Parliament, Little India Bill: Public Order (Additional Temporary Measures) Bill (Pritam Singh) – 18 February 2014

For many years now, South Asian foreign workers, the same ones responsible for building our roads, schools and HDB flats congregate in Little India. They are ferried there in buses and after working six days a week, Sunday is the one day they come to Little India, repatriate money, consume familiar cuisine, meet with friends and sit in public areas in Little India discussing everything from their local politics, to the health and happiness of their families back home.

Little India has been a crowded place on weekends for many years now. Given the large numbers of such workers, the prospects of a minority of them drinking too much and congregating at HDB void decks in Little India is a reality. In fact, many Singaporeans avoid Little India on Sundays primarily because it is too crowded, and work their schedules around this fact, a behavioural state of affairs that mimics drivers who try their best to avoid Orchard Road on Saturday afternoons and weekends in general.

Unsurprisingly, and for many years now, residents in Little India have given feedback on a range of issue affecting foreign workers: the lack of portable public toilets for foreign workers on weekends causing them to relieve themselves indiscriminately at times; the lack of proper drop-off points in view of the large numbers of foreign workers ferried to the area; and the number of liquor licensees in the area. This is in addition to feedback asking the government to consider using the significant foreign worker levies it collects to be ploughed back into welfare-related concerns for foreign workers.

The Government certainly has a duty to take measures to prevent the recurrence of another riot, however it is difficult to understand the timing of this Bill especially since the reasons behind the riot have not been established by the Committee of Inquiry (COI), in addition to the fact that the Government has gone on record to state that there are a variety of opinions on the cause of the riot. In view of such ambiguity, a pre-emptive Bill that is clearly tailored to addressing alcohol-related concerns in a specific area only cannot represent a positive example of how laws ought to be made in Singapore.

The fact of the matter remains that as a society, we have had no sustained conversation amongst ourselves as Singaporeans, as to the reality of living with foreign workers where Singaporeans themselves already live cheek by jowl. Have their numbers grown too large for a small island to accommodate without us unwittingly impinging on their civil liberties, preferring them to be out of what we consider to be our space? Can our foreign workers really be expected only to be confined to their living quarters? This is a sustained conversation that needs to take place and unsurprisingly, educational initiatives to understand and respect the rights of our foreign workers who number almost a million, are not mainstream, even though foreign workers represent a very significant minority in Singapore.

In view of this, it would have been far more propitious of the Government to await for the findings of the COI to be presented before tabling the Bill, so a holistic legislation can be looked into how to accommodate the recreational rights of our foreign workers, not just in Little India, but throughout Singapore especially in areas where foreign workers congregate, along with the concerns of local residents. This would also have allowed for more time for the collection of public feedback, including in areas where alcohol-related businesses and residential areas sit close to one another.

In fact, about two weeks before the riot, the Minister of National Development went on Facebook to comment, “void decks in HDB towns have sometimes been abused by drinkers who go on to urinate in staircases and that this is a common complaint from residents.” This comment made on the back of the launch of a MHA public consultation exercise to review measures on liquor sale and consumption in public places which started on 25 November 2013.

Significantly, this MHA statement of 25 November 2013, while referring to the problem of alcohol sale and consumption, acknowledged that the issue was not unique to Little India. But this Bill before Parliament today targets Little India specifically and will operate in practice to curtail civil liberties of a specific community of foreign workers in an area frequented more than others by a specific community of Singaporeans.

The Bill itself grants a number of worrying powers to the authorities and in particular to Auxiliary Police Officers (APOs) who will have to make calls and decisions based on their judgement, on the basis of reasonableness, which is theory sounds fair, but which may not be so simply reduced on the ground.

Clauses 9,10 and 11 of the Bill give APOs the power to inspect people entering Little India including possible strip-searches, powers to require reasons for entry and powers to refuse anyone entry into Little India.

We can debate this Bill in Parliament and extend powers to APOs accordingly, but the practical workings of this Bill on the ground are not adequately addressed. The Minister for Law has correctly stated that South Asian foreign workers, like the rest of our foreign workers are generally a well-behaved group. However, there is concern that without the proper language, mediation and cultural training, APOs who may not be Singaporeans and who are contract officers — some of whom may not have the depth and quality of training of police officers — may be ill-equipped for the job.

Are there areas of concern that foreign workers may be shouted at on the ground or spoken to rather roughly to on grounds of reasonable suspicion? Bearing in mind that these are the very same officers that will be making active decisions on the ground on strip searches, deciding who enters Little India and have powers to turn people away from Little India, can the Minister, inform Parliament what training, in particular cultural training, APOs will undergo, lest APOs themselves unwittingly become a factor “that prejudices the recovery of the community”.

As this Bill has identified a specific area in Singapore, frequented by members of the South Asian community – be they local or foreign — it is practically inevitable that South Asians will be subject to these powers more than any other community. While powers to strip-search an individual do exist in the context of other laws, with this Bill, such powers will be exercised for an extended period, in an area of Singapore frequented by one ethnic community in particular. Could there be unintended consequences that encourage racial profiling in Singapore and is this a healthy law enforcement development in the context of a multi-racial society? Even though the Bill is only a temporary measure, a worrisome precedent would already have been set.

It has been publically stated by the Government that this Bill reduces the powers available to the authorities to manage the situation Little India today. If this is the case, then why the need for this Bill? Can the Minister further clarify what are the serious operational shortcomings on the ground that do not allow the Government to wait until the COI finalises its report? Does the Public Order (Preservation) Act (POPA) preclude the authorities from moderating the exercise of their powers?

The argument that this Bill scopes existing powers better comes into distinct relief with regards to clause 12 on powers of search and seizure, which give a police officer — on reasonable suspicion — the power to “stop, enter, search, remove and retain any vehicle, vessel or aircraft” not just in Little India, but anywhere in Singapore for the reasons spelt out in clauses 4, 8 and 13(11).

Another troublesome detail concerns clause 11 read with clause 13 on the special zone banning notice. The explanatory note to the Bill states that a lone demonstration in support of causes within Little India can also be subject to the banning notice. The drafters had not explicitly included this provision in the Bill proper except in open-ended terms, but subjecting civil society to the threat of a banning notice through the explanatory note, likewise does not correspond with narrowing the scope of existing laws.

It is difficult to understand the rush to introduce this Bill, which is directed at alcohol consumption by foreign workers in Little India, when the problem is not unique to Little India and the post-riot situation in Little India has been stable under existing legislation. The absence of period of public consultation on this Bill is also a glaring omission. In this Bill’s place, Singaporeans would have been better served by a piece legislation that addresses liquor sale and alcohol consumption throughout the island, and not just Little India. Mdm Speaker, I oppose the Bill.

NUS Young Guns Forum 2014: Citizens’ Consultative Committee

Dear friends,

Firstly, thank you to the NUS Students’ Political Association for the kind invitation.

I have been asked to speak on the topic – how has Singapore progressed as a nation and the direction Singapore should steer in the years ahead. From this main question, the organizing committee forwarded a list of sub-questions that I could speak in greater length on. These covered social media, political engagement, amongst others. I am going to speak on the topic of whether the quality of governance has improved with the emergence of a more active opposition.

But before doing so, I would like to suggest that governance occurs at two levels – at the national level and the local level. I am going to speak for the next nine minutes or so on the quality of governance at the local level, and I will be happy to take your questions on this subject thereafter.

Before I begin, can I ask all of you, how many of you know who is the Chairman of the Citizen’s Consultative Committee or the CCC of the constituency or ward where you stay in Singapore? Three hands (out of an audience of 150). Yi Da, that’s four. Mr Baey of course! That’s five.

Your answer does not surprise me. If I turn the clock back 15 years or so when I was an undergraduate, I would have responded similarly. In fact, I don’t know who my CCC Chairman is, even where I stay! Perhaps I should ask the question differently. Do you know what the CCC does? (Dr Paul Ananth Thambyah [in the audience] guesses they are involved in line-dancing!). Again, if I turned the clock back 15 years, and sitting in your shoes, I would equally clueless.

The CCC is the umbrella local grassroots organisation in any constituency in Singapore. Many sub-committees come under it – including merchant and hawker sub-committees, aging subcommittees, and so on. CCCs plan and lead grassroots activities in a constituency, they oversee community and welfare programmes and they also act as a feedback channel between the government and the people. Quite simply, CCCs were envisaged as a quasi-local government in action, with the CCC Chairman acting like a village head or penghulu in the kampung.

Today, the main role of the CCCs to organize programmes to support the People’s Association. CCCs support the government in nationwide campaigns such as dengue prevention, Clean & Green Week, Racial Harmony Month and Good Neighbour Day. They also organise community forums and administer welfare assistance. Members in the CCC are volunteers appointed by the CCC Chairman once every two years and the Chairman’s appointment has to be approved by the Grassroots Advisers who is a PAP MP. But the question I want to put out to the audience is this – are CCC volunteers just volunteers?

In 1992, the Straits Times published an article titled, “CCCs at the crossroads, where it was stated, “Several grassroots leaders and advisers say that when they organize activities for residents, they also hope to win political mileage for the MP, and by extension, for the PAP. In those days, opposition MP Mr Chiam See Tong accused the CCC of serving the PAP and not the people.

What happened was that the Potong Pasir CCC suspected that some of its CCC members were actually supporters of Mr Chiam’s party because they were seen at community functions organized by Mr Chiam. In response to this, the 1991 PAP candidate for Potong Pasir, Andy Gan was quoted as saying, “we will ask them to leave if they are opposition supporters.”

The same Straits Times article goes on to quote a then Bishan North CCC Adviser who stated that the CCC and the PAP are indirectly linked by people who are members of both. The same article went on to say that sometimes, the link is spelt out even more clearly, with one CCC Chairman stating that he expects his CCC members to join the PAP, and wants an explanation if they refuse. To this CCC Chairman, the CCC is (I quote), “a voluntary organization for the PAP”.

This article was dated 1992. There has been no real significant change to the role of and function of the CCCs in all the constituencies in Singapore, be they PAP or non-PAP. But I look back to the incidents that took place in Aljunied GRC in 2013.

The first one concerned the by now infamous hawker centre dispute at the Kaki Bukit ward of Aljunied GRC. In both cases, the role of the CCCs were clear. The individual who wrote to the TC on behalf of some Block 511 hawkers, served in Kaki Bukit ward as a PAP member for over 20 years and another, a former Chairman of the Block 538 Hawkers’ Association, was a member of the PAP and the CCC for Kaki Bukit. The second episode concerned the petition by some Hougang shopkeepers against the organization of trade fairs. The petition was driven by the Chairman of the Bedok Reservoir-Punggol Shops Sub-Committee under the CCC once more.

When Town Councils were first set up in Singapore in the 1980s, then DPM Goh Chok Tong explained the politicisation of the Town Councils as giving MPs increased authority and responsibility as a result of which, voters would be more likely to vote “carefully and sincerely” and choose honest and effective MPs. But the reality at the local level is that there are grassroots organisations which can also be politically motivated to lower the standing of the local MPs.

It is my contention that in the years to come, the Government should steer the nation in a different direction insofar as local governance is concerned.

The problem with the existing system of People’s Association managed outfits like CCCs is that its fundamental purpose is to perpetuate a one-party state.

With a greater plurality of voices making themselves heard in Singapore, our local organisations should evolve in tandem with the democratic norms of a society where every voice has an equal right to be heard. Your local representatives, be they CCC Chairmen or RC Chairmen should be residents and ought to be elected by residents, and not appointed by the Grassroots Adviser. Local elections would determine what issues truly affect the people to bring these up to the elected MP.

A forum that brings the elected MP together with local leaders and representatives should be the platform through which municipal issues are discussed and addressed. The Government of the day should work with these locally elected leaders on national level issues such as dengue campaigns, blood donation days, emergency preparedness days, inter-racial confidence circles, etc. all of which currently come under the People’s Association. Political activities such as block visits by the MP or political candidates during elections should solely the purview of political parties and not local grassroots organisations.

At NTU’s annual ministerial seminar yesterday, Prime Minister Lee remarked that young people should take ownership of the country and lead it to greater heights. He also said that young people are not thinking of becoming billionaires but to change the world for the better, although not necessarily knowing what that change ought to look like. In the Singapore case, I say we can start by looking closely at the institutions which determine the contours of local governance that focuses on a better Singapore, so that we can create a more inclusive society, where the underlying philosophy of governance is not about power and the perpetuation of one-party rule, but about democratic norms and a mature democracy where the political choices of Singaporeans are respected by the Government.

Thank you.

Useful links

1. According to the Central Intellgence Agency’s World Factbook, the People’s Association had its origins as a national building programme ‘designed to wean pro-Communist voters away from the opposition’. Besides serving as a communication channel between the government and ruling party at the top and the people below – making way for a more responsive government – it was also intended for the PA to blur the boundaries between the government and the party, such that ‘the people tended to praise the party for activities undertaken by the government.

2. http://www.singapolitics.sg/news/four-highlights-young-guns-forum