My Conversation With An Indian Foreign Worker Living In Singapore

by - Monday, December 09, 2013




I was talking to an Indian foreign worker the other day. He's a cleaner in my company. So we started a little chat-chat and I was curious to find out what he did back home and he mentioned he was a  pharmacist back home.


Surprise? Not surprise? I asked him why he’s here in Singapore? Dah, obviously on the promise of being able to earn better and faster in Singapore. But is life as such? 


Okay pardon my ignorance but I think we (Not everyone,  but I can put some names into this category) can be so cocooned in our own safe little world we don’t know what the heck is going on outside.

So apparently back in his homeland in Delhi, he has a degree in pharmacy and was working in the hospital as a pharmacist, packing medicine for patients. He had just gotten married for 2 weeks when he moved over to Singapore on the promise of a “better” career by an Indian agency. He showed me the wedding photo kept safely in his wallet. A pretty lady in a sari and a much fairer, plumper- looking guy smiling at me. I looked at the person standing in front of me again. “I lost over 6 Kg,” he sighed. A much tanned face now with signs of fatigue. That much stress working in Singapore? Isn't Singapore a food paradise? So why isn't he eating well? 


His wife is a lecturer by the way.



He speaks fairly good English I must say, albeit peppered with Indian accent but well, at least I can sort of understand him (though my colleagues have a hard time).  The other cleaner in our office apparently holds a Masters in Engineering (My senior, no less). They may not be the crème of the crop and thus explains why they are not working in Silicon Valley or in Google etc., but we can’t deny the fact that they are educated in a professional field.


So what was he promised by the India agency? A job in a computing firm in Singapore. To register himself, he has to pay 6000 (Rupees? I am not sure of the currency). Either way, it was a sum of money that he had to give to the agency in India.

Atlas, upon reaching Singapore, he was sent to this Singapore firm which puts him to another cleaning sub-con and that’s how he ended up here- as a cleaner. Doing cleaning- washing toilet, cleaning the floor, locking doors, these tasks were not what he had expected himself doing.  Nor had he done them before. He felt angry and sad. Worst, people (namely- us) ordered them around to carry this and that and well, they were not trained to be cleaners, no?

Now in Singapore, he is bound for a 2 year contract and cannot go back to India any time before that. Why? Because his money is all with the agency and obviously he won’t have the money to buy himself another ticket if he doesn't fulfil his 2 year term.  He can’t change job? He told me no but I understand from my colleagues he has been going for some interviews? I am not sure about this point.


What I know for sure is that he is working 7 days a week, with no rest day, ( Is this legal for an employer to do so?) almost round the clock, leaving him no time to even walk around Singapore. For the past 6 months since he's here, he hasn't even been to Little India or any other places. “No time, work till 10pm Mdm.” It's work, hostel, work, hostel and the cycle repeats.

Then he adds on that he cries himself to sleep every night. Feeling indignant, misses his family, not knowing what he's doing here as a cleaner which pays around the same as what he received back home?

He said he felt cheated, that Singapore has cheated him. I felt apologetic and tried to explain that it’s not just Singapore but the India agency's fault as well. You need 2 hands to clap right?  Still, to no avail. “18 months more Mdm.,” he would repeat.  This is his countdown till the day in 2015 when he can leave this “cheating” place.


I can sense his contempt for this place of ours. I tried to defend and told him that we don’t cheat  mean to cheat, that not all Singaporeans cheat people… but… I was baffled as well. What to say? It did seem we have done them wrong to a certain extent. My colleague said that there are in fact many such agencies operating in Singapore, giving fake hopes to foreign workers. “So why can’t we just arrest them?” “Because…,” he trailed off. I don’t quite understand. But…. well… maybe it’s because they have not crossed any criminal laws.

  

When I told my other colleagues about this cleaner’s predicament, they were not as sympathetic. One said that since he’s already here, then he has no choice but to do his job. Another said that he should count himself lucky to be here as we treat him quite well.
I supposed we do need foreign workers for tasks that we would rather not do, but I hope that they will be hired through legal means and treated in a more humane way? Perhaps I am simplifying matters and too ignorant.


Regardless, what I wish to highlight here is for us to really take a look at these foreign workers around us and treat them with a bit more respect. Perhaps the next guy cleaning your table might be a professor back in his homeland. They all have a reason for leaving their homeland; and if possible, we should slightly at least make their stay here a bit better. What is your say?  



His name by the way, is Kalai.



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1 comments

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