By Xinlin This is Aminul's first time going to the Singapore Zoo and he has spent the night before tossing and turning in his bed. "I am very very happy," he says. "This is great opportunity." Aminul (pictured above) is normally introverted, does not talk much and often trails behind groups when walking. However, when

By Rachel Hui. Photos by Alex Tay. On 26 August 2012, TSMP Law Corporation sponsored a trip to the zoo for a hundred Bangladeshi and Indian migrant workers receiving assistance from TWC2, along with ten TWC2 volunteers. Arriving early at the designated pick-up location on a Sunday morning to ensure their registration, many of the

Continued from part 1. Kabir Mohammad Sana Ulla Miah got a reprieve. At the request of a senior officer of the Ministry of Manpower, TWC2's social worker contacted him just as he was despondently packing his bag to go to the airport, and told him he should not board the plane. There was a new

The worker at the other end of the phone line was extremely upset, and TWC2 social worker Raymond Ang had a hard time calming him down. Kabir Mohammad Sana Ulla Miah had been given an air ticket to go home to Bangladesh that very evening (Monday, 23 July 2012). Earlier, the officer at the Ministry

Continued from part 2 This is the last of three parts:  A week after the attack, which left Nurul with a bloodied right eye, I sat down with all three men to discuss the events of the last few weeks. Kamaruzzaman won’t talk to me about what happened in Geylang, stonewalling all questions about brothels

By Xinlin On 7 August 2010, Shohidul Islam Late Abdul Jalil, then aged 31, fell about two metres from a ladder while doing work on an airconditioning duct. He was hospitalised at Changi General Hospital for – he thinks – seven days. But he remembers nothing of the first five days. When his medical leave

Continued from part 1. This the second of three parts:  In theory the Special Pass is a good idea – workers get to stay in Singapore until their disputes are settled and possibly to retrieve compensation from employers, but the extended period of uncertainty is draining on a guy's spirits – each day that passes