Shazneen, the daughter of a former migrant worker, is now on the frontline of support and policy reform at the Migrant Workers’ Centre — and her story shows why voices like hers are more vital than ever.
When Shazneen walks into the Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC), she carries more than a job title. As a Senior Specialist in Case Operations, she primarily handles casework involving key issues faced by migrant workers today, including wage disputes, injury claims, denial of access to healthcare, accommodation and upkeep concerns, unfair dismissals, and cases of abuse and exploitation.
But her work is rooted in something deeper: memory, history, and a responsibility inherited from a father who once lived the struggle she now seeks to ease.
“My father came to Singapore in 1996 as a labourer in the marine sector,” she shares.
“He slowly worked his way up and attained citizenship in 2006. That’s when the migrant struggle became the immigrant one — and from that, I inherited the blessing of stability.”
That blessing, she believes, comes with a duty to give back. And that’s exactly what she does at MWC — a national-level body that assists workers in crisis, lobbies for stronger protections, and represents some of the most invisible members of Singapore’s workforce. Her role is not just a job — it is an act of remembrance, rebellion, and refusal to look away.
The Political Work of Care
Migrant advocacy in Singapore often unfolds quietly — through translated documents, shelter arrangements, or conciliation meetings. For Shazneen, her work is deeply informed by her understanding of history and the complex forces that shape migrant workers’ lives.
Guided by lessons from her History degree — where she learned to view the migrant, coastline, and disease not as fixed facts but contested narratives — she sees systems not as neutral, but as shaped by policy and politics. “Care is political,” her professor once told her.
“Every small act of solidarity is part of a longer historical struggle.”
Those words have stayed with her.
That understanding was sharpened by her early experiences — volunteering with HOME, ProBonoSG, and co-organising COVID-19 relief fundraisers like Concerts for Bangladesh. Her linguistic fluency: in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, and English, came not from formal training alone, but from her parents’ insistence on cultural immersion, folk music, and Saturday language school.
Today, that fluency makes her a bridge. Shazneen often finds herself translating for workers in settings where few others can.
Her path was not always clear. During an internship at SUN-DAC, a non-profit social service organisation supporting persons with disabilities, she floundered in administrative tasks, feeling inadequate despite her passion.
It was her supervisor’s words that changed everything:
“Discomfort is not a detour — it’s a sign you’re exactly where you need to be.”
That moment reframed her doubts as signs of growth, and she carries that clarity into every case she now handles.
The Quiet Longing of the Immigrant
For Shazneen, advocacy is not only about rights, but about belonging. “Migration is a double-edged sword of gratitude and longing,” she says. She remembers her parents’ quiet ache for freshwater fish from the Padma river, the comfort of speaking in Bengali on the streets, the scent of village soil after a rainstorm.
“To migrate here – no matter how utopic it is – is to sacrifice loyalty to their nation,” she reflects. “Yet that longing never fully leaves.” She expresses wrestling with the duality of being part of two worlds, never fully belonging to either.
“Is it possible to ever fully belong when your heart and soul are spread across multiple places, like a tree with roots in two separate lands?”
That emotional complexity shows why second-generation immigrants are still needed in migrant advocacy. Shazneen expresses that they know what it feels like to grow up in the comfort built on another’s sacrifice. Thus, there is no chance of affording to forget what it had taken to get here.
Why Migrant Advocacy Must Persist
Shazneen’s story is just one, but it raises broader questions for Singapore: What does it mean to care for the people who build your cities, clean your homes, and sustain your economy — yet remain unseen? Can systems become more fair and effective without the voices of those with lived experience?
At the Migrant Workers’ Centre, advocacy is more than aid. It is about recognising that migrant workers are not just temporary bodies — they are people with stories, rights, and futures.
“Systems don’t change unless people inside them refuse to look away,” Shazneen says. “For me, this work is about honouring the labour that built the life I live today — and making sure others aren’t left to navigate the same silences my father once did.”
For her, this work is about honouring the labour that built the life she lives today,
‘… and to ensure that others aren’t left to navigate the same silences my father once did.’
Read more about Shazneen here.
Connect with Shazneen via her Instagram.
More info on Migrant Workers’ Center here.
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