'We feel very connected to Singapore': The migrant workers who serve the country

New Paper

2 days ago

When Mr Rayhan Md Abu first saw the blueprints for Jewel Changi Airport in 2017, he could not believe his eyes.
An indoor waterfall? A large glass dome? A five-storey indoor garden? The Bangladeshi worker, who had just joined a construction firm working on the project, wondered if a building could truly look so spectacular.
But over two years spent toiling 11 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, at the site, Mr Rayhan saw those plans slowly taking shape as a mammoth retail complex.
When Jewel Changi Airport opened to much fanfare in 2019, he was struck by immense awe and satisfaction. Six years on, those feelings remain.
Said Mr Rayhan, who had performed electrical works at the site: "I am proud that I helped to build something so beautiful.
Mr Rayhan Md Abu is one of over a million migrant work permit and S Pass holders who have left their home countries to work in Singapore. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
"When I saw all the lights we installed come on for the first time, it was a very good feeling."
Mr Rayhan, 29, is one of over a million migrant work permit and S Pass holders who have left their home countries to work in Singapore.
These migrant workers play a crucial role in building and maintaining Singapore's infrastructure and caring for families, the elderly and those who are ill.
After years here, many of them have also come to consider Singapore their second home, even as they support their families back home.
The recent rescue of a woman from a sinkhole by seven workers brought the contributions of migrant workers here to the fore. It has also sparked conversations about their welfare and safety.
Mr Rayhan, who is currently a supervisor for an underground substation project, said: "Every construction site needs migrant workers. We are helping to build Singapore, and helping it to develop and progress."
Leaving his hometown of Dhaka at the age of 20 in 2016, Mr Rayhan has been working here ever since to earn a living for his family of six. This includes his elderly parents, who both suffered strokes in recent years and have to take medication daily for heart conditions.
Nine years on, the Jewel Changi Airport project remains Mr Rayhan's most memorable, as the sheer scale of the complex still amazes him.
"Sometimes on my day off, I go to Jewel. The shops are quite expensive, and as a foreign worker, I cannot afford to buy the things inside.
"But I like to just go and jalan-jalan because everything looks so nice. Sometimes I will also eat at McDonald's or KFC there," said Mr Rayhan, using the Malay word for taking a walk.
Attractions such as Marina Bay, the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Sentosa and places near his dormitory like Punggol Waterway Park are among his other go-to places to relax on his rest days.
Some of Mr Rayhan's best memories from his nine years in Singapore are of watching the National Day Parade (NDP) fireworks with his friends at Marina Bay.
Mr Rayhan, who plans on doing the same on Aug 9 this year, said: "We enjoy the fireworks and National Day 'feel'. We work very hard, and our families are far away - doing things like this together makes life happier."
The Straits Times spoke to three other migrant workers who have contributed to Singapore's development in their own ways.
Pride in helping to build Woodlands Health Campus
For some, morning commutes are often sleepy, unremarkable affairs.
But for construction worker Senthil Selvarasu, the drive from his dormitory in Senoko to worksites around Singapore offers a daily reminder of the fruits of his labour.
Every morning, his company's lorry travels past the new Woodlands Health Campus, where he spent six months doing concrete works in 2019 for the construction of the hospital that started receiving patients in December 2023.
Mr Senthil Selvarasu spent six months doing concrete works in 2019 for the construction of Woodlands Health Campus. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
Mr Selvarasu said: "Seeing the hospital on the way to work every morning makes me happy and very proud that I was a part of making this place, where many lives are saved and where people get help."
To the 35-year-old, who came to work in Singapore in 2016 from Tiruchirappalli in southern India to support his family, helping others is something he was inspired by Singaporeans to do.
He recalled strangers patiently giving him directions when he did not know how to go back to his dormitory from places like Little India in his early days here.
"This was my first lesson in Singapore - that whatever, whenever, people you see will come and help you with a smile," he told ST.
There are also many groups that support and organise activities for migrant workers, like ItsRainingRaincoats, where he has taken English classes, said Mr Selvarasu.
He added that such initiatives help migrant workers like him feel a greater sense of belonging to Singapore, which he considers his "second country".
Said Mr Selvarasu: "Every day, when I sit in the back of the lorry, I see the big Singapore buildings, the parks, the trees, and I wonder how this extraordinary place was built.
"A lot of workers come here and work very hard - a lot of sweat, some injuries, and in some places, workers have even died. People might see the beautiful buildings afterwards, but actually, there was a lot of hard work behind (them) by hundreds of workers."
She picked up Mandarin and Malay to care for patients
On her first-ever flight in 2008, Ms Panchavarnam Porkodi was a bundle of nervousness and excitement - and that was not just because of the thrill of being in the air.
She had just turned 26 and was on her way to Singapore to work as a nurse after several years at a hospital in her home city of Chennai in India.
Ms Panchavarnam Porkodi came to Singapore to work as a nurse in 2008 after several years at a hospital in her home city of Chennai in India. ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
Seventeen years on, the 43-year-old is now an assistant nurse clinician at Ren Ci Community Hospital, where she manages a team of about 30 nurses who care for patients undergoing rehabilitative and recuperative care.
Her confident, chatty demeanour today is a far cry from her early days as a staff nurse, when she could not understand patients who spoke mainly Mandarin or Malay.
By attending conversational Mandarin and Malay classes, and learning from patients who taught her basic phrases and corrected her pronunciation, Ms Porkodi grew to connect with her patients better and adapted to life in Singapore.
"Our patients stay here for about three to four weeks, so we feel quite connected to them, and I look forward to coming in to take care of them at every shift," she said.
"Singapore has become a second home for me... and (Ren Ci) is like a family. The entire journey for me is really wonderful. I really don't have words to express it."
Ms Porkodi's husband, an electrician and safety supervisor here, is also from Chennai, and they share a Housing Board flat in Sembawang with several flatmates.
The couple have a 13-year-old son in India, whom they visit once or twice a year. In the long term, the family intends to apply for permanent residency.
"We feel very connected to Singapore, and want to make this our home," said Ms Porkodi.
While she is rostered to work this National Day, she plans to turn on the television in her ward's activity area for patients to follow the parade and, when the time comes, sing the National Anthem with them.
NDP among the highlights in her 23 years here
Despite having watched the NDP on television many times before, nothing could have prepared Ms Leizle Menez for the emotions of the live show at the Marina Bay floating platform, which she caught with her former employer about a decade ago.
Ms Leizle Menez came to Singapore to work in 2002. ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
"It was so amazing and everything was so colourful. When the planes flew past with the Singapore flag, and when the fireworks began, I almost cried," said the 46-year-old Filipino domestic worker, who came here to work in 2002.
Hailing from Bacolod, a coastal city in central Philippines about an hour's flight south of Manila, she is the eldest of seven siblings and the family's main breadwinner.
"As domestic workers, we are part of Singapore's growth too. Our work means that people can work without worrying about their kids or their elderly parents," said Ms Menez.
Besides her job, she has also volunteered as a health advocate with the migrant worker non-profit organisation Home for 17 years.
"Celebrating NDP makes me feel even more like I'm a part of that story, and that I belong here in Singapore."
Every year, Ms Menez, who has watched the NDP live only once, celebrates Singapore's birthday with friends at a park on Aug 9. Dressed in red and white and sporting Singapore-flag face tattoos, they catch up over food.
Said Ms Menez: "It's also a celebration for us, of our time here as helpers."