Riots in Singapore 2013.

1. The Little India
Riot, Singapore,
2013
By;
Chin Yen
Yee
Khairunnis

5.  Singapore has always adopted an “open-door” policy, welcoming
talented, highly qualified and highly skilled foreigners to work and
live in Singapore.
 Over the years, increasing affluence of Singaporeans has resulted
in acute manpower shortages in certain sectors of the economy, as
they reject jobs
- considered to be dirty
- of low status
- requiring shift work
- which pay poorly
 Thus, in the last 2 decades, semi-skilled and even unskilled
foreigners have been recruited to fill these job vacancies.

6. Foreigners who wish to take up employment
or do business in Singapore must have a
valid Work Pass.
There are 3 types of Work Passes:
- Employment Pass
- S-Pass
- Work Permit

7. Employment Pass
 A foreigner holding acceptable degrees, professional
qualifications or specialist skills and is offered a
professional, administrative, executive or managerial
position with a monthly basic salary of above S$2,500 can
apply for an Employment Pass.
 A P1 Pass will be issued if the applicant‟s monthly basic
salary is more than S$7,000.
 A P2 Pass will be issued if the applicant‟s monthly basic
salary is more than S$3,500 and up to S$7,000.
 A Q1 Pass will be issued if the applicant‟s monthly basic
salary is more than S$2,500. The EntrePass is an Employment Pass for a foreigner
who is ready to start a new company or business in
Singapore.

8. S Pass
 This category is created to increase the flexibility
and responsiveness of the foreign manpower
framework to meet the needs of the industries for
skilled manpower at the middle level.
 Examples of middle level skilled manpower are
specialized workers and technicians.
 S Pass is issued to a foreigner who is offered a
job with a monthly basic salary of S$1,800.
 Assessment of eligibility is on a point system –
based on a multiple of criteria, such as salary,
educational qualifications, skills, job type and
work experience.

9. Work Permit
 Unskilled or semi-skilled foreigners who wish to
work in Singapore must apply for Work Permits in
accordance with the Employment of Foreign
Workers Act. Work Permits are generally issued to foreigners
with monthly basic salaries of not more than
S$1,800.
 The non-construction sector comprises the
service, manufacturing, town council conservancy
services, grass-cutting services and marine
sectors.
 They are issued according to industrial sectors
such as the construction, non-construction and
domestic sectors.

10.  Foreigners who take up employment or do business in Singapore must
have valid Work Passes.
 Their stay in Singapore is governed by the Employment of Foreign
Workers Act (Chapter 91A) and the Immigration Act (Chapter 133).
 Under the Employment of Foreign Workers Act, employers can be
charged for illegally employing or illegally deploying a foreign worker
 Under the Employment of Foreign Workers Act, a foreigner who is found
guilty of being in the employment of an employer without a valid Work
Pass shall be liable on conviction to:
(a) a fine not exceeding S$5,000; or
(b) imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months; or
(c) both.

11. Rioting
• Caning and imprisonment of up to 5
years.
• Caning and imprisonment of up to 7
years if weapons are used.

12. Factors Influencing Riots
• A complex cobweb of factors rooting from the
government resulted in the riot.
• The whole situation served as a medium to
the workers to vent out their anger and long
suppressed emotions.
• A bus driver knocked down a civilian and
friends of the victim got angry and eventually
a riot started comprising of over 400 people.
• To start, the blue collar workers from China,
India and Bangladesh are living in a pitiful
sight.
• The govt and the employers of these workers
are exploiting them through cheap labour and
poor working and living conditions.

13. • They constitute over a third of the total labour force but
yet aren‟t seen as the part of a wider community.
• They are not included in the national consciousness.
• Liberal labour policies make it difficult for the MOM to
keep track of the workers and their employers.
• Employers easily take advantage of these workers as
they are in a new environment, less educated and can
be threatened and cheated on easily.
• The frustration comes up from the high expenses of
living in Singapore and their less wages which leaves
very less money for them to send back home.
• Their visas impose very strict limitations on their freedom
and they are grossly underpaid by their employers
despite of working hard endlessly.
• No form of minimum wage exists is Singapore.
• Anger builds up in the people due to the injustice they

14. • Rioters believe in “Strength through Unity”.
• The „Xenophobic‟ behaviour of the Singaporeans
added to their frustration for long.
• Twitter showed that the workers are seen as
outsiders and they should be grateful for being
in Singapore.
• In fact, a large no. Of Singaporeans have never
heard the voices of those who clean the city‟s
drains.
• Low fertility rate causes a gap in the labour
industry.
• Wages have not been increased much in the last
decade whereas the expenses have increased
manifolds which leads to the low fertility rate.

15. • The Singaporeans fail to understand that the
cause of problems are not the foreigners but the
policies.
• Foreign workers have been doing most of the
dirty and difficult jobs of Singapore and yet go
unnoticed.
• Restructured labour laws could have prevented
jobs being taken away from the Singaporeans .
• A better education system will also serve in
protecting the interests of the Singaporeans .
• A local NGO (TWC2) has been working since
long to raise the profile of these migrant workers.
• The NGO‟s website features many stories of
foreign workers who suffered at the hands of

17. Psychological Effect:
ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION
• Assuming that alcohol was a major contributing factor to
the riots, a ban was imposed on public alcohol
consumption in Little India
• The ban prohibits sale of alcohol on public holidays and
beyond the timings of 6am-8pm for the 6 month duration
• Researchers have tried to explain theories of drug
consumption and the risky behaviours shown by the
consumers
• Alcohol disrupts the mental balance, affects thoughts,
feelings and actions and sometimes even long term
mental health
• A drink can help people in feeling more confident and
less anxious but as the consumption increases, adverse
effects start showing up
• High level of alcohol intake may even result in a negative

18. Psychological Effect: ANGER
MANAGEMENT• Recent figures showed more than 240,000 work permit
holders are present in Singapore construction industry from
Bangladesh, India and China
• The workers work for ungodly hours and some even face
while collecting their small wages
• They are made to live and work in very poor conditions
• The workers were expected to support their families
monetarily and educate their kids well but their small wages
leave them with nothing but frustration
• The living expenses in Singapore are already very high and
the low wages of the workers are not enough to support even
them, let alone their families
• In frustration, the human body releases various stress
hormones which result in increased blood pressure,
breathing rate and heart rate

19. Group Aggression
• Goldstein (2002)
– Mob, a group of people acts illegally and
violently under strong emotional conditions
– De-individuation, losing one‟s sense of
individuality or separateness from others and
becoming submerged in a group
– Alcohol intoxication, act overconfidently and
carelessly, lose awareness of their surroundings
or react violently to people they perceive as
offensive
Source:
http://ke
vinmills
martialar
tsexpert.
com/tag
/group-
aggressi
on/

20. Public Fears
• Foreign workers
–employment opportunities
–the stereotype from others
–Foreign workers + alcohol = Trouble
Makers ?
• Singaporeans
–safety image
–Little India is unsafe

21. The Cost
• Physical Injury Cost
– 9 polices, 4 civil defenses and auxiliary officers were
injured
• Properties Damage
– Twenty-five emergency vehicles were damaged
– $14,000
• Financial Cost
– 134 stores, such as liquor shop and convenience
stores, restaurants, hotels, pubs and coffee shops
– Ferry service in Little India ($42,000 previously)
– half the number of scheduled buses and stop
operating two hours earlier than previously

23. • Murphy (2002) - the riot : 1964
• Race riots between Chinese group and Malay groups.
• Located at the Padang, Singapore.
• 212 Muslim organizations in the rally.
• Reports: 23 people were killed 454 people were injured
• The race riot in 1964 last for 11 days
• The Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister: Tun Abdul Razak
blamed the ethnic group of Indonesian and Communist
(Murphy, 2002).
• Other contributing factor: PAP, Singapore and UMNO, Malaysia;
relations were extremely strained.
• The aftermath: serious level of racial tension.
• The fear of more riots / violence; expelling Singapore from the
Federation of Malaysia in 1965.
• Arrests made under the influence of Internal Security Acts
(ISA).

24. Future Preventions
• Increase awareness
• Target group
– Foreign workers
• Crowd control
– understand the reason of the gathering
– presentation of police
– any suspicious event occurs should be identified
immediately and remove as soon as possible