By Aruj Shukla It has long been a well-known fact that migrant workers in Singapore need to pay an exorbitant amount of money as agent fees to the middlemen based in their respective home countries. Stories about the possibility of the employers colluding with the agent and taking a sizeable cut from the agent fees
By Gek Han It doesn't occur to me to ask Hussain Monir if his bed came with a mattress until a senior volunteer does (beds and mattresses go together, right?). Nothing, Monir says. Not quite believing my ears, I tap the table to ask if his bed was as hard, and he says yes. To
By Li Zi Xin Hossain Billal, 33, has been without work and income for almost a year. He has a wife and two children to support. He may never fully recover from his workplace injury and may never be able to do heavy work again. There is nothing dramatic about his story, only a slow
By Vivek R “They tell me Singapore is very good,” says Muthusamy Govindarasu. “But cannot throw rubbish and must behave well. If not police fine you.” Govindarasu hails from a small town in Tamil Nadu, India. Having only had a secondary school education, for Govindarasu and many foreign workers like him, Singapore is seen as
https://youtu.be/M4VrPkuDZWg Video by Nicole Ng, text by Colin Ng The above video was produced in June 2016, sixteen months after Anowar suffered his injury. Throughout the months following the injury, Anowar did not get much-needed surgery for his shoulder. Some injury cases, like Farid’s, go smoothly and the worker receives the treatment and compensation
By Anthony Chua When I first spot Barai Dipok at TWC2’s Dayspace, he is seated in front of a volunteer case helper, clutching some important looking documents and appearing visibly frustrated. As I approach to shake his hand, he utters a weak ‘hi’ and turns his attention right back to the case helper, who is
By Kan Ren Jie For many Singaporean employees, it would be unthinkable for our employers to stop paying our monthly salaries. Many of us are accustomed (and excited!) to see our bank balance increase every month like clockwork. However, this basic confidence is denied to many foreign workers. My conversations with two men, Ali Abbas
By Gek Han In sixteen years of working in Singapore, Islam Aminur has been diligent and careful, working without an accident. But luck turned against him in December 2015. A heavy, 20kg block of metal fell on his thumb, necessitating surgery at the National University Hospital (NUH). Aminur was given 25 days medical leave ("MC"). Following procedure, he
“God’s grace is with me”, says Arjunan with a smile, as he awaits an arduous legal procedure for injury compensation By Ranjana Raghunathan Arjunan has worked in Singapore since 2008. After four years in a company, he joined the current company in November 2014. His job involved plastering and painting of ship parts, but the
By Katia Barthelemy Things were going fine for Mia Monir, 25, from Bangladesh: he tells me he has been working for Kim Heng Marine for four years already with no major complaints from his side. But Monir’s story took a dramatic turn on 10 March 2016, showing that life can take unexpected, nasty slips, even if one
