Singapore is known for its squeaky-clean roads and parks pruned to perfection.
But an ugly side exists.
It is the underbelly of filthy and cramped shophouses, apartments and temporary dorms where many foreign workers live.
On Tuesday night, a spot check by foreign worker group Migrant Workers' Centre (MWC) and The Straits Times found more than 50 construction workers from Bangladesh and India cramped in two small apartments in Selegie Road.
The men slept shoulder to shoulder, amid rotting food and soiled clothes.
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The Manpower Ministry (MOM) is now investigating the workers' employers for housing them in unacceptable conditions and not paying the men.
The employers face fines of up to $10,000, and/or up to 12 months in prison. But there are many more unscrupulous bosses who go scot-free for subjecting their workers to bad housing.
In recent months, The Straits Times has published several reports on unhygienic and over- crowded foreign worker housing.
At the living quarters of a Punggol Housing Board construction site, hundreds of workers use choked and broken urinals.
Over at Tuas View Square, about 5,000 workers live in more than 10 factory-converted dormitories which are infested with rats and mosquitoes.
The Government is acutely aware of the problem and has taken important steps to rectify the situation.
Nine purpose-built dorms, which come with cafeterias and basketball courts, will be built over the next two years. They will add around 100,000 beds to the existing 200,000 in about 40 big dorms.
To move workers to proper dorms, the Urban Redevelopment Authority stopped the building of temporary dormitories in a dozen industrial estates last Friday.
Non-Malaysian workers from the marine and process sectors, which include the chemicals and pharmaceutical sectors, will also not be allowed to live in public housing from next year.
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But these improvements will not be felt for some time. In the meantime, concrete steps should be taken to fix the situation for the tens of thousands of workers who continue to live in deplorable conditions.
There are about 700 temporary dorms housing some 100,000 low-skilled foreign workers. The rest are housed elsewhere, such as in HDB flats, apartments or temporary quarters on worksites.
Economists and foreign worker activists said the authorities must step up checks and impose harsher penalties on errant bosses.
Nanyang Technological University economist Walter Theseira said bad bosses know that the "statistical likelihood that one will be caught for housing workers in substandard conditions from purely random checks is very low".
"The penalties are presumably not a severe enough deterrent given the low likelihood of getting caught," said Dr Theseira.
In the first six months this year, MOM conducted about 360 inspections, and took action against about 600 employers for housing violations. Some were just warned and most were fined.
MWC's chairman Yeo Guat Kwang said the authorities must detect, investigate and prosecute bosses who break the law to the fullest extent.
"Only in such an environment will it not be at all worthwhile for anyone to consider gaming or circumventing our laws, no matter what he stands to gain as a result," he said.
Mr John Gee, head of research of Transient Workers Count Too, said MOM can work with non-governmental organisations to conduct high-profile raids of bad housing places.
Click on thumbnail to view. Story continues after photos. The New Paper, Mr Ahmad
More importantly, workers should also be empowered to speak up against ill-treatment.
One way is for MOM to expand its Temporary Job Scheme to whistle-blowers. The scheme allows foreign workers to find a new job while waiting for their employment-related claims to be settled.
Workers should also be educated about help channels for them. MWC runs a 24-hour helpline for workers. But it is unclear if workers know about this.
Raising awareness on this front will help combat the problem.
MOM could conduct a dedicated short course to introduce foreign workers to their rights and organisations which can help them.
Currently, employment rights are covered in compulsory safety courses for foreign workers but they are not explained in detail.
Singaporeans can also help by reporting unfair treatment of foreign workers to the authorities.
Said Mr Yeo: "It takes the whole community to truly eradicate injustice to migrant workers. If all of us do our part, we can better conditions for migrant workers in Singapore."
This article was first published on November 21, 2014.
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