Toiling hard to give back home

They are often misunderstood, and some locals look down on them with dislike and even scorn. Foreign workers in Singapore may hail from many distant lands, such as India, Cambodia and even China, but many would admit that they are not free from discrimination in this multi-ethnic country.

While Singaporeans may view these workers as foreign to their country, foreign workers are here because they want to make a better living; to improve their family’s quality of life back home.

Workers from China make up a significant number of the foreign worker population. China workers alone take up almost half the percentage of foreign workers. Some end up taking low-skilled and low-paying jobs. From construction work to cleaning, they choose jobs very few or no locals are willing to fill.

Locals may have seen many Chinese workers in the service industries when they shop. Yet, some China workers are almost cut off from locals due to the remote site of their workplace. It is difficult for the ordinary locals to have contact with these workers, especially those in the construction and manufacturing industry.

A majority of these transient workers are here on two-year contracts, which are renewable upon their employers’ assessments at the end of them.

Factory technician Mr Tang Ao Xue had recently signed a new contract keeping him for another two years. He works nearly everyday and looks forward to over-time opportunities, so as to keep his job and earn as much as he can for his family back in Shanghai.

“The working life is more competitive here. There are also longer working hours,” said the 33-year-old in heavily-accented Mandarin. So far, he has really enjoyed the kind of life that Singapore has to offer.

However, there is one aspect that he particularly likes. “It [the bureaucracy] is very fair here. There’s no bribing. It all depends on my performance at work,” said Mr Tang.

His employer recommended Mr Tang for work here when his parent company expanded into Singapore. He had to make the shift from glass manufacturing to aluminium but he adapted quickly while learning on the job.

Mr Tang, however, has not been home for almost two years. “It’s too expensive to go home often. I just can’t afford it,” said the lanky man who is married with no children. He is not intending to return home anytime soon and wants to continue working in Singapore for as long as he can.

Like Mr Tang, many of the other Chinese workers possess the willingness and desire to put in the hard work, such as Mr Ying Xiao Bin.

He is a construction worker from Shan Dong, and works on Jurong Island. He was proud to attest to those qualities.

“We Chinese, when we want to do something, we do it fast. We won’t slack off,” said the father of two, who feels that Singaporeans are being unfair in their judgment of foreign workers.

Mr Tang and Mr Ying exude positive working attitudes, which are exactly what got their employees attracted to them.

Both men have been staying at the Soon Lee Lodge in Jurong West for the past two years and are used to the life here but they do miss their family. Mr Ying, who has not been home since arriving here six year ago, said: “I miss my little girl. She’s in primary six. When I have the money, I will go back to China and set up a small business or a restaurant.”

For many of them, Singapore represents the pot of goodness that is a necessary step towards a better life.

Being so far away from home, Chinese workers search for those who come from their homeland when they are missing home. Hence, the workers come together and form their own communities. Since they share the similar experience of being alone in a foreign land and speak the same dialect, they are able to reminisce about things they miss from their hometowns.

When asked how he celebrates the Chinese festivities, Mr Ying replied: “I will meet up with the people in my hometown. During mid-autumn, I will make mooncakes and cook delicacies from my hometown.

For a man who is used to eating home-cooked noodles for lunch every other day, such festivities bring him a step closer to home.

Mr Tang and Mr Ying may be away from home, but home is exactly the motivation for them to persevere every day in Singapore.