (MPs) pressed for wider-encompassing legislation for smaller dorms.

The Foreign Employee Dormitories Bill requires all dorms with capacities of 1,000 and above to be licensed, with various regulations in the areas of security, public health and social and recreational activities before they can operate.

The new law, said Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, will provide the framework for the requirements of large purpose-built dormitories that are being built around the nation-state. Dormitory operators running facilities of that size will have six months to comply to the regulations of the new licence.

In the debate on the Bill in Parliament on Tuesday, MPs such as Migrant Workers' Centre head Yeo Guat Kwang, Fatimah Lateef, Gan Thiam Poh, Irene Ng, Pritam Singh, Lina Chiam, Foo Mee Har, Lee Bee Wah and Patrick Tay spoke up to question the 1,000-bed threshold.

Many MPs pointed out that current purpose-built dormitories falling within the Bill's guidelines are home to just 200,000 out of more than 400,000 workers who require migrant worker housing. The rest live in smaller, often less well-run housing facilities which range from shophouses to on-site container blocks and overcrowded condominium or housing board flats.

Many who spoke cited news reports of what Tan considered to be "egregious" cases of dormitories that flouted regulations. They urged that provisions be made in the new legislation to protect workers living in facilities below the 1,000-bed capacity.

Yeo was also concerned the Bill could inadvertently create segregation between smaller and larger dormitories - that foreign worker welfare would be better in the larger, regulated dormitories than in the smaller, cheaper dormitories that did not need to be licensed.

Speaking at the close of debates on the Bill on Tuesday, Tan said it is a "progressive and much-needed measure" to manage large dormitories, over and above the regulations currently in place. He stressed that the passing of the Bill does not mean that the ministry does not view the welfare of workers living in smaller accommodation as less important. Rather, he said existing regulations already require a minimum set of standards and "cover a wide range of concerns today", and that his ministry will step up further on its enforcement activities.

"It is important for us to understand that this represents a bigger issue of larger dormitories, because we are building dorms of that size," he said. "Bringing about this Bill... is so we can make sure these measures and parameters are worked in early."