Stranger To Myself

There's a mamak restaurant near my office where, rumour has it, the workers - after working 14 hours, will shutter the place up, rearrange the tables and turn them into beds. They sleep where they work. I always wondered how their lives were like behind the polite smiles. They make me realise how blessed and fortunate I am.

Sharif is a very eloquent writer - his voice is really needed, at a time when migrant workers are nearly invisible. In this book he shares his diary entries and poetry where he details life as a migrant worker in Singapore. At times he seems maudlin, almost melodramatic, but how can he not be when faced with a life where his employers feed his rotten food, or where he couldn't see his parents before they passed away or watch his son grow up?

But it would appear that even down south migrant workers are treated horribly. I had mistakenly thought that they had better lives.

“The owners of the companies are like wolves in sheep's clothing. As long as you have the ability to work, they will care. If you stop for any reason, they will throw you out.”

This is a book that needs to be read. I wish it was available in ebook form because physical copies of it are hard to come by.