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In a question and answer session of the Workers’ Party (WP) Youth Wing webinar on Saturday (April 26), former managing partner of Cavenagh Law and global partner of Clifford Chance, Senior Counselor Harpreet Singh noted the need to assign a fund to support migrant workers whose families are affected by the failures of Singapore, given that there is a substantial loss of life in the migrant worker population.
On Saturday, the WP Youth Wing hosted a live webinar on Facebook. Introducing panelists: Public Health Expert Dr. Jeremy Lim, Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Leong Hoe Nam, Mr. Singh, and Economist Yeoh Lam Keong.
During the webinar question and answer session, panelists were asked about the issue of COVID-19 infection groups inside the dormitories of migrant workers in Singapore.
So far 25 dormitories have been published as isolation areas with 12,694 migrant workers infected with the virus.
In response, Mr. Singh indicated that it is essential to ensure that migrant workers are not affected financially, as they are among the most vulnerable in society. He also praised Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s remarks, which ensured that the government will take care of migrant workers and ensure that their wages are paid.
“One thing we must analyze is that if there is a substantial loss of life in that population, we must think of a fund to support workers whose family is affected by the failures of ours,” added Singh.
He continued: “For me, one of the most important questions on the subject of foreign workers’ dormitories is, to what extent do we drop the ball?”
Singh then expressed three areas related to the issue of migrant workers’ dormitories that he believes should have had more detail to justify themselves.
For the first area, Singh noted that dorm operators must submit quarantine plans as part of their licensing terms. Therefore, it questioned whether operators were bound by that requirement.
“Were those plans evaluated? Do we evaluate those plans correctly? Were they up to it? And if not, why were the licenses granted in the first place? I ask.
Second, Mr. Singh noted whether a dormitory commissioner for migrant workers was ever appointed to ensure that dormitory operators meet the requirements.
“If not, why not? To what extent was our response hampered because this was not done? Mr. Singh stated.
The third was on government emergency plans for migrant worker populations.
“Before the number of foreign workers increased, what were our emergency or quarantine plans for that group? We cannot say that this was a problem that became evident only for the benefit of hindsight, “he said. “What were the plans? Was there a plan to aggressively test and separate them early? If not, why not? Was it a resource constraint? What was the resource limitation?
After that, Mr. Singh opined that the country will be strengthened if the responses to the three highlighted areas are provided for “honesty and transparency”.
“It is not about pointing the finger, it is about open responsibility and transparency when things go wrong,” he said.
Outbreak in bedrooms was inevitable, says Dr. Jeremy Lim
Meanwhile, public health expert Dr. Jeremy Lim responded to the topic raised by an audience during the webinar question-and-answer session and hinted that “the outbreak in the dorms was inevitable due to the nature of the congregation. “
According to Dr. Lim, any place that is congested with a multitude of people is at risk.
“Perhaps at the first warning signs, we really should have moved faster to get people out of the dorms and ensure better space,” he said.
Lim said the government knew very little about the “substantial population”, hence the difficult response. He added: “It was very clear that there are many different types of bedrooms, therefore it is difficult to equip yourself with this.”
Noting that it has been in many dormitories of migrant workers who are under closure, Lim said the migrant workers are “clinically fine,” but should be quarantined in their rooms to protect Singaporeans from infection with the virus.
“They have been blocked not by themselves but by us. Their blockade is really to protect the rest of the Singaporeans and not them. They are experiencing incredible financial and psychological difficulties because they are protecting us, “Lim said.
