By Leong Sze Hian
I refer to the article “Little India Riot: Repatriation of 53 workers under way” (Straits Times, Dec 20).
It states that “The actions of the 53 workers during the riot ranged from obstructing the police to failing to obey police orders to disperse, police investigations showed.
They were deemed to have posed a threat to the safety and security of Singapore – conditions that allow the authorities to deport and ban them from entering the country again under laws such as the Immigration Act.
On Wednesday, civil society group Workfair Singapore said it had appealed to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants over what it called the “arbitrary deportation” of the 53 workers.
Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs K. Shanmugam had said earlier that if such cases went to court and the repatriation decision became judicial rather than administrative, then “every foreigner is entitled to stay here at taxpayers’ expense, housed here at taxpayers’ expense”, with cases possibly taking a year to conclude.
He added that under the Immigration Act, the Government could ask an individual to leave once it has been determined that he acted contrary to Singapore’s interests or acted in a manner prejudicial to public security or safety.
Apart from the 53 being sent home, 200 will be given advisories to obey the law and will be allowed to remain and work in Singapore. A third group of 28 have been charged with rioting and are in remand. They are expected back in court on Monday.”
In the interest of learning from the experience, facilitating the work of the Committee of Inquiry, and protecting Singapore’s international reputation and standing, perhaps we could ask the following questions and try to find out more about the following statistics:
- In the case of the bus drivers’ strike, how long did it take for the court trial to be completed?
- Who provided for their housing, food and other expenses whilst they were waiting for the trial to be completed?
- What was the cost of providing for their upkeep?
- How much would it cost taxpayers to house each accused worker during a trial?
- Who paid for their legal representation costs and how much was it?
- Were they tried together or separately?
- How much foreign worker levies are collected in a year?
- What do other developed countries do in such a situation?
- What is the role and powers of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants?
