Andrew Loh
“Very decent living. You can call it the six-star dormitory for workers,” Mr Eric Tan, our guide, told us when The Online Citizen visited the latest in dormitory living. “But for us, we’re not used to it,” Mr Tan added, as he showed us around the property.
Avery Lodge is an “upmarket” dormitory with a difference, not unlike a mini-HDB estate. Built on a two-hectare piece of land in Jalan Papan, Jurong Industrial Estate, the five-building dormitory has capacity to house 8,000 workers in 486 units. Each unit comes with its own living room, dining and kitchen areas, besides the sleeping quarters for 16 to 18 men. The compound has a gym, a sick bay, a canteen and a minimart which sells fresh foods such as fish and vegetables. Security guards man the entrances and exits points.
Avery Strategic Investments, a Morgan Stanley-controlled venture, poured in $100 million into the development. The plot of land was bought from the JTC for $40.1 million at a tender exercise in 2007. In the same year, the company bought three other foreign workers’ dormitories from JTC Corp for $153 million. Avery Lodge will bring its total bedcount capacity to 21,500, making it one of the biggest players in the field. The company charges employers $180 for each worker housed in its Jurong property. (My Paper) (CNA)
Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong officially opened the property on 2 April. In his speech at Avery Lodge, Mr Gan said, “The design of this dormitory and its facilities show that it is possible to provide more than just basic accommodation. Besides being able to enjoy facilities such as an indoor gym and outdoor fitness park, workers living in Avery Lodge are able to return home to comfortable self-contained apartment units with bay windows and high ceilings.” (MOM)
“This will be a relatively upmarket dormitory, with bay windows, more generous floor-to-ceiling heights and space per worker, and amenities,’ said Mr Vernon Chua in an earlier interview with the Business Times. Mr Chua is the managing director of Averic Capital Management, which is the asset manager for the venture and which holds a 3 per cent stake in Avery Strategic Investments. Morgan Stanley Real Estate-managed funds hold the remaining 97 per cent.
When TOC visited Avery Lodge on 15 March, we were told that it was currently “80 per cent occupied”. The compound is impressive. It feels and looks like a brand new HDB housing estate – with five 6-stories buildings. There are open courtyards, parking lots and exercise corners for the workers. More impressive are the housing units. The living room is air-conditioned, which provides relief from the heat outside. It has a sofa, a LCD television set, a tv console, blinds on the windows, a dining table and chairs – and tiled flooring, something we haven’t seen in any of the dormitories we’ve been to. Impressive indeed.
There is a washing machine in the kitchen area, along with a refrigerator and two cooking stoves. There are two toilets and two shower rooms. The single bedroom, where the men would sleep, also has an air-conditioner and lockers, another rarity in workers’ dorms, for the men.
Avery Lodge is indeed a world away from the unhygienic, run-down and dilapidated dormitories we had seen elsewhere in Singapore. Shelley Thio, volunteer with aid group for migrant workers, TWC2, was cheered by what she saw.
However, when probed further, Mr Tan told us that the unit he was showing us was only a show flat.
In the actual living quarters for the workers, there are no air-conditioners. Neither are there LCD television sets, nor tv consoles, or blinds for the windows. There are also no washing machines or refrigerators, no ceiling fans.
And the tiled floors? The two rooms we were shown had no tiled floors.
In short, the actual living quarters for the workers would consist of the bare minimum. The employers of the men would have to bear the expense and responsibility of fitting and furnishing each unit accordingly.
We asked to view the units where the workers are already living in. Mr Tan obliged after he had made a phone call but not before telling us that no videos or pictures are allowed to be taken of the units with the men. This was in sharp contrast to the freedom we were allowed in snapping pictures and recording videos of the show flat. He also tells us not to be “shocked” by what we might see.
We are then taken to 2 unfitted and unfurnished units. The occupants are Burmese workers. In each of the two units, there are 9 double decker beds in the only bedroom, 8 to 10 rice cookers (multi-plugged system and logged into one electrical socket in the wall) on the untiled floor in the living room, several fans randomly placed around the unit and 2 gas cook tops in the kitchen.
Perhaps because of the lack of locker space, or bad personal upkeeping habits, the rooms are messy with clothes hanging everywhere, and personal effects strewn on the floor. Foodstuffs are also kept in the rooms. There are flies in the kitchen area and trash which have obviously been there for a while. The air smelled stale perhaps because of the lack of ventilation. There are no ceiling fans.
When asked how often inspections of the units are carried out, Mr Tan replied that it is done once every three months.
One worker, who approached us, said that the situation was very bad and that he disliked it there.
Avery Lodge is perhaps a glimpse of the future of housing for migrant workers who have come to work in Singapore. And in all fairness, the property is of acceptable standards. Having said that, however, there are concerns which may not have anything to do with the property itself but which are just as important.
Avery Lodge houses 8,000 workers from various different countries, speaking different languages. One wonders how instructions are passed to them by the operators of the compound. When asked if there is a clinic for the men, Mr Tan said there is a sick bay. We did not get a chance to view the sick bay as it was still being set up, we were told. How many beds would there be? What kind of medical care, if any? Who will staff the bay? What are the procedures for any medical emergencies, given that the property is located deep inside an industrial estate?
The workers use multiple rice cookers – in one of the units, we saw 14 rice cookers – and plug these into one same multi-sockets adapter, potentially overloading the capacity of the electrical socket. Couple this with the workers’ tendency to have things strewn all over the place, a fire outbreak is not unthinkable. An inspection of the units only once every three months may not be appropriate. On the same note, are fire drills conducted to familiarize the workers should a fire break out?
Hygiene is perhaps the most important thing to teach the workers. For example, workers should be taught why it is important for them to clear their trash daily instead of keeping it in the quarters. When we visited the unit on the second level, we saw a pile of huge garbage laid out in a corner of the corridor. The trash was a few days old and there were houseflies hovering all over the garbage. As informed by Mr Tan, Avery Lodge is presently housing 5,000+ migrant workers and with so many people, it’s only fair to assume that they are going to generate a lot of trash. How often does Avery Lodge organise trash to be cleared on every floor? Or is this left entirely to the workers themselves?
Avery Lodge needs to conduct regular educational programmes for the workers.
Other issues which arise from our visit included:
If a worker has a complaint, who does he turn to within the compound?
The nearest bus-stop is a long way out. Where do the workers go during their off days and how do they get there?
How would the lower-paid workers be able to afford the rental of $180 per month? It would be one-third or more of their salaries.
We were part of an invited group to view the compound, which has guards watching the comings and goings. Who will have access to these closed-quartered dormitories to conduct regular and independent inspections and to have access to interview and speak to the workers about their living conditions?
To conclude, while providing migrant workers with decent lodgings is to be applauded, even if they are commercially-run dormitories, perhaps we should look beyond just dumping these workers in such compounds.
We need to look at the other aspects of dormitory living as mentioned above.
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My hat off to Andrew Loh and TOC by keeping track of this issue. Sad to say that here in Sg, many things only look good on the outside. This is like govt keep out of the beggars on streets when a international conference is held.
Thank you for taking the photos anyway :D Even though they said you can’t. Sweeping under the carpet.
Wow lau….no wonder some elite told us we’re not First world yet….sigh
It’s really nice from the outside but rotten inside. Never judge a book from its cover!
aiyoyo
not sure if the elites extra house(s) can share to the workers?
very very sad to see elites talk so much here and there,
end up what’s the solution???
aiyoyo
Need to educate them, to change their habits. (Long term)
Impose heavy fines/penalties (Short term)
With these two strategies, can solve the problem, better.
SAF has done a pretty good job in ensuring its bunkers well taken care of. A bi-weekly “standby bed” and duty rooster to clean up the place should be considered.
aiyoyo
talk saf so funny
some hokien soldier stand by the bed want to sleep liao hehe
actually I’m the one la when ‘stand by bed’ shouted
see, no study english la, kana weekend confinement…
aiyoyo
There are so many ethnic groups staying in this high class migrant workers dormitory.
Surely, there is a need for a person who can advise and interpret the various customs, mores, folkways, customs and other cultural traits to the manager so as to minimise conflicts and tensions.
This is a challenge for Singapore but it is sad that up to date little or nothing had been done to look into this matter.
I am thinking of getting cultural experts or anthropologists to work in this area on a long term basis.
As I had worked as a professional anthropologist and so I am prepared to be a volunteer.
Rurehe,
I’ve been working with Migrant Worker Welfrare organisations and we would appreciate your help. Do contact us at TWC2 to find out more!
http://www.twc2.org.sg/site/contact-us/view-2.html
Cheers,
Damien
Very nice of you all…and also good work again TOC…at least these guys know that they are not all alone…..
More needs to be done….by the employers and MOM…at least give them a decent living while they are here…
but from looking at some of the incidents….it looks like MOM must go for some re-education hehehe….and we need a strong consumer association to make sure what we buy has quality and not gimmicks..like the example of the show flat and real flat….
Well, this remind me of an article on a visit to north korea…was it reader digest? anyway, those “tourist” went bring to a show flat or aka “model north korea house” and it looks so nice, except that quite a few thing r fake such as the PC or vcr…and they expect the citizen are staying in condition worse then tt
which brings us to singapore…this….what a coincidence…
Should built an RC and Community Centre next to the dormitory so PAP grassroots and Advisor to the CC can oversee these foreign workers and their living conditions. At the same time PAP grassroots can come up with some campaign such as “Keep the Dormitory Clean” and activities to help these foreign workers to integrate into our society (practically brain-wash them to live like a Singaporean and have the same fear for the government). They can do these to HDB housing estates and private housing estates why not do these at all foreign workers dormitories
I feel that the overall condition could be better. Perhaps the design for ventilation could have followed the bunk designs for NS reruits in the 90s. Otherwise, it is good to see the FW lives improving compared to the popular container bunks.
However, knowing that there are Singapore Citizens having to cramp 10 persons (an adult couple and 8 school going children – p.s. not all are the couple’s children) in a one HDB room (of a typical 3 room flat) without access to the kitchen because of ridiculously high open market rental rates. The couple had to sell their flat off for outstanding arrears resulted from irregular employment (despite having gone for many upgrading courses in cleaning services) and the super long queue for subsidised rental flat, it is mind boggling to see the way our government and VWOs/civil societies select priorities. Perhaps, the productive value to the economy from these FWs are higher than citizens in poverty.
Nevertheless, this is not to mean that FWs should be living lives better off than the poorest Singaporean, rather, have we begin to ask if our advocacy for the underclass here are as rigorous.
Ah ! The truth is: show flats are so differnt from thos estayed in by fw. So the photos in the upper part of this article can be very misleading.
I knew the first few photos were too good to be true. Air-conditioned room, single bed… I knew things won’t be so rosy. And isn’t it highly misleading if the showroom is in such contrast with the normal living quarters?
But that being said, even the crammed room is still an improvement as compared to the deplorable state depicted by previous TOC articles. It is not too dissimilar to the bunks I used to stay in during NS, though it is difficult to give a fair contrast with just one photograph.
However, I am seriously concerned with the overloading of electric socket. It is a disaster waiting to happen… both an electrical hazard and a fire hazard. The uncleared trash is also rather worrying, especially when there is a dump chute just above it… why is it not used?
Andrew,
Were those pictures taken in spite of the request not to? Did you guys agree to the request? I appreciate the pictures in helping to tell the story of how reality is very different from the “show room”. If the answers to both questions are true, you risk having no other agency wishing to invite TOC to their premises in the future.
I would have gladly believed and accepted a written account of what you saw. I do not intend to offend, but I am not sure it is in line with journalistic integrity to violate what was agreed with (if it was). If you needed some proof that what was described was real, the an audio recording of your host saying “Don’t be shocked” should be more than enough.
Meanwhile, on the issue itself, I bet Gan Khim Yong only saw the show flats and nothing else. He gets to live in his little ivory tower convinced that Singapore companies were treating foreign workers well. Someone should open his eyes to reality … there is too much of a culture of “Show the emperor the good stuff” in Singapore … you see it whenever a high ranking official visits any place. The worst thing about it is no high ranking official *ever* says “No … I want to see what it is actually like. Otherwise I cannot make good policy decisions”.
Dear Lee Chee Wai,
What is investigative journalism? Would the other side reveal this on their own?
Lee Chee Wai (#17):
This is one thing that came to my mind as well. According to the article,
no videos or pictures are allowed to be taken of the units with the men.
which seem to hint (but not logically imply) that photos of empty units are allowed.
I will be pretty concerned if TOC is breaking the agreement with the management.
TOC – With this article, you have proven – yet again – that you uphold a more credible investigative journalism standard than all our mainstream press put together! Wonderful!
In case nobody has sent this article’s link to Minister Gan Kim Yong, I will do so pronto. We shouldn’t wait for some nasty “accident” to happen before MOM and Avery Strategic Investments penalise the “lesser mortals”.
The Pariah, http://www.singaporeenbloc.blogspot.com
Irony of the Day:
Singaporeans put foreign workers in “gated communities”.
Singaporean wannabes buy cheap-cheap bungalows in “double-gated communities” in JB.
Way to go, eh?
This distracts us from the real problem. There are about 577K foreign workers in sickapore – that’s even more than the number in canada and the USA! And you know how much bigger these countries are?? And who do these cheap labourers benefit? A small number of business owners and property investors.
We don’t need hordes of such cheap labour bringing us housing, social and human rights problems. We don’t need unchecked property development and opening up the property market to foreign speculators.
we are looking for space to accomodate 200 pax, kindly let us know for availablity.
I FEEL PROUD OF BECAUSE I AM INHABITANT OF THIS DORMITORY. IN THIS DORMITORY ALL RELIGION PEOPLE CAN PRAY IN HIS OWN RELIGION. THANKS TO AUTHORIZE OF THIS DORMITORY.