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Riot rocks Singapore as South Asian workers go on a rampage
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Singapore’s prime minister urged citizens not to react negatively toward migrant workers yesterday following the first rioting in 40 years in the wealthy state.
The disorder involved mostly Indian guest workers and broke out in the Little India district on Sunday night after an Indian worker was hit and killed by a bus driven by a Singaporean. Cars were burned and eighteen people were injured as crowds hurled rocks at authorities.
Police said about 400 people were involved in the riot, and that 27 South Asian workers had been arrested on charges punishable by up to seven years in prison as well as caning.
It followed recent signs of tensions between the country’s citizens and the growing numbers of migrant workers, who have largely built the country’s impressive skyline, transport infrastructure and other facilities. About a quarter of the country’s 5.4 million people are transient workers, compared to a tenth in 1990, according to government statistics.
In a posting on his Facebook page, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reminded Singaporeans that “the vast majority of foreign workers here obey our laws. We must not let this bad incident tarnish our views of workers here. Nor should we condone hateful or xenophobic comments, especially online.”
Liberal commentators said the riot strengthened their calls for better treatment of the workers.
“The inequality that has taken root in Singapore has dire consequences and they are beginning to show,” said Roy Ngerng, a blogger on social issues. “Perhaps, it is to be expected that when we pay such (a) pittance ... to people who have helped build our country — our buildings and roads — and yet expect them to toil in the most tiresome conditions.”
Little India attracts thousands of South Asia workers on Sundays, when they eat, shop and drink together.
One Cabinet minister suggested that liquor licenses should be more tightly restricted in Little India.
Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, whose constituency includes Little India, said it was “quite evident ... alcohol could have been a contributory factor” based on his observation of some of those arrested, The Straits Times newspaper reported.
Sunday night’s incident was considered Singapore’s worst outbreak of public violence since race riots in 1964 involving the ethnic Chinese majority and Malay minority left a total of 36 people dead that year.
Lee also said there could be “no excuse” for the rampage that left 39 police and civil defense staff injured and 25 vehicles including 16 police cars damaged or burned.
Many citizens expressed dismay over the mayhem.
“My God,” a reader named Hayeden wrote on the Yahoo! Singapore website. “How can such a thing happen to my Singapore.”
Devadas Krishnadas, the founder and managing director of Future-Moves, a Singapore-based risk consultancy, said it was “an isolated incident where a variety of factors combined to blow matters out of hand.”
“There is no justification to generalize the blame across any group, any race or any gender,” he wrote in a commentary for Singapore’s Today newspaper.
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