SINGAPORE — Congregation areas for foreign workers to socialise should be maintained, but these areas — which include Golden Mile Complex, Peninsula Plaza and Geylang — can be reduced in size and density by having more locations where services and amenities needed by workers are made available.

For example, more amenities should be made available at dormitories. In overcrowded areas where workers congregate, measures such as pedestrianising parts of the areas and constructing new buildings or shelters could be adopted to improve safety. There should also be simple amenities such as toilets, rubbish bins and sheltered walkways.

These were among the recommendations made by the Committee of Inquiry looking into the Little India riot in its report released yesterday.

Security measures in areas such as Little India have been enhanced with additional surveillance cameras and lighting, but the committee said general infrastructure should also be improved. “It would not be realistic to expect that workers from common cultures or countries would not find common spaces to meet, socialise, and run errands,” they said.

Such measures should be extended beyond Little India to other congregation areas as well, particularly Geylang, “whose terrain and challenges the (committee) found most similar to that of Little India”, they added.

The committee noted that the concentration of services in these areas made it easier for foreign workers to run errands and some had said goods were generally cheaper there.

As such, government agencies and foreign workers’ employers should work with dormitory operators to provide services such as remittance and phone card purchases. Dormitory-based provision shops, if reasonably priced, could also encourage workers to stay in their dorms rather than travelling to a congregation area.

Moulmein-Kallang GRC Member of Parliament Denise Phua — whose ward includes the Golden Mile Complex area — called for varying degrees of restrictions on alcohol consumption at public places, with the strictest measures within residential zones.

“Residents are not unaware of the need for foreign workers in Singapore to feed the high demand for faster, cheaper and better facilities, but (they) want to see a balance so that their need to have a peaceful, safe and clean living environment is also met,” she said.

“Other hot spots similarly need to be managed with caution, as large congregations with easy access to alcohol are potential riot spots.”

Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad noted that residents in his constituency, which houses some dormitories and construction sites, have highlighted some concerns regarding foreign workers. They were especially worried about their children’s safety, especially when going home late at night when workers congregate.

“I’m not against the spreading of congregation areas to the heartlands, but we must deal with how citizens will react. Preferably, we should find areas nearby or within the dormitories themselves that can house amenities for foreign workers to use,” he said.