Little India Riot and Worker Congregation

Mr Melvin Yong and I are the local Members of Parliaments taking care of the residents of Little India. We wish to speak on behalf of our residents to ensure that the Little India riot of December 2013 will not happen again. The riot being the worst public disorder in Singapore in more than 40 years.

We are thankful for the post-riot recommendations of the Committee of Inquiry (COI) regarding alcohol restrictions, beefing up of police operations and patrols and the decentralisation of crowds to recreation centres in the rest of Singapore.

Recently, I was at Little India with Home Affairs Minister Shanmugam and members of the Police Force. It was obvious that the pre-riot crowds have returned to Little India. Madam, congregations of such high density are walking time-bombs and public disorder incidents waiting to happen. It is important that we do not take our eyes off this matter lest we want history to repeat itself. I hence wish to ask for Minister's update of his plans in regard to this matter. I also ask for his favourable considerations of the following suggestions:

(1) Form a high-level multi-agency Task Force to mitigate the security and dis-amenity risks of high congestion of visitors to Little India;

(2) Ring-fence the Communal Areas of Residents such as the playgrounds and void decks so that the old and the young get to use the space meant for them;

(3) Continue with and do not stop resourcing the recommendations of the Committee of Inquiry viz-a-viz alcohol consumption restrictions and patrol teams;

(4) Decentralise further by building more recreation centres outside Little India; and

(5) Engage regularly through planned dialogues with all key stakeholders, the foreign workers, agents, businesses and residents.

The contributions of the foreign workers benefit our entire nation as they help build much of our nation's infrastructure. We need them and we accept that foreign workers like the rest of us, have social and leisure needs amongst other needs. The issue is not a Little India locality issue. It is a national issue that can only be solved by carefully balancing the needs of all stakeholders – the workers, the residents, the businesses and the rest of Singapore.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: Thank you for the oral responses from the Ministry. I like to ask the Minister two questions. First, thank you for walking the ground with us at Little India last month. My first question is for Minister to maybe share his thoughts about what he found at the last visit at Little India, if he thought anything needs to change or to be done further. My second supplementary clarification is on the Ministry's views on what criteria should be used for deciding the locations to allow operators of licences, such as pawnshops, moneylending businesses, sale of alcohol, cyber-game cafes and so forth. What are some of the criteria for MHA or Police to decide on where these businesses should be located? Should they be located at places, such as void decks and in estates, whether they are public or private housing, because these are actually where residents live day in day out and they are there for the longest time. And would the Ministry not agree that it is better for such places like void decks and communal spaces to have more wholesome community services, such as childcare, SSO or the Senior Activity Centres? I would like to hear some views from MHA on the location of businesses, such as moneylending, pawnshops and so forth, not just in Little India but also in places like Waterloo Centre.

Mr K Shanmugam: I thank the Member for those questions. On the second question first. MHA gets involved in specific contexts, for example, liquor shops, massage establishments, then the Police get involved and say this is allowed and this is not allowed. And you will see, generally, where massage establishments are allowed, liquor shops are allowed. As for the rest, it is not something that MHA deals with. HDB and MND deal with that. But, of course, some of the regulatory agencies have some supervision. For example, moneylending outlets, the Ministry of Law gets involved. Pawnshops, too. It is an assessment of need versus where is an appropriate place to allow. Usually, town centres, because there is a need for this. If you completely rule them out, then, you know, it just goes underground. But, housing estates, perhaps, if there are specific examples, you can let us know. But I would say, primarily, what is allowed and what is not allowed in housing estate void decks, is something that comes within the HDB's purview.

If I may go on to talk about Little India. We walked together. We spent, I think, close to three hours, maybe even more, and we chose a day when, specifically, it was expected to be crowded, the first Sunday of the month. The Police are doing everything they can to deal with the situation. But that does not necessarily mean that the entire situation cannot lead to another incident. We saw. What we are getting in a small area is a very large number of young men. We have very strict rules on consumption of liquor and where they can be, but we cannot prevent them from congregating in a variety of places as long as they do not have, say, liquor openly being helped. But every time you get these large congregations of young men, there is always a potential for some trouble. I think you would recall I told my officers to relook at it and whether there are any other solutions that we have to consider, including taking the matter up with the Committee that was set up, to try and see whether we can decentralise to the extent possible, provide facilities and amenities elsewhere. While it is a situation where the best answer I can give you is − as I told you on the ground − I can see that the Police Officers, the Auxiliary Police Officers, as well as the other uniformed personnel we have put without full Police powers, are doing a very good job. But, nevertheless, we cannot put our hand on our heart, given the numbers who are congregating, that something may not happen, and we have to see what else we need to do.