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MIGRANT VISIBILITY AND THE SOCIAL COSTS OF MIGRATION: THE THAI MIGRANT POPULATION IN SINGAPORE

Aileen Ye

! In this paper, I wish to examine the issue of Thai migrant visibility in Singapore referencing Lisa Laws Little Manila in Defying Disappearance: Cosmopolitan Public Spaces in Hong Kong. My interest is in uncovering the social costs of migration and this population has low levels of visibility. Queries begin with their large constitution at Golden Mile Complex. Is this lack of visibility deliberate (a result of attitude) or just circumstance (a result of location)? In a city of amassed diversity, opportunism, unfamiliarity and hostility are factors of increasing concern. We are anxious about their presence and we contest not only that but their transformations of our urban spaces that we see as legitimately ours. As our city is one that is structured on a dependence on a migrant workforce to satisfy economic goals, this is an ongoing discourse. Public spaces 1play a pivotal role in the formation and development of a states cultural politics. Public spaces are shared spaces that come in many forms2 constituting a visual social texture that is either pleasing or displeasing to the eye. Therefore it follows that populations that are pleasing would not hesitate to locate themselves in view of the public eye and conversely, populations that are displeasing might locate themselves away from the public eye. The Thai migrant population at GMC 3 is a displeasing population deeply nestled in an unseemly mall. What are the factors that contribute to the invisibility of the GMC migrant population? Is the anxiety and contestation locals have toward them that of a consumer, class and cultural warfare or an issue of imagined solidarity for a society suffering under the conditions of amassed diversity? Does the consistent and pervasive appropriation of public spaces for the purposes of corporatization reduce !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "!Places of encounter ! #!Open spaces like streets, parks, gardens, boulevards, closed spaces like shopping malls, libraries,
town halls, swimming pools and recreational spaces, pubs and bars and other spaces such as country clubs and associations that are open only to certain specific publics. ! $!Golden mile complex!

Aileen Ye

! public discourse and interaction that might lead to healthier cultural politics and acceptability of migrant populations?

Laws introduction of Abbass4 as well as Cuthbert and McKinnells5 views about the disappearance of public spaces in Hong Kong do not entail explaining the functions of public spaces. According to Carr et al (1993, p.344), in a well designed and well managed public space, the armor of daily life can be partially removed, allowing us to see others as whole people. Seeing people different from oneself responding to the same setting in similar ways creates a temporary bond. Hence the potential of spaces that facilitate social communion is that it allows us to decrease our negative dispositions towards different others. For the purposes of this discussion, I shall focus on closed public spaces like malls. In Singapore, malls in town areas like Orchard road and Marina Bay Sands are largely corporatized and regarded by urban leaders as symbols of economic well-being, expressions of achievement and aspiration and less as sites of public encounter that will encourage civic mingling because these spaces constrain the type of people and activities that frequent and occur within. It seems there are people that should be seen here and people that should not because they litter the landscape. The bulk of activity is consumerism and despite being close proximity to different others, we do not have the time to sit and observe each other, much less interact and communicate. At GMC, human traffic is not oriented toward the activity of shopping alone. How people behave in a large busy space like Orchard road in which pedestrians are constantly avoiding each other, and going about their browsing and purchases, differs greatly from that of individuals !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! %!Abbas asserts, public spaces are spaces of culture produced by architecture, encoding relations of power and constituting colonial subjects (as cited in Law, 2002, p. 1628).! &!For Cuthbert and McKinnell, public spaces are sites of state politics and market forces, but should
be potentially separate from the state and the economy in order to be enjoyed by the people (as cited in Law, 2002, p. 1628).

Aileen Ye

! in a smaller space like GMC, engaging in convivial mingling, loitering, eating, watching political rallies, Muay Thai matches and variety shows, singing karaoke, having religious sessions or visiting with are friends and relatives who are shopkeepers. What affects the level of visibility is this, marginalized migrant populations are policed differently compared to the foreigners shopping at Orchard road. Policing in this case refers not to formal policing by authorities but informal policing by citizens. Other factors that will be examined besides corporate appropriation are as follows: needs that these migrant populations fulfill, threat of violence, barriers (language, struggle food), factors that influence visibility and imagined solidarity.

The following are various ways of viewing the Thai migrants struggle. Needs influence acceptability. The migrant population of Hong Kong Centrals Little Manila is composed of women hired to serve as domestic help. The need for this population is more obvious and close to heart because they serve family and not infrastructure like the majority of the Little Thailand population which serve the construction industry. Additionally as they are women, the threat of violence or imagined violence experienced by locals will be regarded as less severe than that of men. Also the formers role as domestic helpers, contribute to the economy in terms of taking on the burden of childcare and domestic work, affording mothers a career and families to reap the benefits of dual income. As these domestic helpers stay with the families they work for and only have off-days on weekends, or some even none, their visibility in the public sphere and hence invitation of critiques on their behavior is also reduced. Staying with their employers also constitute a sense of familial bond. Thus both a more recognizable need and increased socialization contribute to the local

Aileen Ye

! populations tolerance. Additionally, Thais and Singaporeans experience a language barrier, which Filipinos working here do not experience because they can speak, read, as well as writes in English (posters of vegetables in Thai at the supermarket at GMC evidence their inability to read English). It is also because of the lack of a language barrier that Filipinos in Singapore are able to enjoy and understand a larger repertoire of goods, services and recreational activities compared to Thais. However this language barrier will be experienced by Filipino migrants in Hong Kong and that is a reason that contributes to the sustenance of the enclave at Central because they are less integrate-able into the society compared to Filipino migrants in Singapore. Facing language as well as cultural barriers relegates them to a space like GMC where they feel accepted and can communicate with others. We see how GMC functions as a respite for them because a majority of the activity is incongruent with the predetermined function of a shopping mall. They are not shopping insomuch as they are just loitering about, visiting with or just congregating as well as bonding over a shared cuisine, both in designated areas (eateries) as well as informal areas (gatherings at walkways outside the building). Additionally the items that remind them of life at home such as the large shrine in front of GMC may indicate a struggle to retain a connection to their homeland when it comes to feelings of safety and a sense of belonging through highly religious imagery, sounds and color. Other factors that influence visibility would include the cost of living, spending power, and selfesteem issues that result from public scrutiny.

Lastly we come to the issue of imagined solidarity. According to Weber, society has progressed from one of mechanical solidarity to that of an organic solidarity. This erosion that is based on a solidarity that emerges from similarity in a

Aileen Ye

! traditional society differs from the solidarity that emerges from difference in a Premodern society. What does this have to do with the issue of public displeasure toward migrant populations in Singapore? From a social perspective, despite our racial makeup, Singapore may not be a very inclusive society. As mentioned in Laws article, Appadurais notion of global flows as facilitating a new culture is not happening (2002). What this paper postulates is that our aggression and displeasure toward migrant populations is a manifestation of our need to reconcile CMIO6 and find solidarity that is rooted in sameness i.e. a dislike for foreign workers. This is because a solidarity based on differences and the corporatization of public spaces that prevents these spaces from fulfilling their traditional functions of cohesion and discourse is not working for our society anymore. Instead we imagine and shape migrant populations as an out-group that threatens our in-group solidarity and justify it with the issue of taking away our jobs as well as polluting and transforming our public spaces in ways in which are displeasing. GMC itself is an urban artifact that demonstrates a collective response to human conditions experienced by the migrant Thai population in Singapore. It illustrates how migrant populations negotiate the local urban environment as a result of social responses to different or in this case anonymous others. In conclusion, disappearing public spaces that serve Carrs description, corporate urban planning, Singaporeans cultural politics toward migrants and a heightened need for solidarity influence the level of migrant visibility.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! '!Chinese, Malay, Indian and Others different races in Singapore!

Aileen Ye

! Biblography

Carr, S., Francis, M., Rivlin, L., & Stone, A. (1992). Public Space. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press

Law, L. (2002). Defying Disappearance: Cosmopolitan Public Spaces in Hong Kong. Urban Studies, 39(9), 1625 - 1645 !