Cut bureaucratic layers, increase police manpower: Little India COI recommends
Cut time needed to activate essential resources when responding to public order incidents and increase the Singapore Police Force’s manpower.
Those were among the eight recommendations made by the Committee of Inquiry in its report released on Monday on the Little India riot in December last year that was the worst incident of public unrest in Singapore in 40 years.
The committee also recommended stricter enforcement against public drunkenness and the placing of alcohol restrictions in hotspots.
The COI found that the riot was triggered by a fatal accident involving a foreign worker and by a confluence of factors, including alcohol.
The riot that shook Singapore involved 400 people and came soon after a bus accident in the Little India district that led to the death of a 33-year-old foreign worker named Sakthivel Kumaravelu.
Other recommendation of the COI include:
• Improve the Singapore Police Force’s communication, command and control capabilities to help build a better picture of the ground situation.
• Appropriately train and equip frontline officers to effectively defuse and contain large-scale public order incidents.
• Continue to build on SPF and Singapore Civil Defence Force’s ability to respond in a concerted and coordinated manner to public order situations.
• Install additional lighting, safety and surveillance devices in areas with large congregation.
• Create more services and amenities for foreign workers outside of congregation areas and work with local community stakeholders to reduce congregation.
The COI report was submitted to Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is also Home Affairs Minister.
Teo is currently studying the report and will give his ministerial statement on it in Parliament on 7 July.
