Singapore’s migrant workers have endured interminable lockdowns

IT IS MORE than a year since Mohammad Sharif Uddin leafed through a book at the National Library or wandered beneath Singapore’s skyscrapers, two of his favourite pastimes. Since early 2020 migrant workers such as Mr Sharif, a Bangladeshi who oversees safety on construction sites, have endured lockdowns far stricter and longer than those imposed on the rest of Singapore’s population. His employer ferries him to and from work. But otherwise he must remain in his dormitory, where he shares a room with eight others. He passes the time on a top bunk reading, writing, praying and trying to stay cool amid the heat. “I feel like I am trapped in a cage.”