My father curses every time he sees them; if it isn't the way they sit, it's the way they look, if it isn't the way they look, it's the way they drive. Evidently, he does not think much of them. Some people I know dislike them with a burning intensity. Hardly anyone notices them, they are the backstage crew, and no one appreciates them because of the noise and pollution they create.

Who am I talking about?

Our little noticed unsung heroes, the construction workers.

You may laugh, but then again, that would only prove how much, or should I say, how little you think of them.

We walk past them with our noses in the air, as they sit by the road and chat in foreign languages that we cannot, and do not really care to understand. We sidestep them when we meet them on the road, remembering what our parents told us about scary Indian men. We ignore them and pointedly look the other way when we pass their construction site at noon and they are eating lunch out of styrofoam packages and paper plates and drinking tap water from plastic juice bottles.

But do we ever stop to truly think about what they do for Singapore?

I suppose not. Many of us are too busy thinking of our own (far more important, the way we see it) jobs, which were (in our views) much harder to get into.

They are the people who build our offices, hospitals, landmarks and roads. They are the ones who give us the basic infrastructure of the country. Without them toiling in the midday heat and venturing into underground cavaties, would there even be a Singapore, garden city to boast about? Would there be an Esplanade? How would the first Housing Estate, the first factory have been built if not for them? Have you ever realised that without them, doctors and nurses would not have hospitals to work in, and defence groups like the army would not have the facilities or the buildings to train their recruits in?

Ironic that, in spite of all they have done, construction workers are looked upon with disdain. They are thought poorly of, almost the last rung of society's ladder. But have you ever thought about what would happen without this last rung in the ladder?

And it took two major construction site accidents (Nicholl Highway and Ayer Rajah building site) to make us sit up and notice them.

These are the people who work and labour beneath the grounds, perched on scaffolding, in the blistering heat and rain, these are the people who work behind the scenes so we can have buildings to work and live in.

They are like the backstage crew of a production. You cannot have a play without the backstage crew, can you?

Same logic, applied in real life.

But, although they do so much for us, do you ever see their names anywhere? Do they ever get any recognition? When a new building is opened, do we see a plaque dedicated to the construction team that built the building?

No. Hardly ever, in fact, I do not ever recall seeing anything of that sort. But don't they deserve just as much recognition as the investors ? Didn't they take just as much, or even more risks, blood, sweat and tears to get the building completed or the project finished on time?

They truly are unsung heroes, almost unknown, and a little regarded group here, where corporate jobs beckon to the masses. Hardly anyone sees them, all they see is a completed project, but what about those who toiled over it?

Dedicated to construction workers and those who died in the Nicoll Highway and Ayer Rajah worksite accidents, as well as any other industrial accidents that have taken place: Heng Yeow Peow, John Tan Lock Yong, Liu Rongqian, Vadivil Nadason, Lee Chee Yong and Abdul Baten Abdul Jalil.

They were all fathers, uncles, brothers or husbands to someone, they had families and lives as well, just like all the rest of us. The next time you see a construction worker, think about what life would be like without people like them building transport systems and infrastructure for the rest of us, and do not look down on them. They deserve as much recognition as the next CEO.

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