Tamil workers enjoying a day off at a field near Race Course Road on a typical Sunday. Not one of them consuming alcohol.
In the wake of last Sunday’s small riot on Race Course Road at the southeastern corner of Little India, the government imposed a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol in the district this weekend (14 and 15 December 2013). There is also a ban on private-hire buses ferrying migrant workers from dormitories to Little India.
The Straits Times reported that “Nobody is allowed to sell or consume alcohol in the roughly 1.1 sq km zone which has been declared a “proclaimed area” under the Public Order (Preservation) Act for the weekend.” (Straits Times, 13 Dec 2013, Alcohol ban will cover hundreds of businesses)
The ban will take effect at 6 am on Saturday, 14 December, and last till 5:59 am on Monday 16 December.
“The Land Transport Authority has also suspended 25 private bus services that ferry workers to the area on Sundays,” reported the Straits Times ( 14 Dec 2013, Dorm operators rustle up many weekend activities)
The rationale for this move that will affect a huge number of businesses, residents, tourists staying in hotels in the area, and day visitors to Little India was to “stabilise the situation”.
In a joint statement, the police, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Land Transport Authority (LTA) highlighted the need “to calm and stabilise the situation” following last Sunday night’s riot.
“This will also allow police to assess the next steps in consultation with the various stakeholders for a more permanent intervention to ensure that a repeat of last Sunday’s riot does not occur, and to restore the sense of safety and security for residents, shopkeepers, visitors and other stakeholders in the area,” it said.
— Straits Times, 13 Dec 2013, Alcohol ban will cover hundreds of businesses
Whether there will be a similar ban the next weekend is unknown at this point.
A typical scene at Bangla Square on a Sunday afternoon. Tens of thousands of foreign workers like to spend their free weekends in Little India with their friends who come from other worksites and dorms. The men in this picture are Bangladeshis. As Muslims they do not consume alcohol at all, yet the denial of transport to Little India will inconvenience them.
A few reporters have phoned TWC2 to ask what alternative activities we are organising for migrant workers this weekend. We told reporters that such a question is misguided in two ways:
1. It is not TWC2’s mission to organise activities for workers. Our mission is focussed on employment-related issues, particularly their right to fair treatment. TWC2 has never been a general-purpose organisation “looking after” migrant workers. In fact the assumption that there should be such a “looking after” organisation also betrays a mindset that infantilises migrant workers, the very kind of attitude TWC2 seeks to change.
2. Migrant workers are adults; they are breadwinners for their families back home. They have a right to go anywhere they want and to do anything that they please within the same boundaries of lawfulness as any other adult Singaporean. If they choose to flock to Orchard Road this weekend, so be it.