e-chan
Singapoor : Singaslaves (foreign workers)
Photo by e-chan © 2007 All rights reserved - Downloading and using without permission is illegal.
Singaslaves :
From 248 000 in the early 90's to more than 750 000 nowadays, the foreign low-skilled (and very low-paid) workers are now a a vital element of the booming singaporean economy and a huge component of the population (18% of the 4.6 millions people living there) - although a lot of Singaporeans pretending not to be racist tend to say that the real singaporean population is 3.7 million (as if the foreign workers were not part of the population)...
Not so fun to be a foreign worker in the construction sites.
Of course, if you come from Sri Lanka, India or Bangladesh (or Myanmar, or Indonesia, etc), the pitiful 600 singapore dollars ( around 310 US dollars or 290 euros) salary you earn for the work is far more than the average wages you could earn in your native countries. Of course, you can buy a nice handphone or mp3, and maybe send a bit for the relatives you've left. So i guess i can understand when some of them i've talked to told me they were quite happy here.
But... They work like dogs, they are carried in lorries like cattle.
They are lonely. They are too poor to rent flats and in the miserable dormitories where they live, there is usually no comfort and very strict rules : no gathering, no drinking, no smoking, no guests, no talks after 10pm...
So some of them gather in the evening around HDB (public housing residences) void decks and eat, drink and talk, as they used to do in India or in their native countries. Of course, there are sometimes loud noises and other little troubles for the neighborhood, and i guess sometimes worse things.
Some residents seem to be very bothered by that - obviously more than when it's a rowdy ah bengs gang (local chinese singaporean bad boys) gathering or noisy mahjong players. In the newspapers, some residents say they created "vigilant groups" so as to catch foreign workers urinating or drinking around the HDBs. Some "not racist" madams say they are too afraid to go out when there are foreign workers around their residences because their smell is unbearable (!) an they feel "mentally violated" (!) by these poor guys. Some threw bags full of urine at foreign workers gathered under their windows... Classy.
The Prime Minister himself had to remind that foreign workers are human too and they are a necessary part of the economy, hence they deserve more tolerance and respect from the singaporean citizens - who by the way are very often descendents from migrant workers...
This picture has been used with permission by some, without permission by the cool blog misterbrwonshow.com (but i don' t mind), without permission by some other websites and blogs, misused by others, stolen and usurped by some. Which letter you don't understand in the word "COPYRIGHT" , huh ?
Singapoor : Singaslaves (foreign workers)
Photo by e-chan © 2007 All rights reserved - Downloading and using without permission is illegal.
Singaslaves :
From 248 000 in the early 90's to more than 750 000 nowadays, the foreign low-skilled (and very low-paid) workers are now a a vital element of the booming singaporean economy and a huge component of the population (18% of the 4.6 millions people living there) - although a lot of Singaporeans pretending not to be racist tend to say that the real singaporean population is 3.7 million (as if the foreign workers were not part of the population)...
Not so fun to be a foreign worker in the construction sites.
Of course, if you come from Sri Lanka, India or Bangladesh (or Myanmar, or Indonesia, etc), the pitiful 600 singapore dollars ( around 310 US dollars or 290 euros) salary you earn for the work is far more than the average wages you could earn in your native countries. Of course, you can buy a nice handphone or mp3, and maybe send a bit for the relatives you've left. So i guess i can understand when some of them i've talked to told me they were quite happy here.
But... They work like dogs, they are carried in lorries like cattle.
They are lonely. They are too poor to rent flats and in the miserable dormitories where they live, there is usually no comfort and very strict rules : no gathering, no drinking, no smoking, no guests, no talks after 10pm...
So some of them gather in the evening around HDB (public housing residences) void decks and eat, drink and talk, as they used to do in India or in their native countries. Of course, there are sometimes loud noises and other little troubles for the neighborhood, and i guess sometimes worse things.
Some residents seem to be very bothered by that - obviously more than when it's a rowdy ah bengs gang (local chinese singaporean bad boys) gathering or noisy mahjong players. In the newspapers, some residents say they created "vigilant groups" so as to catch foreign workers urinating or drinking around the HDBs. Some "not racist" madams say they are too afraid to go out when there are foreign workers around their residences because their smell is unbearable (!) an they feel "mentally violated" (!) by these poor guys. Some threw bags full of urine at foreign workers gathered under their windows... Classy.
The Prime Minister himself had to remind that foreign workers are human too and they are a necessary part of the economy, hence they deserve more tolerance and respect from the singaporean citizens - who by the way are very often descendents from migrant workers...
This picture has been used with permission by some, without permission by the cool blog misterbrwonshow.com (but i don' t mind), without permission by some other websites and blogs, misused by others, stolen and usurped by some. Which letter you don't understand in the word "COPYRIGHT" , huh ?