Top creative Benjamin ‘Mr Miyagi’ Lee says more nuance is needed on issue of foreign freelancers

SINGAPORE: Last week, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Visual, Audio, Creative Content Professionals Association (VICPA) issued a joint statement concerning foreigners without valid work passes who have been engaged to do creative work in Singapore.

“These arrangements are illegal and constitute a contravention of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA),” the statement reads, specifically mentioning foreign nationals hired to provide make-up services, photography, and videography for weddings in the city-state.

If they are found working without a valid work pass, they may be fined as much as S$20,000, jailed for as long as two years, or both. They could also be disallowed from entering and working in Singapore. Moreover, the companies found to engage the services of foreign freelancers without valid work passes may face the same penalties as the freelancers themselves.

Earlier this week, one of Singapore’s top creatives, Benjamin “Mr Miyagi” Lee, posted his thoughts on the matter on social media, writing in a Sept 17 Facebook post that he had gotten “a bit grumpy” when he read the joint advisory from MOM and VICPA.

“First up – you’re talking about quite specific instances of service provision – like getting a Malaysian wedding photographer to come and shoot in Singapore on a social visit pass. The rest of the industry? We’d be remiss not to use services out of Singapore to augment our great work,” he wrote.

He referred to his perspective that nuance is needed concerning the issue in a piece that was published on marketing-interactive.com. Mr Lee, who is one of Singapore’s earliest bloggers and is a well-known writer and theatremaker, added that “a freelancer named David Attenborough” had narrated a nature documentary co-produced by CNA and Beach House Pictures, which he pointed out are both Singaporean companies. Mr Lee is the Head of Commercial and Marketing for Beach House Pictures.

The documentary Wild City, released in 2016, went on to be well-reviewed and won in the Best Documentary Programme category at the Asian Television Awards the following year.

“It’s pretty hard to say that we took the job away unfairly from a local (say, Steven Chia),” Mr Lee wrote, adding that he has been asked time and again, “why Beach House would locate Space Lion Studios, one of Asia’s largest post-production companies in Singapore, instead of somewhere cheaper in the region. That’s a no-brainer – we know we’ve got the best editors and producers here.

So please, VICPA and MOM, it’s on you to elaborate, distinguish, and clarify – and don’t tar all of us with the same big brush.” /TISG

Read also: Foreign freelancers beware: Those caught without work passes face up to S$20K fine, 2 years’ jail