Transcending the Border

In the last five years, interest among civil society actors in the issues migrant domestic workers face in Singapore has exploded. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), informal networks, and faith-based groups have all formed to address the needs and interests of these workers. Most of these organizations are welfare-oriented, providing support services, training programs, and social networking opportunities. Some engage in advocacy and research activities. This latter group has lobbied successfully for important changes in how female migrant workers are recruited into and deployed within the domestic labor market. To date, their activities have been focused at the local level through their engagements with the Singaporean government, employment agencies, and employers. This orientation, however, has recently begun to change as they seek to develop transnational networks and support regional and international campaigns. This article examines the reasons behind this interest in cross-border organizing through detailed case studies of two advocacy-oriented NGOs, Transient Workers Count Too and the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics. The article explains that although a "transnational imperative" has begun to shape the activities of these two NGOs, they have different motivations for engaging beyond the border. By revealing a diversity of forms and meanings associated with the processes of "scaling up," this article contributes to the broader scholarly understanding of the complex nature of transnational organizing and challenges earlier studies that assert that transnational activism is a necessary and natural outcome of migrant worker organizing. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research on which this article is based is supported by a four-year grant from the Australian Research Council titled "Transnational Activism: Organizing for Domestic Worker Rights in Southeast Asia" (DP0557370). Notes 1. See Chin Citation2003; Ford Citation2004; Gurowitz Citation1999; Gurowitz Citation2000; Law Citation2003; Law and Nadeu Citation1999; Lyons Citation2005b; Lyons Citation2007b; Piper Citation2003; Sim Citation2003; Weekley Citation2004. 2. Ford Citation2006; Piper Citation2006. 3. Ford and Piper. Citation2007; Piper and Uhlin Citation2002. 4. See Ball and Piper Citation2002; Moghadam Citation2005. 5. Ong Citation2006, 215. 6. Desai Citation2005, 328. 7. This project examines the role of nongovernmental organizations and local and transnational networks that have developed in Singapore and Malaysia to address the rights of female domestic workers. The organizations under study include faith-based groups, service-oriented groups, advocacy groups and networks, training and support centers, embassies, government departments, and trade unions. 8. Ford and Piper Citation2007. 9. Piper and Uhlin, eds. Citation2004. 10. Keck and Sikkink Citation1998, 3. 11. See Della Porta and Tarrow Citation2005. 12. See Swider Citation2006; and Hsia Citation2009. 13. Piper Citation2005. 14. Hsia Citation2009. 15. Constable Citation2009. 16. Lyons Citation2007c. 17. MOM Citation2007. 18. Almenoar and Tan Citation2004. 19. Yeoh et al. Citation2004. 20. Lyons and Gomez Citation2005. 21. Lyons Citation2000. 22. Perera and Ng Citation2002. 23. Parliamentary Debates Republic of Singapore: Official Report Citation2004, 37. 24. Ho Citation2000, 186. 25. Lyons and Gomez Citation2005. 26. The ISA was introduced during British rule and allows arrest and detention without trial for up to sixty days and unlimited extensions beyond the initial detention. 27. Rodan Citation1993, 92. 28. Mauzy and Milne Citation2002, 130. 29. Haas Citation1989, 59. 30. Huang et al., eds. Citation2005. 31. See Hilsdon Citation2000. 32. See Lyons Citation2005b. 33. Gee and Ho, eds. Citation2006; Lyons Citation2005b. 34. Comment made by a member of TWC2 executive, interview with the author, April 2006. 35. TWC2 Citation2008b. 36. TWC2 Citation2008a. 37. Interview with John Gee, February 2006. 38. This campaign was launched in November 2007 and spearheaded by a coalition comprised of five NGOs working in the field of migrant worker activism: Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD); Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM); CARAM Asia; Global Alliance against Trafficking in Women (GAATW); and Mekong Migration Network (MMN). 39. Ford and Piper Citation2007. 40. MFA has long acknowledged the problems of working in Singapore and the difficulties that civil society groups face in working with transnational and international organizations. MFA's decision to partner with the state-supported National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) is a strategic move on its part to ensure that migrant worker issues are placed on the national agenda. The strength of this partnership may be another factor in TWC2's decision to join MFA. NTUC's involvement constitutes de facto support for its activities by the ruling party. 41. HOME Citation2008. 42. Statement made in an interview with the author by a member of TWC2, June 2008. Unlike TWC2, which has a limited service role, HOME has much to lose. Its women's shelter, for example, houses over one hundred women. 44. Interview April 2006. 43. HOME Citation2008. 45. SMS Citation2008. 46. HOME became a member of MFA a year earlier than TWC2, and given the nature of continued rivalry between the two organizations, this in itself may have been another motivating factor in TWC2's decision to join in 2007. 47. MFA Citation2008. 48. TWC2 2008a. 49. Lyons Citation2005a. 50. Ong 2006. 51. It appears that Ong includes in her description of "NGOs" employment agencies and their affiliated training centers. Although these may fit the broad definition of CSOs, few scholars would describe these as NGOs. 52. Ong Citation2006, 21. 53. Ong Citation2006, 217. 54. See Lyons Citation2007a. 55. Yee Citation2008. 56. Ferree Citation2006, 14. 57. It is important to recognize that the Catholic Church is not a monolithic entity. Lew is involved with the Scalabrini Sisters in the Philippines and, through them, with the Scalabrini lay movement. She distances herself from the Catholic Archdiocese in Singapore. 58. See Lyons Citation2005b. 59. Interview April 2006. 60. For a discussion of how similar fears have shaped the development of the women's rights movement, see Lyons Citation2000. 61. Lyons Citation2004.