Little Indias Riots

The news appeared a few minutes after it occurred on my twitter newsfeed.

Social media was flooded with the pictures of the riot that was happening on
Little India. Half an hour later, I was watching a video of the public bus being
attacked by a few of the perpetuators . I was shocked with disbelieved that a
riot broke out in Singapore, it was a rare occurrence. The last few riots that i
knew off occurred 50-60 years ago; the 1955 Hock Lee bus Riots and 1956
Maria Hertogh Riots. The question was why did it occurred? Was it simply a
case of drunken behaviour or more?
In recent news online, I read that the New York Times commented on the
issue, stating that Frustration among Singapores unappreciated and
underpaid migrant workers has been building in recent years as their numbers
have grown faster than the country can accommodate them. and the millions
of transient workers who contribute so much to the economy(Singapores) are
not marginalised and abused. This is indeed quite true to an extend but there
are certainly other reasons to which why the riots broke out.
Migrant workers come from many different races, but why is it that the riots
were committed by these Indians? Certainly not because I am being racist but
rather, the reason lies not in the Indians fault but with the policemen and
security guards. Indians often have their dinner in Little India on the many
free spaces provided and it is a good practice to cultivate relationship with
others. However, Little Indian is often filled with masses of people and there is
a lack of security to provide safety and smooth traffic. It is why the accident
which then led to the riot occurred. No one can stop someone from being
drunk, but we could always have safety measures to protect the vehicles on the
busy roads and the scores of people enjoying their time in Little India. If there
was security guards present, the outburst may have been prevented and peace
would have been ensured.
The wages and treatment of workers are also contributing factors. Through
this incident, this issue of foreign workers being mistreated has been brought
to attention along with the recent case of the Chinese bus workers going on
strike. It is true that there is certainly some abuse, we still have to take into
account that the Ministry of Manpower has implemented laws to protect
workers. In my opinion personally, there is indeed some changes needed to be
made. For example, I see workers working under the rain at construction sites.
They need to be working under favourable conditions, yes, they are labourers
but it would be inhumane to ask them to work for long hours through the sun
and rain with such a meagre pay!
I believe that solving this problem would be difficult as many state that
banning alcohol in Little India would solve the problem but it cannot be

carried out as it is blatant social discrimination . I would think that there

would be three solutions that are viable and certainly useful in tackling the
problem.
Firstly, banning alcohol would not be the way to solve matters , but limiting
the amount bought would be. Shops selling alcohol can limit their customers
to perhaps 3-4 cans or bottles and for hard liquor it would be a bottle only. By
restricting the amount they can drink, it would prevent them from getting
drunk. As for the bars, we can place guards near those areas to prevent
incidents from happening. Secondly, we have to place more traffic police to
solve Little Indias congestion problems. The incident occurred because of
both the drivers and victims fault. The traffic problem in Little India is
certainly horrible as there is simply too much traffic! The traffic police needs
to be present to direct the traffic and prevent jaywalking. The security of Little
India definitely needs improvement. Thirdly, the Ministry of Manpower need
to conduct more checks, and these checks should be random lest the
employers would have time to prepare and make it seem like the workers are
happy with their working conditions. The laws can be redrawn to help the
workers, probably allowing the workers to feedback or have employers and
workers go through a course to let them know the laws and what rights
workers have.
We need the foreign workers and they need us. We need to work hand in hand
to create a favourable working environment in Singapore and prevent such
incidents from reoccurring. Riots are common in other countries such as
Thailand or China, but Singapore is safe from such riots due to our stringent
laws. When such an event occurs, we really need to take into account why it
happened , and reassess our situation. Even the best built armour has flaws.
For Singapore to proceed as a rising nation, we need to face this issue and
work it out. For I have learnt, a leader is nothing without his followers.
Singapore needs these migrant workers else our economy would stagnate. I
am sure that the government would be able to come out with a plan to solve
the problems and construct a work friendly environment for our workers.
(878words )