Burmese man in Singapore shocked at ‘the amount of sacrifices’ SG’s migrant workers have to go through to survive

SINGAPORE: A Burmese vlogger based in Singapore posted a video on YouTube titled “What It’s REALLY Like to be a Migrant Worker in Singapore?”

The content was based on his encounters with migrant workers, some of whom he gives part-time employment in his brewery.

The vlogger, who goes by Zabu on social media, said a few times at the beginning of the video that he was uncertain whether to post it due to the sensitivity of some of the things he touched on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJzfOLWn9cc&t=1s

One was the cramped conditions where the workers live, as Mr Zabu showed a bedroom full of bunk beds, with personal items strewn haphazardly all over the place.

“This is absolutely crazy, man,” he whispers while walking through the room. “This one room beside the toilet. Crazy,” he exclaimed.

The camera also pans to the stairway landing chock-full of shoes in piles.

Mr Zabu said that the amount the workers pay is not proportionate to how they live, although they agreed to this before coming to Singapore.

He claimed eight men are paying S$350 per person to share a room, though they are not registered at this address.

The other two, who are not Burmese nationals but come from other countries, pay S$500 each and are the registered occupants of the room.

He pointed out three other rooms in the flat in the same situation.

Mr Zabu had an opportunity to meet the landlord, whom he described as not very welcoming toward him since he was a new face after all.

Outside, he added, with a small top-off, one can live much more comfortably, though he admitted being unfamiliar with this type of arrangement and wondered if it is allowed.

The workers he spoke to cooked dinner for him, which they enjoyed in the open area outside the flat.

“Human to human, I’m learning about their life,” he said. “The amount of sacrifices they go through. But this is life; not everyone is lucky enough to live life as we want to,” he added.

He also expressed anger at whoever made the workers’ living arrangements, calculating that at 10 people per room paying a total of S$3,500, three rooms would mean the owner is earning around S$10,000 per month, he alleged.

“On the one hand, you have an agent and a landlord making a ton of money; on the other hand (you have workers in) bad (living conditions) who can’t do anything about it,” he added, feeling helpless and sad because there’s very little he can do for them.

The Independent Singapore has reached out to Mr Zabu for further comments or updates. /TISG

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