2/25/2014

Little India riot – Snippets of COI

The details of the inquiry on the Little India riot are being reported fully in the media. The transparency index is as good as 100% with everything in the open. So far, other than the experts in the COI committee, the witnesses are also proving to be experts themselves. The two Certis Cisco officers are giving very good and expert views on the situation on that night and on how the riot could not have happened if the police were well trained to handle such a situation and acted swiftly to arrest the trouble makers before the situation worsen. This is a valuable piece of information that the police should take note of. Maybe the police should recruit them into the force to conduct lessons on riot control. These are officers who have lived experience in a real riot, something like soldiers with war experience, been there, very valuable people to have.
 

Another thing that surfaced from the expert opinions is that the foreign workers were really like little innocent children, very nice but very soft. And the woman bus attendant was like Hercules, rough handling them. And with a push these construction workers from very polite environment in the villages, would be sent flying. I am exaggerating here. It was reported that they fell down when pushed by the woman attendant. The bus operators must take note of this and hire gentler bus attendants to handle the construction workers with more tender loving care, like little children. It is just not nice and not proper to manhandle these men, oops, I mean children, or treat them roughly, like shouting at them or pushing them around. Maybe a male attendant would be more gentle and can do the job better than a strong woman.
 

Maybe it was the pushing and the rough handling by the woman bus attendant that made these very nice construction workers very angry and wanted to kill her and burn the bus, according to the expert eye witness at the scene who understood Tamil spoken by the rioters.
 

There are so many valuable information and lessons to be learnt from the evidence coming out from the COI.

20 comments:

WB said...

Isn't it ironic that the bus attendant was rough while our city's finest were soft and gentle and waiting at the sidelines for the (tougher?) SOC (comprising mostly of NSF) to arrive and bring the situation under control?

WTF! I concur 100% with the learned chairman of the COI that if those who should be tough had taken a no nonsense stand against the rioting "children" this fiasco would have been brought to a speedy conclusion with arrests made and the reputation of the Force would not have been somewhat "bruised".

There were more than a hundred armed policemen at the chaotic scene. NONE of them had the courage nor presence of mind to draw their revolvers and fire a warning shot which would have put paid to the brazen behaviour of the rioters who were tearing our reputation as an Island ruled by law into shreds.

Well, I guess the Standard Operating Procedure and Rules of Engagement in facing rioters and similar instances of group anarchy would be thoroughly reviewed and updated with the necessary improvements asap.

I would also humbly request that these two Certis Cisco constables be invited to sit amongst the DAC, ASPs in Group Think to trash out the details of the new SOP and ROE.

oldhorse42 said...

When I read the reports of the riot, it appeared to be an essentially an Indian affair.

The Deputy CP is an indian. So are the two certis officer, who may also be FTs.

The rioters are also indians.
The victims, the bus driver and the voluptous time keeper are chinese.

In the Geyland riot, the rioters were chinese or vitnamese. The policemen were chinese. Warning shot was fired. No public vehicle burn and no one got injured.

Anonymous said...

Anyone have any idea/reason why the CP is not facing the committee. Instead the Deputy had to take the stand??

Anonymous said...

In a multi racial society, maybe it is best to let the local Indians deal with the Little India riot and avoid being criticised for any biases. Don't forget an India envoy is here watching over the proceedings to ensure we don't run a kangaroo court against their citizens.

Anonymous said...

"Instead the Deputy had to take the stand??"
Anon 2:11 pm

That's one of the reasons why a deputy is needed.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the CP was on leave on the night of riot and his duties covered by the deputy to act as CP?

Just like the DPM will be an acting PM when PM is on leave?


Anonymous said...

"Maybe the CP was on leave on the night of riot...."
Anon 3:56 pm

The riot was on a Sunday night what.

Sunday on leave meh? Or is it CP also got weekend shift duties?

b said...

The riot started because sg gov are too soft with the foreign workers, allowing them to gather in huge number in several places in this small island whereas locals are subjected to all kinds of quotas.

Anonymous said...

“The officers showed weak situational awareness and exercised poor judgment,” Teo Chee Hean

This was said by the Home Affairs Minister in relation to the lapse at the Immigration Checkpoint when the Malaysian teacher drove straight into Singapore. I beleive the same could be said of the officers at the Little India Riot. Maybe this is endemic throughout the SPF!

The funny thing is that our PM and Ho Ching had tea and a chat with these officers and commended them :)

Anonymous said...

PM and his Misses were right to praise the Police and also the Army. These Uniform Men are after all the protectors of the Rulers.
Are they not?

Anonymous said...

More snippets of COI:

“What has happened is not acceptable,” Committee of Inquiry (COI) chairman, former judge GP Selvam, told Deputy Police Commissioner, T Raja Kumar, last Friday.

The COI focused particularly and extensively on the decision by the police for its officers on the ground – the first responders, in effect – to “hold the line” until the SOC arrived on the scene that night. Mr Selvam said that by doing so, they effectively left the actual scene of the rioting, and gave the rioters “a good protected area” and “full freedom to do what they wanted”, including destroying government property..

Mr Selvam described the decision to hold the line as “poor judgement, wrong decision.”

“A lot of things were wrong,” Mr Tee (former police commissioner) said. “Are you showing weakness and emboldened them? That could be the reason why they became more violent.”

Anonymous said...

More snippets of COI:

“What has happened is not acceptable,” Committee of Inquiry (COI) chairman, former judge GP Selvam, told Deputy Police Commissioner, T Raja Kumar, last Friday.

The COI focused particularly and extensively on the decision by the police for its officers on the ground – the first responders, in effect – to “hold the line” until the SOC arrived on the scene that night. Mr Selvam said that by doing so, they effectively left the actual scene of the rioting, and gave the rioters “a good protected area” and “full freedom to do what they wanted”, including destroying government property..

Mr Selvam described the decision to hold the line as “poor judgement, wrong decision.”

“A lot of things were wrong,” Mr Tee (former police commissioner) said. “Are you showing weakness and emboldened them? That could be the reason why they became more violent.”

Anonymous said...

A lot of people became very clever after the event when they have many days or months to ponder over the crisis in the comfort and safety of an office or the toilet.

Anonymous said...

Matilah Singapura could probably give better ideas on how the Authority should respond. Or how to contain riot.

Anonymous said...

/// A lot of people became very clever after the event when they have many days or months to ponder over the crisis ... ///


Just like PAP Ministers.
When they ask for constructive criticism.

agongkia said...

So you choose to believe what a kampong boy who only work on weekend at Little India say?
You think immediate arrest on the so call rioters at the scene can minimize the damage?You think he is better than our men in blue?
You agree that 80% of those FWs are drinkers?

Capable of speaking the same language but not able to calm the situation and claim police incompetency?
Please make full use of our brain.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Agongkia, who do you think?

Today the COI was told that the foreign workers felt that no one respects them. So, how should the govt show some respect to them before they start another riot?

I remember some sinkies suggesting building a monument to honour them. How about a golden statue in Little India? Or declare a foreign worker's day as a national holiday and invite them to all the CCs for a big party. Come to think of it a big party is a good idea since we are so rich and have so much money to spend and party is the best thing right? We are organising all kinds of parties all year round, another few parties to show respect to the foreign workers won't cost much.

Anonymous said...

Just have the impression that the auxiliary constables have better knowlegde than our police chiefs on how to handle riot.

What do you think ?

Anonymous said...

Selvam of COI recommended the police to carry lathi, a long wooden sticks, to control the rioters.

Cannot leh. These nice children, pushed by a woman also fell down, cannot use stick to whack them lah. Must sayang them a bit then they will not be naughty.

Anonymous said...

I don't think RB really meant the two cisco officers were smart. He was just taking a dig at them. Die also don't know how to write.

What the ASP had done was right given the unpredictability of the situation and the danger they were in.