Little India needs more shared spaces, not fences

Since the Little India riots in December of 2013, there have been efforts by the Government to ease the crowds of predominantly South Asian foreign workers gathering in the area during the weekends.

This includes more regulation of buses ferrying these workers along Race Course Road as well as the pedestrianisation of Campbell and Lembu Roads during weekends. The back lanes along some of Little India’s streets where foreign workers congregate have also been better illuminated.

However, the Member of Parliament for the area, Ms Denise Phua, feels the situation has reverted to the pre-Little India riot years, and had called for the “ring-fencing” of communal areas.

I empathise with the legitimate concerns of the residents who feel inconvenienced, and even at times intimidated by the crowds of mainly men at their doorsteps. At present, auxiliary police are deployed around the public housing estates in Little India during the weekends. But barricading off public spaces would be largely disruptive and counterproductive, even for the residents.

With more new residential and commercial properties being developed in Little India, public spaces that would have given the area and its residents and visitors the critical breathing space are shrinking.

During the Little India riot Commission of Inquiry hearings in 2014, a representative from the Urban Redevelopment Authority said there was a conscious effort by the Government not to sell state land in areas where foreign workers congregate during weekends. However, much as these informal spaces are actively used, the conditions are anything but dignified.

At present, only a small public park tucked away at the corner of Kitchener and Sturdee Road exists in this densely built-up area. And a parcel of land next to this park, which had served as another informal gathering space, has unfortunately been fenced up for development.

What Little India needs are more planned shared spaces such as proper public parks, roads dedicated to pedestrians as well as innovative set-ups such as multi-purpose temporary tentage during the weekends, which can serve a variety of social and recreational needs in a dignified manner, for all.

Taking down, not building fences, is what we should be aiming for in an inclusive Singapore.