• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

A flawed Bill that Parliament must not enact

by Andrew Loh
17/02/2014
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 6 mins read
0
Picture from AFP
Picture from AFP
Vincent Wijeysingha
The Ministry of Home Affairs has introduced another Public Order Bill, supposedly aimed at dealing pre-emptively with potential unrest in Little India. The move is being sold as necessary, in the aftermath of Singapore’s worst riot in 45 years. But a closer examination of the Bill raises disturbing questions.
In enacting this Bill, the government proposes to take drastic action against both Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans living within as well as passing through Little India. Measures include strip-searches for alcohol, raiding premises and vehicles without a warrant anywhere in Singapore, banning ‘suspicious’ persons from entering a designated ‘Special Zone’, consisting of most of Little India, for up to 30 days.
Police may also issue an on-the-spot ban for up to 24 hours without referring to their superiors. Several of the powers can also be exercised by the auxiliary police which employ many foreigners and who may not have the same professional standards or cultural sensitivity as our police force.
To carry out these tasks, the Bill grants the government immunity from prosecution and claims for damages in Clause 19(3):
No liability shall be incurred by the Government because of the enactment of this Act or for anything which is done or intended to be done in good faith and with reasonable care, in the exercise or purported exercise of any power, or the performance or purported performance of any function or duty, under this Act.
This means that regardless of how the police and auxiliary police treat an individual, they can never call the government to account or obtain damages should they be injured (since the Bill allows officers to use force to prevent entry to the Special Zone.)
Powers granted to the police and auxiliary police under this Bill are too broad. How does one determine when a strip search should be carried out? More alarming is the fact that such a power is given to auxiliary police who are nowhere near as highly trained as our police force.
The Bill prejudges the reasons for the riot. In reality, no one knows what triggered the violence on 8 December, and a Committee of Inquiry has just begun looking into the matter. But various Cabinet ministers appear to have already decided that alcohol is to blame. This makes a mockery of the Inquiry process and shows a disrespect to the Chairman, respected former judge, G. P. Selvam. Furthermore, the Bill prejudices the present criminal proceedings against the foreign workers charged for their alleged roles in the riot.
Other factors could have triggered the riot – auxiliary police sent to deal with the initial accident might have been poorly trained and ill-equipped to deal with a riot, particularly since they have not encountered one in the last half century. As the Home Affairs Ministry said in December, the Committee should “study the issue thoroughly, come to a fair and objective assessment, and submit their recommendations thereafter”. The Government must take its own advice.
There have been numerous riots over the centuries. Interestingly, all of them seem to have been precipitated by either heavy-handed police behaviour or by poverty-related issues. Riots have occurred in the US, Britain, France, Haiti and in South America, Africa, and South Asia. Indeed, even in August 2011 a riot broke out in London over an arbitrary arrest by the police.
Sociologists have coined the term ‘tipping-point phenomena’, described as a point in time when a large number of people rapidly and dramatically change their behavior by widely adopting a previously rare practice.
Writing in The Guardian on 19 August 2011, Stephen Reicher and Clifford Stott noted, “Riots generally occur when groups have a sense of illegitimacy about how they are treated by others and where they see collective confrontation as the only means of redressing the situation.” They go on to note that historian, E. P. Thompson, argued that “in a world where the powerless are generally invisible, the riot is a form of ‘collective bargaining’.” This results in the problems of the rioters becoming a “problem for the powerful and hence the powerful have been forced to take note of issues they had previously ignored.”
Reicher and Stott note that politicians in the UK following the August 2011 riots characterised the riot as mindless mayhem. They argue that, “If, however, you see the actions as a meaningful response to a shared sense of illegitimacy and lack of alternatives then you need to address the way in which this has arisen.”
The Woolf Report into the riot at Strangeways Prison in Manchester found prison conditions intolerable and prisoners’ concerns were ignored. Lord Woolf, a respected judge, recommended major reform to the prison system. The Guardian newspaper described his report as a blueprint for the restoration of “decency and justice into jails where conditions had become intolerable”.
The Scarman Report into the 1981 Brixton riots, also written by a respected judge in November 1981, found that the area in which the riot occurred were beset by serious social and economic problems. The whole of Britain was affected by a recession by 1981 but the local African-Caribbean community was suffering particularly high unemployment, poor housing, and a higher than average crime rate. Just before the riot, a house fire, suspected as being racially-motivated, had killed a number of black youths. The police investigation was criticised as inadequate.
According to the Scarman Report, the riots were a spontaneous outburst of built-up of resentment sparked by particular incidents. Lord Scarman stated that “complex political, social and economic factors” created a “disposition towards violent protest”. The Scarman Report highlighted problems of racial disadvantage and inner-city decline, warning that “urgent action” was needed to prevent racial disadvantage becoming, in his memorable phrasing, an “endemic, ineradicable disease threatening the very survival of our society.”
In the days following the 8 December riot, the Government took pains to emphasise that it was an isolated incident. This, despite calls from numerous quarters for authorities to examine whether poor treatment of migrant workers contributed to the outbreak of violence.
Little India has been peaceful for more than two months. There have been no further reports of unrest. If, as the government claims, the riot was an isolated incident, we can reasonably expect that peace will prevail, especially if the police and auxiliary police do their jobs properly. There is no need to inconvenience Singaporeans by subjecting them to more draconian laws.
Prior to the riot, alcohol had been available in Little India for decades. No major incident occurred as a result of drunken bad behaviour. The proposed Bill unfairly penalises business owners who have spent money obtaining liquor licenses. They were not involved in the riot but are being punished based on an unsubstantiated hunch.
The Bill is purportedly “temporary” for one year. Yet experience has shown us there are no guarantees it will not be extended. The Internal Security Act and Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act are also subject to regular parliamentary renewal. Given the haphazard way in which the Bill is being enacted and the alarmingly wide powers granted to the police and auxiliary police, all Singaporeans should be concerned, especially since both locals and foreigners can be dealt with under it.
If a single disturbance gives the government an excuse to enact bad law in one area, in all likelihood it can implement a similar Bill in other areas deemed problematic. Indeed it has done so in the past. In 2000, opposition politicians J. B. Jeyaretnam and Chee Soon Juan set up the Open Singapore Centre as a public policy think tank. Three months later, the government promptly enacted the Political Donations Act which even until today is used against legitimate non-political organisations such as Think Centre, The Online Citizen and Maruah.
Citizens should rightly be concerned about the Bill. It will receive its second reading in Parliament on Monday 17 February and unless postponed, it should be enacted then because no doubt Parliament will not want to be interrupted in the Budget Debate following the Budget Statement on Friday 21 February. Citizens who feel the Bill is an appropriate response to the Little India riot should consider whether they are content for yet more constraints on their civil liberties.

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.
Tags: Little Indiapublic order act

Related Posts

Did PAP MP Louis Ng obtain a police permit before holding a smiley face placard at a hawker centre?
Civil Society

Did PAP MP Louis Ng obtain a police permit before holding a smiley face placard at a hawker centre?

23/02/2021
LGBT

Lawrence Wong’s silence in relation to transgender student issue and DMA is deafening

01/02/2021
Police arrest three individuals involved in public assembly against anti-LGBT discrimination outside S’pore Ministry of Education
LGBT

Have the peaceful protests by students upset the balance between the right of individual expression and societal stability?

28/01/2021
Civil Society

FORUM-ASIA calls for S'pore authorities to end of judicial harassment of Jolovan Wham and repeal Public Order Act

29/05/2020
Activist Jolovan Wham jailed 22 days, fined $2,500 for three charges in relation to 2017 train protest
Civil Society

Police to investigate civil rights activist Jolovan Wham for allegedly violating Public Order Act

20/05/2020
Current Affairs

New Bill Detrimental to Healing Process?

20/02/2014
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

Adani Group releases 413-paged response against allegations of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

30/01/2023
Singapore warns slower economic growth in 2023

Less than 1 in 10 jobs created in first three quarters of 2022 went to Singaporeans?

28/01/2023
Peru Congress rejects president’s plan for early elections

Peru Congress rejects president’s plan for early elections

28/01/2023
UMNO purging members as it sacks former health minister Khairy and suspended ex-defence minister Hishammuddin

UMNO purging members as it sacks former health minister Khairy and suspended ex-defence minister Hishammuddin

28/01/2023
WHO panel in talks on COVID emergency status

WHO panel in talks on COVID emergency status

27/01/2023

Two years after Myanmar coup, UN says situation ‘catastrophic’

27/01/2023
Grab driver supposedly earned $5,227.82 in a week prior CNY, netizens voice worries over his health

Grab driver supposedly earned $5,227.82 in a week prior CNY, netizens voice worries over his health

27/01/2023
Philippines to appeal ICC resumption of drug war probe

ICC grants new inquiry into Manila’s deadly ‘war on drugs’

27/01/2023

Trending posts

Two Indian nationals paid about S$330 and S$730 respectively for forged certificates submitted in their S-Pass application

MOM found issuing EPs meant for foreign PMETs to PRC waitress and general worker

by Correspondent
26/01/2023
40

...

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

by Yee Loon
26/01/2023
24

...

Ho Ching breaks silence over Temasek’s write down of its US$275 million investment in FTX, says it “can afford to be contrarian”

US regulator questions VCs’ due diligence work prior to investing in FTX; Ho Ching says Temasek can afford to be contrarian

by The Online Citizen
24/01/2023
28

...

Indian rupee falls 60% since signing of CECA while Singapore becomes top investor in India

by Correspondent
25/01/2023
59

...

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

by The Online Citizen
26/01/2023
49

...

A flawed Bill that Parliament must not enact

by Andrew Loh
17/02/2014
0

...

February 2014
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
2425262728  
« Jan   Mar »
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
  • Contact Us

© 2006 - 2021 The Online Citizen

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2006 - 2021 The Online Citizen

wpDiscuz