Part one of three: “I’ll suicide tomorrow,” Masum says from behind his doleful eyes. “I can’t go home, I have no money... family very, very poor.” Ever since he arrived in Singapore Masum’s life has been something of a soap opera filled with characters who have walk-on parts that include accusing him of homosexuality, exploiting
Amendments to the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA) were tabled before Parliament on Monday, 13 August 2012 by Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-jin. It is likely that debate and passage will take place about a month later. Transient Workers Count Too welcomes most of the proposed amendments; they represent important steps in the right
Continued from part 4. This is the fifth of six parts: The Angolan passport ready, Boomi, Rajeesh, and Emil made the long trip by car from Cotonou, Benin, through Togo all the way to Accra, Ghana where Boomi would fly out of Kotoka International Airport. Still in charge of all the arrangements, Emil's smooth talk
A full-page feature in the Sunday Times, 12 August 2012, on the plight of foreign workers was timed to precede the first reading of amendments to the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act in Parliament the Monday after. Much of the feature revolved around a study conducted by Transient Workers Count Too on payments and returns
By John Gee A majority of Bangladeshi workers in the construction industry may be made to pay their employers for the renewal of their contracts. Typically, they need to be employed in Singapore for at least 17 ½ months if they are to earn enough to pay off their placement costs. For most of the
Cook Al-Azhar Mohamed Yusoff, 20, and bartender Sayed Muhammad Nassier Sayed Mohd Sidek, 21, were sentenced to seven and eight-and-a-half years' jail respectively for robbing and severely assaulting two foreign workers. Nassier had a longer jail term because of drug-taking. Both were also given 24 strokes of the cane. The two robbers kicked and punched
The most common question that people ask about the injured men who eat at The Cuff Road Project (TCRP) is whether they have lawyers to help with their case. Well, yes and no. Yes, they have lawyers, but no, the lawyers don’t necessarily help. TWC2’s Cuff Road Project feeds South Asian migrants who are not
The New Paper carried a double-page spread on three cases of workers needing cranioplasty. The main story was about Majibar Hakim whose employer "would not pay for the surgery" said the article, though the reporter added that this could not be verified with the employer directly. It also noted that "A spokesman for the Ministry
Transient Workers Count Too served 50,258 meals in the first six months of 2012 at our Cuff Road Project. This brings the total number of meals served since the project began to 310,606. As you can see in the bar chart below, the weekly numbers of meals served (each week is represented by a bar)
It is that time of the year when a new crop of students start their university education. This week past Transient Workers Count Too have been kept busy reaching out to freshmen at the National University of Singapore (NUS). On the morning of Wednesday, 1 August 2012, TWC2 president Russell Heng delivered a talk “Foreign
