Daily Lessons from Life 24 December 2013 - Little India riot is a good reminder for Singaporeans: PM Lee

"Little India riot is a good reminder for Singaporeans: PM Lee - CNA 24 December 2013

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that the riot in Little India is a good reminder to Singaporeans that even in a stable society, such an incident can happen.

What is important, he added, is to have a Home Team that can deal with the situation in a calibrated, thoughtful and decisive way.

Mr Lee was speaking to reporters after having breakfast at Rochor Neighbourhood Police Centre with about 40 officers, who were among the first responders at the scene and had a chance to tell him what they went through that night.

For about two hours, the Prime Minister sat with them, listening and questioning every single one of the officers, who had a personal story about the night of December 8.

They spoke about being hit by projectiles -- bricks, beer bottles, rocks, anything the mob could get their hands on. They also spoke of fearing for their life.

The Rochor Neighbourhood Police Centre is located about five minutes away from the site of the riot at Race Course Road.

Prime Minister Lee said he has a lot of respect for how they carried out their duties.
Going forward, Mr Lee was asked if policy makers should think about a new social compact with foreign workers.
He said those are broader issues that should be dealt with, only after the Committee of Inquiry (COI) releases its findings.
Mr Lee said: "I think first we deal with this riot and the problems, and then after we have got the COI and we have identified what caused this, were there deeper causes or was this an incident of a riotous mob isolated in Little India on that evening, then we can discuss whether this raises broader questions for our society.
“I do not accept that we must straight away ask whether fundamental approaches or the whole way of how society is organised needs to be re-thought immediately. Let's establish what caused this.""

It is good the PM Lee visited the enforcement personnel deployed that fateful night of 8 December 2013 when about 400 Foreign Workers (FWs) rioted in Little India.

Lessons for me are:

1. it is always a volatile matter when you have overcrowding of FWs whose culture and custom and behaviours to certain situations we DO NOT understand, or worst, underestimate! It is UNIMAGINABLE that Singaporeans would have reacted in that manner. Definitely NOT attacking enforcement personnel and damaging and burning their vehicles!!;

2. while Singapore is by and large a 'stable' society overall, we honestly do not know IF the society of the FWs is stable or not! What are the dynamics in the FWs community? How do they interact with their Singaporean employers and/colleagues? Is it safe to say that the majority of them are happy with the working conditions and the treatment meted out by their employers and Singapore society at large? how do they feel when they have to endure 'overcrowding' in possibly their ONLY rest day or half-a-day in Little India? It is reasonable to say that UNTIL we have some concrete evidence via survey and studies, or PAST survey and studies, to show that they are happy or unhappy, hastily jumping into the conclusion of EXCLUDING FWs' unhappiness in Singapore is unwise or even irresponsible!;

3. it is quite obvious that OUR enforcement personnel did not expect such a violent reaction by the FWs or mobs when they moved in to attend to the accident. It is fortunate that no serious injuries were inflicted on the officers involved, thankfully for the involved FWs mob too! I can imagine how HARD the laws will come down on ANYONE who dare to attack and seriously injured law enforcement officers in Singapore! The officers had reacted and responded the best they could or had been trained. We should be proud of them. YET, we must not go overboard by singing their praises too enthusiastically. They are duty bound to discharge their duties. It is really par for the job! Let's be mindful of that too.

Let's learn more after the COI's report comes out in early 2014!