The tough life of Thai migrants in Singapore

Srikhoon Jiangkratok (on the right) was a first-generation migrant worker who came to Singapore in the early 1990s. Some of the more than 900 photos he took during his stint in the city-state are part of a web exhibition called "Work Men on the Move." The complete gallery including commentary can be found online at storyform.co/@speth-2/-734dab35c6bb.

After working on construction sites in Bangkok for eight years, his company sent Jiangkratok to Singapore in 1994 as a foreman to build the famous Ritz Carlton Hotel. Foreign workers often do the so-called "triple-D-jobs" (difficult, dirty and dangerous), are usually organized in groups and specialize in specific work steps.

In the 1990s, foreign workers in Singapore slept in over-crowded container camps. 25 men shared one container. "How to call it? It is a box," one Thai worker told German researcher Simon A. Peth (University of Bonn), who put together the online photo exhibition. He says migration was (and is) only worthwhile through overtime work. As a result, 10 to 14-hour days are the norm.

Back in the day, work accidents on the sometimes chaotic construction sites were inevitable — and disastrous for the injured. Then as now, says researcher Peth, immobility due to a broken leg or a similar injury means the end of a labor migration. Although employers must nowadays cover workers with their own health insurance, they are sometimes reluctant to pay the high costs injuries can incur.

In the 1990s, Singapore was one of the top destinations of overseas migration from Thailand. Although the official figure is unknown, what's clear is that the number of Thai migrant workers has dropped considerably, to 15-20,000 in 2016 since its peak period, which lasted from the mid-1990s until 2010/11. In most camps, workers are separated by nationality to avoid conflicts.

"People who go to Singapore have been trained like soldiers, … if it is not the time to sleep, you don't sleep." That's how one Thai migrant worker described his experience. Since 1994, the year of Jiangkratok's arrival, Singapore's skyline and Central Business District (CBD) have undergone a transformation possible only with the help of millions of cheap labor migrants from around the world.

Located in Singapore's industrial far west, Tuas View is the city-state's largest dormitory for foreign workers with beds for 16,800 men. Its amenities include a mini-market, a beer garden, a 250-seat cinema as well as medical and shopping facilities. Although being hailed as the ideal model for housing workers, they have next to no privacy as 250 cameras monitor them around the clock.

Singapore's dormitories for foreign workers are strategically situated in non-residential areas on the city's fringe, from where it takes up to three hours to get to the CBD. Getting to Singapore in the first place is expensive: Labor agents demand around 80,000 Thai Baht (roughly €2,000). To put things into perspective: The average monthly household income in rural parts of Thailand is €254.

Completed in 1973, the Golden Mile Complex is largely an ethnic enclave for Singapore's Thai population and the central arrival point for buses with workers from Southern Thailand and Malaysia. Thais frequent the vast complex for the some 400 shops as well as a Thai supermarket, restaurants and bars; they also visit the doctor, send remittances home, get a hair cut or meet with their labor agents.

At the Thai Office of Labor Affairs in the Golden Mile complex, Thai workers can come with individual problems and sort out administrative, health- or employer-related issues. They can even do correspondence courses. In Singapore, daily wages are graded by nationality: According to reasearcher Peth, Thais earn 23 Singapore dollars ($17), Indians $14 and Myanmar citizens $12.

"I stayed in Singapore for almost 22 years, but Thailand is still my home. Singapore is a place to earn money, but here in Thailand I am happy." Part of Singapore's immigration policy is avoiding the mingling of migrant workers with its citizens. Company trucks haul workers to and from contruction sites. All this leads to a state of "permanent temporariness," as researchers have called it.

After having stayed in Singapore for three years supervising a group of 15 workers, photographer Srikhoon Jiangkratok returned to his village in Northeast Thailand in 1995. Talking about his motivation to take the pictures, he told German researcher Peth: "I took these photos because I wanted to show what it means to work abroad. It is tough."