Foreign Workers

Yesterday, I had three new "students" from Myanmar and Indian. Actually, the two Myanmar students I had came last week. I understood from them that they actually paid their agent(who brought them to Singapore) a sum of $4000. I think that includes their air tickets to Singapore. The other Indian man, in his twenties, came only two days ago.I found out from him that he paid $6500 to his agent for the trip to Singapore. That was a lot more than that of Myanmar's. Two years ago, another Indian man said he paid $4000 to his agent for the trip to Singapore. I guess the price has gone up.

Through the conversations, I learned more about them and their countries. Anyway, Kyaw Moe and Aung, who were from Myanmar, were working as shoemaker and dentist respectively. Kyaw Moe was 33 year-old while Aung was only 24 year-old. Kyaw Moe had just married for only 4 days before he left his country for Singapore. Aung, on the other hand, was married with a year-old daughter. They were not earning much in their country. Aung was previously working as a dentist in a government hospital and earning about S$100 a month. Leaving their country and families, they came to seek better job with better pay. I heard from them that they will get about $34 a day if they work for at least 4 hours in a day. If not, they will be paid $4 an hour. They will not be paid if they do not work.

The new Indian man, Rajeshkannan, intended to work for two years before going back to his country to get married. Two others, Bala and Muthu, who has worked between 2 to 7 years, are getting married next year. Bala and another Indian worker, Raja, have just gotten their Permanent Resident(PR) status. That means they do not need to apply for work permit to work in Singapore.

I guess life in Singapore is not as easy as they think. Though they are earning more money than what they would get in their own countries, they are 'separated' from their families and children. Some are seeking a better place to settle down after they get their PR. I understand from them that one has to work for at least 2 years to apply.