“Some of the women may feel coerced into performing sexual services that they did not promise to do because they’ve already paid such a large amount of agency fees and they’re afraid that if they refuse, they will be terminated and sent back home,” said HOME executive director Stephanie Chok.
“We’re also seeing situations of wrongful dismissals, where they get terminated after a very short while for very dubious reasons. So probably, this churn is just for the agencies to earn recruitment fees from a worker, fire the worker, and then bring another worker and earn (more) agency fees.”
PROMISES VS REALITY
Many arriving from Myanmar are fleeing active conflict, economic collapse and, since 2024, stricter conscription that has heightened fear among young people.
While there are no official numbers, estimates suggest there are about 200,000 Myanmar workers in Singapore, which is often perceived as a nearby and stable place offering better pay.
But for some, reality bears little resemblance to the paperwork handed to them.
In the case of Diana, for example, the job approval letter she was shown listed her as a food processing worker.
However, the 28-year-old, who paid about S$4,700 in agent fees for the job, was promised a beautician role and instead sent to a massage parlour.
Diana alleges she was molested and later fled to an NGO for help. With its assistance, she filed a police report and the case was eventually settled out of court.
In the cases of Zaw and Kyaw, who later turned to the Transient Workers Count Too (TW2) NGO for help, their agents were not upfront about their work permits.
The two men had fled Myanmar to avoid conscription, only to find out later that their promised two-year contracts as kitchen assistants turned out to be fake and their job approval letters stated they were “performing artistes”, with a validity of just six months.
Both had paid more than S$4,000 to an agent and travelled for days by land to reach Singapore.
“I’m stressed that I have no money left and have been issued a 14-day special pass. Everything now depends on whether MOM can resolve the case within this period,” Zaw said.
Special passes are issued by MOM to migrant workers who have valid employment claims, or who are assisting with ongoing investigations. This allows them to remain in Singapore until their cases have been fully resolved.
“I’m worried not only about my finances, but about my sick father in Myanmar right now,” Zaw added.
For Kyaw, the urgency is private and painful – his parents were detained by the military back home, leading him to keep his situation a secret from the rest of his family.
Mr Ethan Guo, executive director of TWC2, said such desperation to leave a war-torn country leaves people open to being taken advantage of.
“The difference with the workers from Myanmar is that they cannot afford to go home. They cannot afford to be sent back and to lose their jobs. So unfortunately, that means that they would do everything within their means to keep their jobs,” Mr Guo pointed out.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/myanmar-workers-exploited-complaints-ngos-5988121
