Interview with Ms Thazin Thant II

Q: For other Burmese migrants that come here alone and work, how important do you think the Burmese community is for them? What can the community do for them? It is essential to gather in a place like Penin every Sunday?

A: Yeah this community is definitely important for them. But actually for Saturday it’s for the more professional, educated and affluent Burmese. For Sunday it’s for construction workers and foreign domestic workers because they get Sunday as their day off.

Q: Oh wow do you really see that divide?

A: Yeah definitely. Some people don’t want to come on Sunday because they don’t want to be mixed with these people.

Q: So there is a sort of discrimination?

A: Yeah kind of, because the construction workers, they are my own country-men la but they… chew the bitter leaf… and its just different behaviour la.

Q: Oh our prof told us about this and he said the government tried to stop the sale of these leaves because people spit it all over. We did not know that it was still being sold here!

A: Yeah they try to ban it but it’s a traditional thing and actually. Singapore still allows these things to go on because it’s hard to stop it so they kind of just close one eye and avoid it. Don’t come on Sundays.

Q: How about Penin on weekdays?

A: There used to be a lot of job-seekers but not so much now because the job market is quite bad., so there’s less.

Q: So the people who come on Saturday they are affluent professionals, kind of like your dad?

A: yeah like PRs, citizens and slightly high up people

Q: So for the discrimination is not like they will fight or anything right? They just don’t want to be associated?

A: Yeah they don’t want to mix with the construction workers. For the foreign workers, actually the shop behind used to be a library and they will gather there to chat about their employers and gossip

Q: But this library closed down?

A: Yeah it was opened by a monk but the monk couldn’t maintain the rental so it’s no longer there and its quite sad. It used to be here and now they will move to the church. Or even the river-side there by Esplanade.

Our interview with Miss Thazin brought out a very interesting point on how the Burmese in Singapore regarded each other. I was shocked to hear that the more affluent Burmese preferred not to go to Peninsula Plaza on Sundays where the domestic and construction workers would be there. The more educated Burmese prefer to go on the weekdays and Saturdays instead. This was due to the behaviour of the domestic and construction workers, Thazin claims that they spit and litter as well as chew on the betel nut. This was a contradicting find for me as before the interview with Thazin, I assumed that the Burmese community was a strong and bonded through Buddhism and the fact that they had only each other to depend on. If there is discrimination among the Burmese themselves and difficulty in integrating the lower class Burmese workers with the white collar workers it is no surprise that it is even harder for them to integrate into Singapore as a whole.

#interview