4025. MYANMAR STORIES - MIGRANT (Video 2/2) WORKERS. Peninsular Plaza on Sat 9 & 16 April 2022, 1 pm. Low footfall

 

 

SINGAPORE MALLS - Peninsular Plaza, Sat 9 Apr 2022. 1 PM. No crowds of Myanmar shoppers or visitors.

MYANMAR CULTURE IN SINGAPORE IN APR 2022. 

Video showing parts of Peninsular Plaza on Sat 9 Apr 2022 afternoon. 

There is little footfall for the Myanmar retail shops compared to pre-Covid-19 Saturdays when the mall was overcrowded on Saturdays and Sundays.

Singapore has tightened foreign labour work passes towards the later part of 2016 onwards. This affected the livelihood of many workers in construction, retail shops that open 24 hours and supporting office staff in administration.  

Many Myanmar workers had to go home as their work passes were not renewed. Their remittance home did help their families financially when they worked in Singapore. But the Singapore Government set quotas for employers,  such as 1 work pass for 10 Singaporeans employed as evident by the CPF contributions. This quota was 1 to 3 some 8 years ago. As at 3 May, 2022, there is a "shortage" of workers when Covid-19 restrictions and travel have been removed with international borders open to tourism.  

SINGAPORE MALLS - Peninsular Plaza, Sat 16 Apr 2022. 4.43 PM. No crowds of Myanmar shoppers or visitors.

Migrant domestic workers are not be affected by quotas and they send back money to support their parents and siblings now that Myanmar has economic hardships.

 

In conclusion, the footfall of Peninsular Plaza is severely reduced. Many shops in the periphery of the mall e.g. maids, trading and others are closed down.

Very low footfall compared to pre-Covid years esp. 2016 to 2018 when the whole mall was packed with Myanmar people on Saturdays. Workers from construction, technical and administrative sectors met. On Water Festivals, big crowds of young Myanmar residents in new dresses sat on the grass of St Andrew's Cathedral to celebrate and socialise. Now, the grass is vacant and the retail shops are practically deserted on weekdays.

Many shops in the inside of the mall - hidden from traffic flows - were trading, administrative and some are embassy (e.g. Nepal) offices. Most had closed down. The embassy is still closed due to Covid-19 pandemic curbs.     Travel agencies to Myanmar. One or two still in business but in smaller rental shops. 

MORE INFORMATION AND UPDATES AT:

https://2010vets.blogspot.com/2022/04/4025-singapore-malls-peninsular-plaza.html