Looking for a book in Bengali, Tagalog, or Thai? Foreign workers will find it at the Migrant Library

SINGAPORE — Every Sunday, construction worker Ded Nath Subrata spends about three hours at the Migrant Library at Farrer Park, his nose buried in books by his favourite Bengali authors such as poet-playwright Rabindranath Tagore and Annada Shankar Ray.

The 25-year-old Bangladeshi, who has been working here for five years, has been a regular visitor to the library for the past month. It is an activity that the avid reader clearly relishes, as he told TODAY: “My friend introduced me to the library because I’m a bookworm.

“I am excited about it and have already finished eight books from the library over the last two months.”

The Migrant Library Singapore, which was launched in January by migrant workers at a shophouse along Rowell Road, aims to help other workers in Singapore stay connected to their mother tongues and cultural heritage through reading. The library is stocked with over 600 books in vernacular languages such as Bengali, Bahasa Indonesia, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, as well as English.

To reach out to more migrant workers, the library started going mobile this month as it set up shop at a workers’ dormitory in MacPherson on a Sunday afternoon.

Books will be on loan for 30 days, but the loan period can be extended upon request. Those who fail to renew their loans before they are due for return will be fined S$5 for each book, and borrowers who lose or damage a book will be fined S$20 per book.

Plans are underway for the mobile library to travel to dormitories or places frequented by the migrant community — such as open spaces near Paya Lebar MRT station — at least once a month, said Mr Fazley Elahi Rubel, who is one of the masterminds behind the library.

Mr Rubel, who also founded a library in his village back home in Bangladesh, said he hopes to share the joy of reading through his effort, and help cultivate literary talents.

Reading is also a “healthier alternative” to spending free time on social media, which puts some at risk of coming into contact with terrorism-related propanganda and becoming radicalised online, said the 30-year-old Bangladeshi, who is a supervisor in the construction sector.

He added: “Some migrant workers here have been radicalised online and accused of terrorism-related activities recently, which gives the community a bad name.”

Mr Rubel, a work permit holder who has been in Singapore for eight years, said the Migrant Library has been well-received so far.

“Many workers told us they were not reading as much (as they would have liked) because they did not know where to get the books,” he said.

The National Library Board currently has books only in English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. Its collections across the 26 public libraries include 1.34 million Chinese books, 290,000 Malay titles, and 250,000 Tamil titles.

Mr Rubel and his Migrant Library co-founders spent about S$1,000 selecting and shipping Bengali materials from Bangladesh for their outfit. Books in the other languages were donated by individuals, including those well-known in the local literary scene, such as poet Alvin Pang and former radio presenter Pamela Ho.

The library at 1C Rowell Road, Farrer Park, is run by about 20 volunteers. They include injured workers who are unable to work, and Singaporean volunteers.

Migrant workers and authors Mr Md Sharif Uddin and Ms Wiwi Tri, from Bangladesh and Indonesia respectively, will share their writing experiences at a panel discussion held at the library on April 29.

The literary and artistic endeavours of the migrant community have garnered some attention in recent years. The Migrant Workers’ Poetry Competition, for instance, has been a yearly affair since 2015. Last year, Bangladeshi construction worker Md Mukul Hossine became the first foreign worker to have a book published by local publisher Ethos Books. Titled “Me Migrant”, Mr Mukul’s poetry anthology was inspired by friendships forged between foreign construction workers and volunteers at HealthServe, a community clinic.

From next month, the Migrant Library will also start a book club, which will be held every first Sunday of the month at Geylang East Public Library. In the long term, Mr Rubel hopes to set up book clubs in various dormitories all over Singapore.