Riot: This is not the Singapore Way

Police Commissioner Ng Joo Hee was really savvy. He gave the media the sound bites they couldn't refused but of course he was speaking as the top Police officer and not as a political leader.

The Singapore way is that the riot in Little India should not even have happened. The unhappiness of the strike by the bus captains should already have served as an early warning sign of what might be in store isn't it?

Look at this two video clips. They explained why the Police version of the Singapore Way worked last night.



About 20 seconds into the clip you could see a South Asian dissuading the others to stop whacking the bus. Not everyone and in fact enough of them were not crazy people. It was restrained rioting. Not everyone was unhappy but enough were.



About 38 seconds into the play you can see civil defense officers running away but no rioters chased them and tried to hurt them. That's why the Police showed so much restraint. They were matching the rioters but what caught our imagination is the burning of government vehicles. It is easy to assume that everything was a mess but the riots elsewhere were often more violent. No wonder there were no fatalities or serious injuries.

Police had done an excellent job but the PAP ministers had let the ball dropped and needed our Home Officers to shore them up. This government was either complacent or never understood what was brewing all along. Now following on the calls of many of us and some MPs, Lui Tuck Yew is likewise calling for the shops in the neighborhood to stop selling liquor.

Let this be a big learning experience for our leaders. We can repair the serious loss of reputation and our radars better attuned to similar risks in future.

We have been taking our foreign workers for granted and now they have sent a most unmistakable message. The guys I think we should really gun for are the bullying employers which like SMRT were the root of the problem.

Update: 9:05pm

Now we have a clearer if yet incomplete picture of what happened leading to the fatality of the Indian construction worker Sakthivel Kumaravelu.

Like others and myself have said before, they are often poorly treated and not respected. This is always the set up for bullying which of course do not happen to everyone but too many.

Note that the mob could have lynched the bus driver and attendant but didn't. They could also have easily overwhelmed the small police force forcing them to resort lethal response with their pistols which fortunately wasn't necessary.

Look, no businesses along that road as much as we could tell were looted. The focus of their attacks weren't even on Home Team officers but their physical assets, namely vehicles. Does this not look similar to some riots in China where the angry mob overturn and burn police vehicles. Are they angry with the government for failing to protect them, which my conjecture it had failed to restrain some employers and supervisors from bullying them? These guys are powerless with zero leverage. They don't even have their passports with them.

We must not just focus on what was done but also what wasn't which could have as seen in may other riotings all over the world.
















Update: Dec 11, 6:15am

Foreign workers helped our trapped officers escape. Good on them!