By Benjamin Wong Approaching Zakir Hossain, one immediately notices the giant white cast that covers his left forearm. What comes to mind are the stories, the turn of events so commonly heard: an accident occurs, a worker gets injured, his work permit gets cut, he isn't able to get an operation, and maybe is even
By Spiegel Saddled with debt and stripped of his livelihood, Rahim (not his real name) feels his life hanging in the balance. A wage dispute last month prompted Rahim’s Singaporean employer to revoke his work permit without warning, casting the 28-year-old Bangladeshi out in the cold. It’s a bitter blow for the sole breadwinner to
By Suresh A ride sitting at the back of a truck in May this year was all it took to change the fate of Kashem Abul for worse. He's been working in Singapore for a total of 13 years, albeit for different companies. Only three months into his job with a new employer, Kashem was
By Lee Kah Ghim If you witnessed a man being punched in the eye by another, would you render assistance? What if the victim were a foreign worker, someone who belonged to a category of individuals Singaporeans so frequently look down upon; would you still help? It was an apparent ‘no’ for the people at
By Benjamin Wong Where do these out-of-job workers stay? This question is often asked. Hardly any of them are housed by their ex-employers, though in theory the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) expects employers to continue providing "upkeep and maintenance" until the worker is repatriated. But rare is the case when an employer actually does so.
Soman Murugappan worked hard for his diploma in electrical and electronics engineering, specialising in instrumentation and control. If he's lucky, he'll be getting a job as a cleaner. The 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu, India, came to Singapore in early April 2012. He had been given a job with an airconditioning piping company. Things went smoothly
By Nasreen Ramnath The steel beam fell away beneath his feet, and he was suddenly swinging like a pendulum in mid air. Holding on for dear life to a steel cable, he hung suspended 10 meters above a yawning pit. Terrified, he looked down and immediately shut his eyes to keep out the sight of
By Suresh Little did Bitdut Chandra know that he would have to endure a second crisis after the first. In March this year, the lanky 27-year-old from Dhaka seriously injured his right leg while at work. Six months on, he is still undergoing treatment at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and walks with a slight limp. His
By Lee Kah Ghim “I want more working.” Sitting with me is Nazmul Hossain, 27, a very fit young man raring to take on more jobs just so that he can feed his family of three back home in Bangladesh. “I want more working. I no money send back to family," he says of his
By Benjamin Wong "Where do you sleep now?" It is but my first question, and it already pierces something in Mizanur’s heart. He begins to tear. I tell him to take his food, then come and talk to me. I observe him as he eats; in between mouthfuls of food, Mizanur pauses, like he has
