Burmese in Singapore 

As of December 2015, there are more than 1.3 million foreigners in Singapore, according to the Ministry of Manpower website. While we are usually rather well informed about migrant workers from China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia (thanks to the wide media coverage on these bunch of workers in Singapore), not many of us think of the Burmese people when it comes to the discussion of foreign migrant workers. Indeed, their numbers are not as significant as compared to the other migrant groups. Yet they play an equally significant role in the Singapore society. After all, they have been here for more than 20 years. 

 

This blog is a group effort, set out to uncover the life of Burmese people in Singapore, asking questions such as what makes them leave their hometowns and travel to Singapore? How have they assimilated into the Singaporean culture, or not? How did the Burmese enclaves in Singapore become what they are today? Join us, as we travel to various places in Singapore, where the Burmese people congregate to converse, eat, make prayers and really simply, just hanging out. Join us, as we speak with some of these migrant workers who have come to find Singapore familiar, with some even having a family here. Places of interest include the Peninsula Plaza as well as the biggest Burmese Buddhist Temple in Singapore. 

 

This will be done by six very wonderful History undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU). The group consists of five local students and one exchange student from Norway. We are Clara, Natasha, Marie, Leonard, Khuzaifah and Kristian. We hope that through our documentation project, we will be able to give them a voice and recognise that they are not like what some termed as 'invisible'.

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