Firstly, I fully empathize with the locals in the area who were both worried and terrified by what happened. I lived through the London riots of summer 2010 and know exactly how it feels like to have something like that happen where you live. I remember loads of Londoners (including myself) wondering why the police didn't go further and used water canons or rubber bullets to deal with these rioters who were hell bent on causing destruction. Ironically, one of the things I said at that time to so many of my friends was, "this would never ever happen in Singapore - not in a million years!" And guess what? Just three years later, much to the shock of many, it did.
Thus what would the point of such a barrier be in Singapore? If it is something inconspicuous like a metal railing, then it is ineffective in terms of keeping the two communities apart. It needs to be something that is a lot more substantial like a wall with gates before it can achieve any real security purpose. But wait, what is going to stop someone walking around the barrier then - how far does the barrier need to extend for it to be effective? How offended would the Indians be by such a barrier? Let's look at the logistics of such a barrier for it to work.
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| One of the surviving gates to the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw |
The only way for such a barrier to work is to create a Berlin Wall type of barrier, totally encircling Little India, with strict security letting people in and out. Are Singaporeans proposing that Indian workers should be bused into Little India in the morning, not allowed out of the barriers until they are on board the buses which will take them directly back to their dormitories? That sounds horrifically similar to what the Jews endured in the Warsaw Ghetto, when they were treated like subhumans. No way can such a barrier be erected in any modern, respectable society with any compassion.
Such a radical step would simply beg the question: isn't the Singaporean government capable of coming up with a better solution to enforce law and order in Little India on Sundays, before resorting to such a drastic step? And thankfully, the Singaporean government is not going to go that far and will be attempting more humane measures to deal with the issue, but they seem to be very focused on the issue of alcohol and I think they are barking up the wrong tree. The key problem here is that of human traffic and congestion, rather than alcohol abuse.
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| Alcohol has been used as the scapegoat in this case. |
After all, alcohol had been freely available in Little India for the last few years and whilst alcohol probably did play a part in the riots, there were so many other factors that led to the riot happening. Some other bloggers have claimed that it was a combination of cheap alcohol being available in Little India and the relative high costs of public transport in Singapore that has led to a concentration of drunk people in one small place that was a bomb waiting to explode - well I beg to differ. Let's look at some of the prices involved before assuming that these migrant workers can't even afford to take the MRT or a public bus in Singapore.
The cost of a one way trip from Serangoon (NE12/CC13) to Little India (NE7) is S$1.18 and that would make a return trip just S$2.36 - now you may argue that oh these poor Indian workers are paid very little (as little as S$2.25 an hour) and that S$2.36 is more than an hour's wage for them. Nonetheless, just how cheap is the alcohol in those shops in Little India? How much booze can you buy for S$2.36 there? Enough to get you drunk? Hey these shopkeepers have got to make a profit too you know. Let's do some maths - I made it a point to visit Tekka Centre on my last trip to Singapore to enjoy authentic Indian food. Now S$2.36 wouldn't even get you a single serving of Mee Goreng or Nasi Biryani at the hawker centre - prices there are pretty much in line with any other hawker centre you would find in Singapore. These hawkers and shopkeepers are not slashing their prices just for the Indian migrant workers - no, they will have to pay as much as any other wealthy Singaporean who goes there for a meal or do some shopping.
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| Is the cost of transport the issue here? |
With that in mind, the cost of public transport may be a red herring when you consider just how much food and drink costs in Little India. In any case, these workers who are paid so little are unlikely to receive perks like a free chartered bus to and from Little India on Sundays for free - part or all of the costs of these chartered buses would have to come out of their meager salaries. Do you imagine that these employers who are paying them as little as S$2.25 an hour would lay on perks like that for free, out of the goodwill of their hearts, to keep the Indian workers happy?
Allow me to make some simple and constructive solutions to improve the situation. I want to deal with the one other problem with Little India on Sundays: congestion. It is just crazy crowded there on Sundays and this is a highly stressful situation for anyone - you're putting thousands and thousands of Indian workers there with limited spending power, in a small crowded area for up to 10 or even 12 hours on Sundays: it is a pressure cooker. Let's look at ways we can try to defuse some of this pressure from this volatile situation.
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| Why are the Indian workers stressed and angry? |
1. Suspend all chartered bus services bringing the Indian workers to and from Little India on Sundays.
It is an assumption that employers of these workers have made that all Indian workers do indeed want to go to Little India on their days off - maybe some do and those who choose to do so can make their way there on public transport. There are a whole range of places where these foreign workers can relax on their days off and allowing them the freedom to roam around Singapore freely rather than packing them into the small area of Little India could go a long way in reducing the density of the crowds there on Sundays. This would make the situation less volatile when you reduce the sheer congestion in human traffic there on Sundays. With the population density in Singapore increasing, we need to manage this congestion ever more carefully.
Those of you who have to commute to the office during peak hours would know how sheer human congestion could make tempers flare and create a volatile situation when too many people are packed into too small a space. None of us like to be packed like sardines as we all value our personal space. These Indian workers live in dormitories - they clearly do not have the luxury of their own bedrooms and share all their living facilities. Surely the last thing they need on their days off is to experience an even greater intrusion into what little personal space they have left by packing them into an extremely crowded area for an entire day. Don't forget, some of these workers do come from rural villages - they may not have much in those villages, but what they have is the luxury of personal space where they can take long walks in the countryside, away from the crowded streets, to have a little 'me' time after a long hard day at work.
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| Being in crowded places is a very stressful experience for most of us. |
I did enjoy my visit there to Little India back in August - but then again, I don't live in Singapore, I live in London and I found it exotic, interesting and fun. Now imagine if you are a foreign worker on your day off in Singapore and that's the one and only place you get to visit every single Sunday and public holidays (because your employers have arranged for these chartered buses) - it breeds a certain sense of ennui that creates a conducive environment for binge drinking. When I visited the Botanic Gardens in Singapore, I came across a group of Indian workers having a picnic on the grass, enjoying the gorgeous gardens and each other's company. It was a situation which was anything but volatile - it was calm, relaxed and serene.
2. Stagger the working week so that these workers have their days off spread out throughout the week.
Now I know this sounds like an ambitious plan, but it can be done in some cases. Now I understand that a lot of construction depends on the supply chain and some workers just can't take any other day off - but there must be some areas (particularly smaller construction projects) where certain workers can work on Sundays and have a day off in the middle of the week instead. This will allow them to visit Little India in the middle of the week when it is less crowded and have a far less stressful time during their visit to Little India.
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| Why can't workers take Tuesday off instead of Sunday? |
I tend to avoid Chinatown in London during the weekends because the queues at the supermarkets are just ridiculous then - on a Monday morning, I usually don't need to queue at all to make a purchase at the supermarket but on a Sunday afternoon, you could queue for up to 15, even 20 minutes just to get to the front of the line at the cashier and I have witnessed many arguments amongst disgruntle, frustrated customers in the queues. Some of these supermarkets have even hired security guards to help manage the crowds on weekends. It really doesn't matter if you're Indian, Chinese, American or French - no one enjoys being in crowded places for long periods where you have to queue for a very long time with other equally frustrated people.
3. Organize other activities for Indian migrant workers rather than just leaving them to their own devices.
Now this may sound a bit like a "nanny state" suggestion, but how about organizing free activities for migrant workers to enjoy other activities away from Little India. Given the popularity of cricket on the Indian sub-continent, how about organize cricket matches in some parks on Sundays? You could easily use the sports facilities of some local schools given that none of the students go to school on Sundays - as long as arrangements are made for the facilities to be cleaned up in time for the students to come in on Mondays, then it is a cheap and easy way to give plenty of Indian workers the chance to enjoy far healthier activities on a Sunday. Indeed, a range of sports from football to basketball to cricket could be offered through such a scheme.
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| I enjoy walks in the countryside in the summer. |
Anyone who is exhausted from a few hours of sports is far more likely to want to riot - besides, providing such arrangements for free sports for the foreign worker community is going to buy a lot of goodwill, quell frustration and make them far less likely to want to riot. What about those who are not interested in sports after a long hard week of labour, I hear you ask. How about free outdoor screenings of Bollywood films in parks away from Little India? It is a relatively low cost way to entertain hundreds of people for many hours.
Who should fund such activities? I suggest that it should be the government - it is a relatively small investment to make in earning the goodwill of the migrant worker community to prevent a repeat of the riots that happened this month. I know that a number of Singaporeans will protest at the idea of responding to such a riot with such gestures of free sports and movie events for the Indian migrant worker community - but what do you people honestly expect? You want these workers to come to Singapore, work for as little as S$2.25 an hour and then you expect them to be invisible even on their days off and do nothing? You can't have your cake and eat it - these schemes would not cost much to provide for, but will earn far more in terms of goodwill.
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| There needs to be a balance of carrot and stick in our response to the riots. |
4. Punish those who were involved in the riot and make an example of them - quickly.
Well you can't have the carrot without the stick - those who did riot and break the law should be punished and made an example of. This will have a two-fold effect: firstly, it will send a clear message out to the migrant worker community that they should never break the law in Singapore and if they do, they can expect to face the consequences. Secondly, it will reassure Singaporeans that they do live in a country where the rule of law still stands and no one can get away with rioting like that. The investigations should be carried out swiftly, efficiently and the public shouldn't have to wait several months to see what will happen to those who were arrested and found guilty.
In the London riots of 2010, in order to send a very clear message to those thinking of rioting, the law enforcement machine went into overdrive - there were all night sessions in the courts so that those arrested could be sentenced and thrown into jail as quickly as possible. The media was invited to show this to the public to send an extremely clear message, "if you riot, you will end up in jail - just like them." The frustrating thing about criminal prosecution is that these processes can drag on and on, cases can take months, even years to conclude and the public is left feeling like nothing is being done to bring those who are indeed guilty to justice in the meantime. Singapore is well known for being super-efficient: it's time to live up to that reputation.
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| Those who did break the law must be punished. |
So there you go, that's four simple, constructive suggestions from me to try to improve the situation in Little India on Sundays for you. What do you think? Would there be anything else you would like to add to that list of suggestions? Please leave a comment below, thank you for reading.
Ban all gathering of anyone of any nationality at any time. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone, no more strikes, riots or civil disobedience.
ReplyDeleteChoaniki, there is already a law in Singapore against illegal assembly without police permit, so this ban is already in action. The rioters obviously ignored the ban in the cause of vigilante justice.
DeleteSwift legal processes in courts cannot be considered "efficient" if they may lead to miscarriage of justice.
ReplyDeleteDuring the 2010 London riots, "defendants were remanded in custody on the basis of no evidence, with the judges... ignoring the safeguards of the Bail Act". some critics, including prosecutors, were "concerned that defendants who played a minor role were given disproportionately harsh sentences".
www.theguardian.com/law/2011/dec/22/england-riots-all-night-courts
The all-night court hearings could tire out judges and compromise their ability to weigh the facts at hand. Lawyers might have found it challenging to make good legal defences. As Julian Young put it in that Guardian article, the response of the courts was not robust efficiency, but one of "blind panic" from the judges and prosecutors.
It's not a perfect solution - and if they were to do it, then it should be done properly, but at least as a British citizen after the riot, it was important for me (and others) to see those who did riot to be brought to justice and put in jail swiftly. It was important for us to see them being punished and for justice to be served. Try to put yourself in my shoes for a moment and think what it would be like to live through a serious riot like that.
DeleteLiving through a riot brings you much inconvenience and the threat of being injured. The solution then is making arrests as swiftly as possible, not passing verdicts as quickly. This protects your right to live in a safe environment as those in custody cannot riot, without compromising the defendants' right to fair trial.
DeleteTo see why a swift legal judgment is a cause for concern, consider how you entered a building to urinate recently and were accused of trespassing even though you had no malicious intent. If you did that during the riots when judges and prosecutors were in "blind panic", they might presume you trespass with the intent of damaging property or helping other rioters to do so.
Yes, it is important for justice to be served, but this means that the innocent must not be punished as much as the rioters must be punished. If's difficult to serve justice if judges are hasty in passing verdicts and lawyers are tired from working all night during the 2010 riots.
Well Puppet, I do see your point - but allow me to correct you, I didn't enter that building in question, I merely took no more than 5 steps into the carpark of that building and got mistaken as a possible intruder/thief (and assaulted as a result of mistaken identity - thus I had to make a police report about being assaulted). But that was my whole point of my previous post here: http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/follow-up-to-assault-case.html
DeleteIt's bizarre that carparks are treated as private property even though there are no barriers preventing people from entering them - indeed, by nature of carparks, they are usually very accessible to allow cars and drivers access to them. Entering a building when you have no intention to be there is quite a different matter.
Nobody suggested that justice should be sacrificed for the purpose of "making an example of the rioters" - even the rioters have the right to a fair trial. But think about it, if you have already been arrested for a crime and are facing trial, that process of going to court shouldn't be dragged out any longer than necessary.
Think about my friend Alvin Tan (and Vivian Lee) currently facing trial in Malaysia - it's been dragged on and on and on for so many months now (that whole infamous Bak kut teh incident) and it's taking a toll on both of them. I feel really sorry for him and I know just how this is affecting him - there's a part of him that just wants to "get it over and done with" but he has no choice but to wait and wait and wait... What you are proposing (ie. letting the due process take months and months) isn't exactly comforting to someone in Alvin's shoes right now as these last few months have been terribly stressful to say the least.
Lastly, I don't think that it is fair to describe judges/prosecutors as acting in "blind panic" or even "hasty" or "tired from working all night" - aren't you simply defaulting to "let's assume the worst possible outcome to prove my point"? Sure there is a possibility that some things could go wrong, but did they? As long as the necessary checks and balances are in place to ensure that justice is never compromised, I think it is necessary to allow the system to be flexible enough to cope with extraordinary circumstances - rather than assuming the moment you try anything unusual/new, the whole thing will go badly wrong. Maybe I have too much faith in the system or you have too little faith in the system - but there you go.
The very fact that you could come up with ideas on how to help the situation exposes just how nobody in Singapore, in particular the employers of FWs and the govt, who are directly involved in bringing the FWs to our shores, believes they have an obligation and responsibility to provide for them in this way.
ReplyDeleteDirectly and indirectly, the govt and employers of FWs, have to be primarily responsible because without liberal immigration policies and demands of employers for FWs, there wouldn't have been the hundreds of thousands of FWs in our midst. It is arguable that ordinary Singaporeans also have a role to play but obviously in a very limited way as their contacts with FWs is limited, fleeting and largely incidental and only in public.
The unflattering fact is that the two major players - govt and employers - have hitherto been washing their hands off any obligations in respect of the teeming mass of FWs they have brought in outside of the work context. In truth, the lack of concern and thought from this angle speaks volumes about the low priorities these two directly responsible parties have for the rest and recreation needs of the FWs. If Singapore is 10 times bigger than it actually is, it should not be a problem to accommodate the rest and recreational needs of the FWs, but it isn't as evidenced by the throngs on weekends at Little India. So whatever may be the cause or causes for the riot, it is fair IMO to point the finger at the govt and employers for their mutual lack of interest, even neglect, in how the mass of FWs they have brought in to do their projects are going to recharge themselves in order to cope with the challenging physical labour most of them are doing. They are not machine, but perhaps the govt and employers thought they are - machine in human forms?
Thanks for your comment. Here's the thing that really disappoints me about Singaporeans (and many others from rich countries) - they get so self-obsessed with the little things in their lives they forget just how fortunate they are in the big scheme of things to be born in a place like Singapore. I look at the way my parents fuss over every minute detail of my nephew's homework as if it is a matter of life and death, and I'm like, are you serious - who gives a shit if he gets all the answers right? Have you been to some third world countries and see how the people live there and realize just how fortunate you are compared to them?
DeleteWith that in mind, these foreign workers are living in dire conditions, being paid peanuts and work such long hours - all I am asking for is a bit of compassion to treat and respect them as human beings - they are where they are because they happen to be born into a poor family in a third world country.
Agreed. Have always made it a point to be friendly and casual with the cleaners in the estate. Always been giving them ang pows during Lunar New Year, a few dollars each for the 4-6 usually Bangladeshi workers. My advice to residents who have the occasions to call upon the cleaners to shift heavy household items from their place is to give them some money for their trouble. The estate management said they are to do it foc but I never believed such chores should be in their job specs. Imagine the number of households doing spring cleaning in an estate, esp. when Christmas and LNY approaches. The point is to behave in a decent manner and not to exploit them.
DeleteTo say the least, govt and employers' attitude towards them up to now has been 'minimalist', as one blogger puts it. The PM has lately be publicly saying alot of things about improving the FWs' lot. Let's hope this time he is really putting his money where his mouth is. We know for a fact, that he and the party in govt has the propensity to say thing for effect at psychologically material moments such as now -the prime audience and concern at this point is none other the foreign media, and the politicians from labour source countries esp. those from India,to tide over the crisis and then conveniently go back on his words later. Singaporeans have a taste of those LHL 'promises' pre- and post-GE2011. His govt removed the plank once they have gotten over to the other side of the river. Many Singaporeans would no doubt want to settle the score with him and his party, at the next GE.
Good for you Gary.
DeleteAs for LHL/PAP and the elections, I'm not convinced sorry. Like many, I had high hopes in 2011 and was sorely disappointed with the results.
I'm not a gambling man, but I am willing to bet the farm that PAP would still be in power come post 2016. Partly due to gerrymandering and the other part due to baby boomer votes. We are decades away still from a shift in power.
DeleteI agree with you Choaniki.
DeleteThe PAP will still be in power, because of the gerrymandering via new population votes, re-drawing of constitutional boundaries, and above all, pressure placed on civil servants and certain trade and clan associations to support the PAP so as to further their business interests. In addition, the apathy of local Singaporeans will still remain, because there will still be people who question the opposition parties by asking what good they are. Mind you, Singapore has people like Xiaxue who lament that politics has divided the country (bwahahahahahah....till the cows come home...) and yet still support the PAP, so I guess that we do not need to kid ourselves with high hopes. The promise of change in Singapore is always an illusion after all.
DeleteHi LIFT, I work in the construction industry, and it is a common experience that workers are made to work till 5pm on Sundays.
ReplyDeleteIt is only after 5pm that they can return to their dormitories to bathe and change, and then head to Little India or other recreational areas. Sadly, this is the only time each week that they get some "time off".
As part of tackling this issue, we probably need to make it mandatory for all workers to be granted at least one day off each week.
This is first and foremost, from a rights perspective---being human like us, they too need rest and recreation. Hopefully this would translate into more overtime pay for them as well, but that is an issue for another day.
With a mandatory day off, places like Little India will become less crowded on Sunday nights. Workers can choose to arrive and depart at any time on Sunday, instead of only after 5pm. The peak period is thus attenuated. Also, with more time on their hands, workers could plan trips to other recreational places as well, further reducing the Sunday night congestion in Little India.
Of course, travel behaviour is complex, and the possibilities need to be studied in greater detail. Still, the idea is probably worth pushing for, if not for altruistic reasons---which have found slow success in Singapore---for pragmatic ones at least.
Thanks for your comment Harish. Gosh, I had no idea that they worked till 5pm on Sunday, good grief. I knew they worked hard but to get only Sunday evenings off - that's ridiculous man. You're right, they need to be guaranteed a day off, a whole day off for all of the reasons you have stated above.
DeleteIt has been mentioned in another online blog that this is an inevitable offshoot of the way foreign workers from Third World countries are treated in Singapore. Employers treat them like dirt by exploiting them at a very low cost, refusing them welfare and benefits (think of the way in PRC bus drivers were treated next to local Singaporean and Malaysian bus drivers, and you will know what I mean), and yet continuing to drive the whip harder at them. On the other hand, locals also want to pretend that these people do not exist in the name of xenophobia. Things cannot work out this way, and it is not sustainable long-term because this is a timed bomb waiting to explode. Until Singaporeans (employers and other citizens alike) start recognizing these people as valid humans equally deserving of dignity of treatment as much as the locals, this latent sentiment of displeasure amongst foreign workers will eventually boil over one day.
DeleteWell said Kev :)
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