DEC 12 — Singapore has always been known as a country with strict laws and good social order, but a bus accident last Sunday triggered a riot in Little India by foreign workers, shocking the country while attracting the concern of the international community.

It was the country’s worst outbreak of violence for 40 years. Foreign workers attacked police officers and members of the public, vandalised public property and even set alight police cars. They openly challenged the rule of law, shocking Singaporeans who have been living in peace for long, while sounding the alarm of potential crisis due to excessive number of foreign workers for Malaysia.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong described it as a violent, destructive and criminal behaviour of some mobsters and said he had ordered an inquiry into the riot to “look into the factors that led to the incident and how the incident was handled on the ground”. The Singapore government called it an “isolated incident” and asked the people not to react negatively towards foreign workers in Singapore.

To a very large extent, Singapore’s affluent economy and prosperous society are propped up by foreign workers. The substantial increase in the number of foreign workers has tested the trust and harmony between migrants and the locals. Like other developed economics, local people are less interested in many low-level jobs and thus, they need foreign workers to fill the vacancies. Infrastructure such as roads and high-rise buildings are built by foreign workers.

Foreign workers engaged in low-level work generally earn less salaries and have to work for long hours. However, we should not conclude that they deliberately create trouble due to unequal treatment. It is believed that the deeper reason is because they have long worked under repressive conditions and living environment, such as soaring prices of goods, have worsened their burden, and with the lack of a channel to vent their emotions, any incidents can be a tipping point.

The Little India riot is enough to remind the government and people of Singapore that the need of foreign workers who are living in the same society must be taken care of. Foreign workers usually live in an area and form their own community. This might lead to a hidden crisis and cause inconvenience to the locals. In general, local people seldom have contact with foreign workers, except if it is work-related. Of course, they do not understand each other and thus, misunderstanding steps in. In fact, some lower-middle-class Singaporeans have also complained that foreign workers have seized their job opportunities.

The Singapore government in fact knows the negative impacts that could be brought to the country and its society by long-term reliance on foreign workers. Like Malaysia, some business owners are not that willing to support the government’s policy of tightening up on foreign workers. Why should they insist on hiring the locals while hiring foreign workers can help them save labour cost?

Therefore, regardless of what strategy Singapore is going to take to relieve the socio-economic pressure of foreign workers, it will be a mirror for Malaysia. It is timely review policies on foreign workers and seek ways to improve the people’s competitiveness. — Sin Chew Daily

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.