SS S4 Prelims 2020 Question Paper

This question paper consists of 7 printed pages. METHODIST GIRLS’ SCHOOL Founded in 1887 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2020 Secondary 4 Humanities Paper 1 Social Studies Monday 2272, 2273, 2274/1 3 Aug 2020 1 h 45 min READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your class, index number and name on all the work you hand in. Write all your answers in the writing paper provided. At the start of each answer to a question, please write the question number in the left margin of the writing paper. Section A Answer all parts of Question 1. Section B Answer both parts of Question 2. At the end of the examination, hand in your answers to Section A and B separately. INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

Page 2 of 7 Section A (Source-Based Case Study) Question 1 is compulsory for all candidates. 1. Living in a Diverse Society Study the Background Information and the sources carefully, and then answer all the questions. You may use any of the sources to help you answer the questions, in addition to those sources which you are told to use. In answering the questions, you should use your knowledge of the issue to help you to interpret and evaluate the sources. (a) Study Source A. What is the message of this source? Explain your answer. [5] (b) Study Sources B and C. How far do you think Source B agrees with Source C? Explain your answer. [7] (c) Study Source D. How reliable is this source in showing that foreign workers are ill-treated in Singapore? Explain your answer. [7] (d) Study Source E. How surprised are you by this source? Explain your answer. [6] (e) ‘Foreign workers are viewed positively in Singapore.’ Using the sources in this case study, explain how far you would agree with this statement. [10]

Page 3 of 7 How welcome are foreign workers as part of Singapore’s workforce? BACKGROUND INFORMATION Read this carefully. It may help you to answer some of the questions. The large influx of migrants from the 1980s onward has raised concerns about the Singapore government's policy on immigration. Whilst the inflow of immigrants and foreign workers has helped to alleviate a labour crunch and the economy, it has also resulted in strong sentiment by the locals against both foreigners and the government, and was a major issue in both the 2011 general and presidential elections. Singaporeans have attributed the problems arising from this to the government's open-door immigration policy, the country's overcrowding and falling reliability of its public transportation system, increasing property prices for housing, suppressed wage level, increased competition for jobs and education, increasing income inequality and other social problems. Local Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) have also raised issues of migrant welfare, especially those relating to work injury and living conditions. Study the following sources to decide whether foreign workers are welcome as part of Singapore’s workforce. Source A: A cartoon published on the Transient Workers Count Too* webpage on 20 February 2019. * Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) promotes equitable treatment for migrant workers in Singapore.

Page 4 of 7 Source B: An excerpt from an article written by a Singaporean political activist published on a US-based website on 6 May 2020. For years, warnings and criticism from rights groups were brushed off as complaints, noise, and bleeding heart idealism. While the government insists that migrant workers were on its radar from the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, it has also revealed that about 20 dormitory operators and an average of 1,200 employers are penalized each year for flouting licensing laws—which suggests that sub-standard living conditions are not only a long-standing problem but one that has not been effectively addressed. Now that activists have been proved right in the most miserable way, Singapore still struggles with seeing migrant workers as equally valuable members of the community. Source C: An excerpt from an article published in a news website on 27 May 2020. *SCAL said it was "aggrieved" that efforts to take care of migrant workers have been "misrepresented". "Though we acknowledge that the housing condition here can be improved, by comparison, it is one of the best in the region. The *SMF, *ASPRI and *ASMI added that employers in Singapore also offer benefits such as healthcare to its foreign workers, whose housing and amenities are “among the best”. “A vast majority of our migrant workers voluntarily stay on in Singapore to work after they complete their initial contracts. Many stay for over 10 years and encourage their family members and friends to come to Singapore to work. “These two facts are perhaps the strongest among others to refute reports or claims that living conditions in Singapore for migrant workers are dire,” they said. *SCAL - The Singapore Contractors Association Ltd, SMF - Singapore Manufacturing Federation, ASPRI - Association of Singapore Process Industries, ASMI - Association of Singapore Marine Industries Source D: An excerpt from a commentary written by the Executive Director of a Singapore- based charity dedicated to empowering and supporting migrant workers who find themselves victims of abuse and exploitation, published on 8 May 2020. The experience that the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) has as an independent Non-Government Organisation working on migrant issues for the last 15 years has shed some light on why such discriminatory attitudes remain deeply entrenched in our society. We have found that many Singaporeans and employers believe it is acceptable to discriminate against migrant workers because it is a privilege for them to work in a first-world country like Singapore. Domestic workers who reach out to HOME often complain of verbal abuse by their employers, long working hours and being denied their rightful weekly rest. We have heard from employers that workers should be grateful to earn salaries which are much higher than they would be in their countries of origin and that their families would be suffering if not for the opportunity to work here.

Page 5 of 7 Source E: Posted on an online question-and-answer website on 10 September 2019. Now, before going on, I can understand why certain companies do not want to hire local Singaporeans. Having worked with Singaporeans before, there is some truth to the idea that Singaporeans are difficult to work with. It did not help that while working at a school, and having mixed with both local and foreign students, all of whom were full-time workers and part- time students, it was often the local Singaporean students, alongside a few other nationalities, that required the most hand-holding, even in the easiest of situations (the Vietnamese were by far the most independent and hard-working of the entire student population). Source F: A blogger’s view on the Singaporean employee published on the MoneySmart website, 24 May 2017. Considering Singapore is a country that’s very proud of its highly-skilled workforce, you rarely hear nice things about local employees in the media. Employers never seem to stop jawing about how Singaporean workers are more entitled, more expensive to hire and less ‘hungry’ than foreign hires from developing countries, and poorer communicators than those from developed countries.

Page 6 of 7 Section B (Structured-Response Questions) Question 2 is compulsory for all candidates. 2 Exploring Citizenship and Governance Study the extracts carefully, and then answer the question. Extract 1 Extract 2 Singapore is prioritising "both lives and livelihoods" in adopting a phased reopening after the circuit breaker, said National Development Minist