Time to say a few good words for the men in blue

Never in any country had the police run away from rioters without hitting back. Never in a riot that the only people injured or got beaten up were the policemen. What happened in Little India is uniquely Singapore.
 
Over the years, with a more educated and well disciplined people that are law abiding, the law enforcers too have gradually adopted a new doctrine that is more people friendly. The police and the people are the same people of the country. And this fact is made more pertinent by the number of NS men in the force. The men in blue and the people do not see each other as the opposite and people felt very comfortable with the men in blue, often making themselves a nuisance in police posts and burdening the police with their silly idiosyncracies.
 
When the traffic accident happened, the police and civil defence officers rushed to the ground to render help and first aid. Never would they imagine that they would be set upon by a mob and became victims themselves. The attack must have shocked the officers who could not know how to react except to run for safety. They forgot that their role was to keep peace and control the rowdy crowd. I would not claim that officers were complacent. It was just out of the normal.
 
When the police cars and ambulance were overturned and torched, they were more in awe of the events exploding in front of them. Most of the young officers would not have seen such violence in their life time. Everything had been peaceful in Little India. It was only a traffic accident. How come like that?
 
There were no thoughts of retaliation, to whack the rioters. This in a way helped not to escalate the rioting, or it could encourage the mobs to be more brazen, depending on how one looked at it. The aftermath is that no one can accuse the men in blue of police brutality. If there was, it was mob brutality against the policemen.
 
When reinforcement finally came, the officers went in only with one purpose, to arrest the rioters. The baton was never used. In one video clip that was circulating, the officers were just escorting the rioters to the police van. The pedestrian spectators were more worried for the policemen than them. The rioters could run or turn violent. And many of the spectators were shouting to the men in blue to cuff the rioters. The policemen were so civil to disbelief. They were treating the rioters just like any other Singaporeans, friendly and without any sense of anger. In most countries, the rioters in the hands of the police or in the process of arresting them would be rewarded with several whacks of the baton to let them know the heavy hand of the law.
 
Not in Singapore, not our men in blue. Fortunately this was a small version of a full scale riot. Our men could be in bokok or in the emergency wards if the situation blossomed into a pandemonium. Actually it was just like the exercises the men in blue held as part of their training. No undue force needed or applied.
 
The proof of the civility of our men in blue was a total absence of wild accusations against them, that the rioters were brutally bashed up. The home policemen of these rioters would have had a whale of a time teaching the rioters who was the boss.
It was a happy ending for both parties though the men in blue took all the blows and all the injuries, including the embarrassing torching of their vehicles and ambulances. The last figure tossing around was 16 vehicles. Ouch, quite some money to be burnt and really pai seh.
 
Now what? The police really need to revise their doctrines in handling a mob, especially a foreign one when rioting is normal in their country. And the police must know that they would get violent and could maim and kill. The police need to indoctrinate into their officers that this is not wayang kulit. This is the real stuff and they need to be more exertive and even teach the rioters with their brand of violence to keep them in check. Rioters only know the language of force. They used force to intimidate and to achieve their goals. A civilized and nice nice police force is going to look not very nice at the end of a riot in the truest sense.
 
Let’s be prepared in case more violence came their way. The men in blue cannot be too nice to a mob or they could get themselves killed. And they were able to escort the bus driver and his female attendant to safety but not before they were bashed by the rioters. At least they got out of it alive. There was bravery and the commitment to protect and save lives. Kudos to the men in blue. This called for a medal for the few brave guys. It was so lucky none of them ended in black plastic bags.
 
PS. I read in the main media this morning that some rioters are accusing the men in blue of violence during custody. Now there is a big investigation going on and the police deputy commissioner has said that if the allegation is false, the accusers will see justice in return. This is like a murderer accusing the authority of violation of human rights when his back is whipped. The rioters cannot be expecting to be escorted around by pretty nurses do they?