Singaporean Dream Sours for Some Bangladeshi Workers as They Go Home with Big Debts

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20 June 2017 15:59 WIB

Mohammad Ashadul Islam, a Bangladeshi construction worker who lost his job and has to go home with a S$6,000 ($4,280) debt, spends his last weekend with friends at Little India in Singapore April 2, 2017. Islam placed all his hopes for a better life for his family in Bangladesh on getting a construction job in Singapore. He sold his father's land and fish farm and also borrowed money from banks and relatives to pay S$17,000 ($12,000) in fees to multiple agencies who helped arrange the job and his trip to the island state early last year. REUTERS/Edgar Su

20 Juni 2017 00:00 WIB

Migrant shipyard workers return to their dormitories after a day's work in Singapore April 4, 2017. For Singapore, a system of temporary labor to do many jobs in the construction, shipping, manufacturing and service industries including hotels and restaurants - works as an effective buffer. When times are good it means Singapore can fill jobs that would otherwise be vacant but when the economy is weak and unemployment rises as has been happening in the past year - it is easy to cut back on foreign workers. REUTERS/Edgar Su

20 Juni 2017 00:00 WIB

Babul (2nd R), who said he was made to go on a home leave for two months because there was no work, checks in his luggage at Changi Airport in Singapore March 28, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su

20 Juni 2017 00:00 WIB

Mostaffa, a migrant worker who said he was returning to Dhaka after he was laid off by his employer, packs his luggages at Changi Airport in Singapore March 28, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su

20 Juni 2017 00:00 WIB

Hussein (L), a Bangladeshi worker who said he lost his job and has to return home, packs his luggage at Changi Airport in Singapore March 28, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su

20 Juni 2017 00:00 WIB

Groups of migrant workers mostly from Bangladesh and India enjoy a day off on a weekend near a train station in Singapore July 6, 2016. Singapore's Ministry of Manpower said the agency fees foreign workers incur in their home countries are beyond its jurisdiction. "We hope that source countries would do more to address the issue of high agency fees incurred, and we will refer cases to their embassies here for follow up where appropriate," it said in an emailed statement to Reuters. REUTERS/Edgar Su

20 Juni 2017 00:00 WIB