Little India riot: Committee of Inquiry report

SINGAPORE — The Committee of Inquiry (COI) looking into last year’s riot at Little India today (June 30) released its findings. Here is a summary of the report:

PRIMARY CAUSE OF THE RIOT:

• Traffic accident involving Indian national Sakthivel Kumaravelu, who was run over and killed by a private bus. “The primary or triggering cause of the riot was the occurrence of the fatal accident. A confluence of other contributory factors fuelled its escalation.”

FINDINGS ON CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS:

• Misperceptions about the accident and response. “It is natural that the crowd would have blamed Mr Lee (the bus driver) for the accident, and they could have been aggravated by the misperception that the officers intended to protect Mr Lee and Ms Wong (the timekeeper) by escorting them from the bus, rather than arresting them.”

• Certain cultural and psychological elements present in the crowd. “The COI heard evidence from experienced psychologists and other witnesses that the rioters could have a desire for “street justice”, or even a counter-culture of heroism in disobeying law enforcers.”

• Consumption of alcohol by some members of the crowd. “Alcohol intoxication, which can lead to increased aggression when combined with frustration and overreactions to perceived threats or injustice, was a major contributory factor to the nature and escalation of the riot.”

• Foreign workers’ dissatisfaction not an underlying cause. “Based on the evidence gathered, the COI does not think that the riot was a result of dissatisfaction among foreign workers with their employment and living conditions in Singapore… The COI’s finding is that labour issues were not involved either proximately or remotely.”

• No racial conflict. “Attempts to frame (the riot) as a racial issue are completely unfounded when compared against the facts. Racial or ethnic issues did not arise from any of the evidence tendered or discussions the COI had with a spectrum of witnesses.”

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Improve police’s communications, command and control capabilities.

2. Train and equip frontline officers to effectively defuse and contain large-scale public order incidents.

3. Increase police’s manpower resources, including the Special Operations Command

4. Continue to build ability of police and civil defence force to respond in a concerted and co-ordinated manner to public order situations

5. Police to look into cutting layers of approval or time needed to activate essential resources to respond to public order incidents and other emergencies.

6. Install additional lighting, safety and surveillance devices in areas where foreign workers congregate, on top of making better basic facilities available.

7. Work with community stakeholders to reduce congestion at congregation areas. Make more services and amenities available to foreign workers outside of these areas

8. Strict enforcement against public drunkenness and set in place alcohol restrictions in hotspots