Migrant workers, stay in your place?

The Singapore Bangladesh Society unexpectedly received a request from the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) to celebrate the upcoming Hari Raya Aidilfitri “safely and responsibly”. The circular requested that migrant workers perform the Eid prayers within their respective dormitories instead of at public mosques to “avoid overcrowding and road blockages, and ensure the health, and safety of everyone”.

The news reached local rapper Subhas Nair who criticised the statement’s concerns for ‘health and safety’ on his Instagram. He questioned why the advisory was not extended to all Muslims or all Singaporeans.

He quotes: “How does celebrating Eid and praying affect health and safety? If this is about COVID, then this advisory should be for everyone - addressed to all Muslims or all Singaporeans to wear masks during this festive period. You cannot just single out workers and make (such) xenophobic statements. Without migrant workers, there is no Singapore.”

Netizens too found the circular marginalising.

MUIS responded and claimed it was never their intention to discriminate Muslim migrant workers.

Image Credit: MUIS.SG, Instagram Despite the organisation’s response, netizens were not satisfied with its templated ‘apology’ and labelled it as a public relations strategy for damage control.

After apologising for the insensitive language in the circular, MUIS emphasised that its approach to Hari Raya prayers is to offer a range of choices to congregants. MUIS clarified they had tripled the number of prayer spaces in dormitories, and will provide over 20 supplementary venues at various housing estates which will increase prayer spaces to 10,000.

Unfortunately, this is not MUIS’ first blunder. Within the month of Ramadan, a prior controversy was disallowing qaryahs to conduct terawih prayers at void decks, as well as the non-observance of booking for prayers during Good Friday. The treatment of migrant workers has sparked many a debate among Singaporeans. During the height of COVID-19, worker dormitories were on lockdown from April 2020. In contrast, Singaporeans only had a partial lockdown which lasted from the Circuit Breaker period in April to 1 June 2020. By March 2022, Singaporeans were able to enjoy large gatherings and dine-out in larger groups. However, the number of migrant workers allowed on community visits were restricted and tracked.

In total, migrant workers were in lockdown and movement controls were implemented for approximately 27 months according to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).