After the flames in Little India: Alcohol

After the flames in Little India: Alcohol

The role alcohol played in causing the riot was a major point of contention throughout the proceedings.

A day after the riot, there was an immediate ban on alcohol sale, supply and consumption in Little India.

KEY PEOPLE

Commissioner of Police Ng Joo Hee, Tekka Residents' Committee (RC) chairman Martin Pereira, human rights group Maruah president Braema Mathi, Workfair Singapore activist Vincent Wijeysingha

KEY POINT: ALCOHOL THE CAUSE?

Several residents and police witnesses testified that alcohol was a major factor in the riot. Beer bottles were the most common projectiles and video footage showed the rioters walking unsteadily.

Said Mr Ng: "Inebriation was the norm among the rioters that night...(alcohol) fuelled the violence."

The Central Narcotics Bureau lead investigator into the riot, Mr Adam Fashe Huddin, also concluded that alcohol was the main contributory factor in leading the riot to escalate, despite not having direct evidence to prove it.

Mr Wijeysingha, who represented civil society volunteer group Workfair Singapore, said there has been an "eagerness" by the Government to pin the cause of the riot on alcohol.

Ms Mathi said there was little evidence showing that alcohol was the cause: "It was, in our opinion, too fast, too quick, to quickly put it as all into alcohol."

Inquiry chairman G. Pannir Selvam said: "We wouldn't go and buy the theory that alcohol was the sole factor because there was a method in the madness of the rioters because they didn't go and damage property indiscriminately - they had a focus."

"You can't just go and say alcohol is the problem, and therefore ban it," he added.

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KEY POINT: EFFECT ON LITTLE INDIA

Even before the riot, alcohol was a big problem in Little India, said Mr Pereira.

He said foreign workers were often seen at void decks or playgrounds of residential areas drinking. They also often fought among themselves while intoxicated.

Several residents and shopkeepers said there was an increase in drunk workers in Little India.

They attributed it to the increasing number of alcohol retailers there.

Bus timekeeper Wong Geck Woon, said: "Nowadays, almost every shop sells liquor - even those selling vegetables and groceries."

This was denied by the police chief, who said the issuance of liquor licences has been stable over the last five years. It was also not the place with the highest concentration of liquor shops in Singapore.

Said Mr Ng: "It is certainly not the case that a recent, large and deliberate loosening of alcohol sales in the area precipitated the violence witnessed on the night of Dec 8."

FLASHPOINT

Mr Pereira said: "For the people staying there, it's a real problem, it's a real issue.

"How would you feel if you were staying in your estate and you can't go down on the weekend, or your wife goes down to the market and she has to cross over somebody who is lying flat, maybe in a drunken stupor?

"Or how would you feel if you had kids, small children and they go down to the playground and you see men there gathering having a drink?"


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