Managing Female Foreign Domestic Workers in Singapore: Economic Pragmatism, Coercive Legal Regulation, or Human Rights?

Abstract

Singapore's immigration discourse is deeply influenced by its need to "right-size " its population. .4s a society that has and remains in need of immigration, contemporary immigration and globalization have rigorously challenged the conventional thinking and understanding of citizenship, as well as notions of who belongs and who does not. Nevertheless, international marriages and pervasive in-and out-migration for purposes of employment, study, and family, conspire to make more pronounced the decoupling of citizenship and residence in Singapore. This transnational dimension sits uncomfortably with the policy makers' desire for, and the imperatives oj; state sovereignty, control, andjurisdiction.Although one quarter ofpeople living in Singapore are foreigners, concerns ofhuman rights and justice are largely peripheral, ifnot absent fiom the immigration discourse. This is seen most clearly in employment issues pertaining to foreign female domestic workers (FD WS), most ofwho comefiom other parts ofSoutheast Asia. 'Rights talk'is largely absent even as activists seek to engage the key stakeholders through the subtle promotion ofrights for such workers.The government, however, has resistedfiaming the FD W issues as one ofrights but instead has focused on promotional efforts that seek to enhance the regulatory fiamework. This dovetails with the real$ that immigration law also functions as quasi-family law in which the ffeedom ofFD Ws and other foreign menial workers to marry Singapore citizens andpermanent residents are severely restricted. As such, the immigration regime's selectivity functions as a draconian gatekeeper Justice and human rights are but tangential concerns.