By Bill Poorman “No work.” Those were the worst possible words that Masud could have heard. Like all foreign workers, he had come to Singapore to put in long hours and make a better life. In Singapore, he could earn a higher income than in his home country of Bangladesh. But when he arrived here in September of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6f1FP_EgZU By Gek Han “Please Singapore government, please change the system, and I will come here again to work.” When Hossain returns to Bangladesh, he will try to find work in South Korea, rather than Singapore. Before coming to Singapore in 2013, Hossain tried to find employment in South Korea, because the South Korean
By Shona Loong It is Saturday, 17 September 2016: Tito is in tears. He is being sent home after just six months in Singapore. His boss has bought him a plane ticket for this evening. This is already an extension of sorts: three days ago, his work-permit was cancelled and he was made to board
By Poh De Sheng Perhaps the chief reason foreign workers come to Singapore is the comparatively higher salaries on offer. Men will endure the hardship of separation, crowded living conditions and abominable hours of physical labour in the hope, not just of helping their families at home get by, but of helping their children and siblings
By Grigor Barseghyan Bangladesh is a country located in South Asia with a population of 156 million people. The capital city of Bangladesh is Dhaka. From the city and around is where lots of workers come to Singapore. They are not the ones at the bottom of Bangladesh society, they are the people who are more or
By James Mah “Go back home”. Such remarks can be heard infrequently in Singapore, uttered by locals frustrated at the sight of migrant workers on public transport when buses and trains are jam-packed. Most of the time, these comments would be said from the stress of the moment, without any malicious intent. This was not the
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmuX0UUq5Jk Video by Nicole Ng, text by Colin Ng, with contributions by Alex Au For most construction workers like Islam Mahabub, a job here comes at a hefty price. Based on casual reports collected by TWC2 from among the thousands of workers we see each year, the cost of a job can range from $2,000
By Gek Han Family was the only consideration when Jakir decided to work overseas. Jakir was fifteen when his father died, and Jakir’s elder brother was not earning enough to support his family of six. But Singapore wasn’t Jakir’s first choice of destination. Jakir had wanted to go to the Middle East, because he thought
One of the most striking facts coming out of the currently ongoing zika virus outbreak in Singapore is that the initial cases seemed to have been concentrated at one construction site in the Sims Drive area. Of the first 41 confirmed cases, 36 were workers at the Sims Oasis project (pictured above). Within a week
Not often do we get to interview a worker who has only walked out of his company the same day. Ranjana got this chance, and she takes us into his moment of anxiety and bewilderment. In the process, she explains why we need Little India as Little India. By Ranjana Raghunathan I meet Ayyan Chinnasamy
