Page 56 - The Ethics of ASEAN

The Ethics of ASEAN

Dora Heng: ASEAN’s ethical paradoxes need to
evolve
The ethics of diversity can create ethical values that are
contradictory where people hold conflicting beliefs. An example
in ASEAN is the conflicting ethics of aiding vulnerable peoples
like migrant workers, something that Dora Heng has tried to
untangle.
According to Dora, paradoxes and contradictions in ethics
commonly arise in our increasingly globalized world. Using her
home country of Singapore as an example, she discusses how
her society seems to have simultaneously conflicting views
Figure 2: Dora Heng is about migrant workers. The ILO in 2019 reported that 78% of
Manager of Strategic Singaporeans supported better labour conditions for domestic
Initiatives at Visa and past workers, yet 60% also believed that the same workers should
consultant for Economic
Research and Regional not receive equal pay and benefits policies compared to
Cooperation at the Asian Singaporeans themselves. During the early part of the COVID-19
Development Bank
pandemic migrant workers were forced to live in cramped
dormitories without social distancing, leading to 95% of
Singapore’s cases coming from the migrant worker population.

Migrant workers in Singapore are largely disenfranchised
and have little possibility to take collective action or have a
voice. This leads to questions regarding the practical ethics of
a moral community where people have an obligation towards
each other. In a rational society, citizens are bound by a
common set of ethics for everyone, and how one’s ethics can
affect another member of society.
Dora Heng proposes ways in which these issues could be
addressed. She notes that civil society organisations (CSOs), for
example those involved in advocacy for migrant workers, can
play an active role in raising public awareness and assisting in
taking action about their needs and living situation. Through
public scrutiny, there can be pressure on local ministries to take
action to improve such standards.
According to Dora, ASEAN has recognized the importance
of improving labour migration governance and suggests more
international cooperation in ASEAN in the practical application
of the rights of migrant workers in order to bring ASEAN’s
contradictory ethical values into coherence.

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