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 )