By Cheah Wenqi and Ng Kai Yuan

Over the past week's hustings, we've been focusing on the stars on stage as they campaigned their cause, working to persuade the masses to vote for them.

As the 2016 Bukit Batok by-election draws to a close, we turn the spotlight on the people who work quietly in the hours before, and after, the rallies.

At the entrance of the first rally site, red and white barriers that cordon off traffic from the road often go unnoticed.

Foreign workers who help to set up these barriers hail from countries like China and India, and while some are familiar to the job, others have only been working in Singapore for a few months.

The stage and lights, which are the most crucial to any rally, are meticulously put together by this team of workers.

These workers who set up the rally stage arrive at the scene well before the sky darkens. In fact, they get cracking on the set-up from as early as 3pm.

Their job scope includes putting the stage together, securing carpets and cloths to the stage, fixing the lights in place, and more.

The team of eight works hard and fast, getting the job done in about two and a half hours. They return to strike down everything they built early the next morning.

At another rally, lighting technicians Hamid Toshar, 25, from Bangladesh, and 24-year-old Arul Viknesh from India, are on standby at the rally grounds to attend to any emergency blackouts or lighting faults.

The workers on this rally site move more quickly, initiating the strike down process minutes after the politicians and the crowd clear.

These foreign labour hold neither flags nor light sticks, but work hard to keep the rally grounds spick and span with their cleaning gear in hand.

The situation is thankfully nowhere near Laneway level, but the work can be backbreaking nonetheless.

Once done, some head back to their homes in Johor Bahru, reaching home as late as 5 o'clock in the morning.

We must also not forget our men in blue — the entourage of policemen who maintain public order.

These folks arrive at the rally sites around 5pm, and those we spoke to told us that some on duty were on reservist, while others are regular police patrol officers posted for the ad-hoc job.

And yes, their loyal sidekicks help sniff out suspicious things too:

Top photo by Ng Kai Yuan.

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