By Polly Perdereau “I WANT, I WANT!” These were Supinah’s defiant words to her husband when he objected to her going back to Singapore to work. She had stayed put in Java, Indonesia, for two years to take care of their only child. Despite her husband’s strong opposition, Supinah’s decision prevailed. Little did she know that
By Alex Au The above photo was taken around 11:30 am at a void deck below a block of flats. It shows packets of lunch on a broken chair. There were roadworks going on nearby and these packets were almost surely lunch for the crew. What's not in the photo was a Town Council cleaner
"Foul-smelling curry, rock-solid fish with scales still intact..." -- this was how Today newspaper opened its story (titled "Foreign workers served 'unappetising, stale food'", 19 March 2015) on the poor quality of food that foreign workers get. The story referred primarily to male workers at construction sites. Based on an on-going survey by researchers from
The Ministry of Manpower has accused TWC2 of publishing a "grossly untruthful account" relating to Indonesian domestic worker Wahyuni (see our earlier article here). This quote was contained in a story published in The New Paper on 8 March 2015 and archived on AsiaOne. See here and here. Transient Workers Count Too stands by our story
Late November 2014, an email came from the blogsite TR Emeritus about an Indonesian domestic worker who was not allowed to leave her employer's house for two years. The email sender said "hope you guys can take a look at this case seriously. The poor maid is said to be always hungry and begging for
By Nissa Mai “I will kill you ah!” She very angry, angry. She smack me four times. I say, “I'm a human, I'm sorry!” [Then], Amah show me the big knife. She say, “[If] you argue, I cut you with the big knife.” That's when Surya (not her real name) ran away for the first
Transient Workers Count Too has served half a million meals since our Cuff Road Project began in 2008. The milestone was celebrated on Monday 28 April 2014 with a boisterous lucky draw and contest. Nonetheless, reflecting on its significance, TWC2 president Russell Heng suggests the event deserves mixed feelings: "Half a million -- while we
The Cuff Road Food Programme is Transient Workers Count Too’s signature project. It provides free meals to migrant workers six days a week when they are injured or otherwise out of work and destitute. It also offers an important contact point between the organisation and those in need of help. Workers not only get nourishment,
The director of the Foreign Manpower Management Division, Kevin Teoh, told the commission of inquiry looking into the Little India riots that his ministry does not abandon workers. This was after TWC2 president Russell Heng had hold the committee in earlier testimony that workers "basically have to resort to charity to survive in Singapore" as they
GO TO PART 23 November 2013, Saturday At last, the story appears in the Straits Times, but it's quite deeply buried within the local news section. The Online Citizen has a longer story. For a summary of both stories, see Menton Technologies' failure to pay salaries in the news. Alex visits one of the Geylang
