The Straits Times (ST) published news about a job survey saying that 1 in 2 people in Singapore has experienced workplace discrimination (‘1 in 2 people experienced discrimination at work: Aware-Milieu survey‘, 21 Sep 2022).
The Singapore media outlet reported that “cases involving race are the most common, followed by those involving age and gender,”. “People with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and women experienced more workplace discrimination than others.”
The survey was conducted by the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), Singapore’s leading women’s rights and gender equality advocacy group, and consumer research company Milieu Insight last month (Aug 2022).
A sample of 1,000 respondents were said to have been polled asking them on their experiences of direct and indirect discrimination at their workplace.
ST quoted a trainer saying that the trainer felt “attacked” as the only Malay-Muslim in her former department who wore a hijab to work. It also reported that a transgender woman was told to use the male toilet and was asked intrusive questions by interviewers and colleagues such as whether she would wear a wig when her hair was still short and if she had undergone a sex reassignment operation.
The survey said that 54 per cent of those who thought they were being discriminated against at their workplace chose to remain silent about the matter. They did not trust the authorities to do anything for them. Many ended up quitting their jobs.
TAFFEP’s Complaints On Discrimination Are Based On Nationality
The survey, however, does not mention discrimination based on nationality, despite it being the main complaint to the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) in all these years. TAFEP is a quasi-government organization under the Singapore Manpower Ministry (MOM) set up to address discrimination at the workplace.
According to a MOM’s reply in parliament last September, between 2014 and the first half of 2021, the TAFEP received an average of 379 workplace discrimination complaints each year:
As can be seen, the bulk of the complaints stemmed from discrimination by nationality. Discrimination by age and gender is in fact, much less.
In response to queries by TOC on why “nationality” has not been included in the survey, AWARE responded: “We have not included nationality in the categories as we wanted to focus on the local resident workforce. The respondents are either citizens or permanent residents.”
Missing Element Of “Nationality” In Survey For Discrimination Puzzling
During the National Day Rally 2021, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that a set of guidelines on workplace discrimination will be enshrined into law to give the authorities more teeth and expand the range of actions they can take against errant companies.
PM Lee said that these laws will better protect workers against discrimination based on nationality, age, race, gender and disability.
He shared that he had decided to talk about concerns over work pass holders despite it being a delicate subject for a National Day Rally. “We have to acknowledge the problem, so we can address Singaporeans’ legitimate concerns, and defuse resentments over foreigners. Only thus can Singapore remain open and continue to grow and progress.”
Corinna Lim, executive director of AWARE said in its press release for the survey, “Our goal with this survey was for the results to contribute to the drafting of Singapore’s upcoming anti-discrimination legislation—the government’s best opportunity to make far-reaching change in this arena,”
Given what was said by PM Lee and Ms Lim about the proposed legislation and the purpose of the survey. It is therefore puzzling why “nationality” has been excluded from the categories of discrimination in questions poised to the respondents, especially how TAFEP’s records highlights the trend of perceived discrimination based on nationality over the past couple of years.
Multinationals Discriminating Against Singaporeans?
Perceptions that companies, particularly the multinationals, discriminating against Singaporeans in Singapore have increased in recent times.
Financial Times (FT) reported this year (“‘Singaporeans must benefit’: expats fleeing Hong Kong meet rising resentment“, 6 Apr 2022), “Over the past decade, perceptions that international employers have discriminated against locals have placed increasing pressure on the government to clamp down on immigration.”
FT even quoted Mr Chia Ser Lin, a Singaporean entrepreneur, telling foreign expats to “go somewhere else”. Chia told FT that competition with foreigners for jobs had actually forced him to launch his own business five years ago. He thinks that corporations have a responsibility to create employment for locals.
“If companies want to set up their operation in Singapore to take advantage of the safety, the political environment, they have to hire Singaporeans,” he said. “[Expats in Hong Kong] have to make do with their circumstances. If they cannot, they have to go back to where they came from.”
Certainly, Chia is not alone in holding this view. FT also quoted a former HSBC employee saying that companies relocating teams to Singapore should consider replacing expat staff with Singaporeans within two years.
