Little India riot: The dog that did not bark

• Main Author: EUGENE, Tan K. B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2013
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Defense and Security Studies; Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3753; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5711/viewcontent/today_20131231_2.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law and NMP Eugene Tan said that in the aftermath of the Little India riots, the focus and dominant narrative had been on law and order issues, with the Government emphasising that it was a spontaneous "one-off" event. He said that there was a need to consider if Singapore was prepared to shoulder more of the costs of having a large foreign labour force. However, he also noted that an immediate cutback of the workforce size would be simplistic and is not the solution, as reducing reliance on foreign workers could not be achieved without significant impact to Singaporeans' lives. He added that Singapore could not continue reaping the benefits of an open immigration regime while not shouldering the costs that came with it, and the trade-offs had to be borne by the Government, employers, Singaporeans, and the foreign workers themselves.