A child is making noise in a nursery. The teacher gives a time-out to the child and asks him or her to stand in a corner.

Replace “child” with “foreign worker,” “nursery” with “dormitory,” “corner” with “cooling room” and “teacher” with “dormitory operator”.

You will get a good idea of the patronising way foreigners are being treated vis-à-vis the proposed liquor control laws, the proposed foreign employee dormitories law and the current labour conditions.

Finding out that foreign-worker dormitories are to be defined as public areas in the proposed liquor control regulations made me upset.*

What made me absolutely livid was that foreign-workers are already housed in gated compounds whose security serves, not to keep watch of those outside to protect those inside, but to keep watch of those inside to protect those outside i.e. Singaporeans.

As former Straits Times editor Bertha Henson rightfully asked about the foreign workers dormitories: “Do we need the law to enter into such private spaces? Or are we saying that foreign workers have no right to privacy at all?"  The new laws and current labour conditions seem to make a truly grotesque couple.

Saying goodbye to the charm at Read Bridge

Source

Like many Singaporeans, I was taken aback by the new alcohol regulations. In fact, 78 per cent of the Straits Times readers disagreed with the proposed bill.

Personally, I felt 10.30pm was too early a time to restrict purchase of alcohol from retailers and the banning of public drinking to be overzealous.

Naturally, areas like Clarke Quay will lose some of its charm. I quite like Read Bridge. Though I hardly ever visit that area, or Clarke Quay in general, anymore, the sight of people sitting, drinking and having a good time by the river will be missed.

Segregation

However, the people who are going to be the most affected by the new alcohol restrictions are the foreign workers.

While the people at the bridge are usually boozing to later head to the clubs and bars to drink some more, foreign workers do not have the means to drink at such establishments.

Indeed, the Ministry of Home Affairs had clarified in The Straits Times that beer gardens and drink stalls in dormitories can continue to sell alcohol based on the timing stated in their liquor licences (beyond 10.30pm for some stalls).

But the foreign workers now have precious few places to go since they are restricted from drinking in public and in peace within certain areas of their dormitories.

In any case, the foreign workers seem to have little choice but to make do with their isolated existence.

A Dark Cloud

The Little India Riot looms like a dark cloud over the liquor control laws. Even if the laws have been pondered over long before that fateful day, it is now impossible to evaluate one in isolation from the other.

Last year, activist Vincent Wijeysingha took the stand at the Little India Riot inquiry and warned the authorities about the negative effects of segregating a community.

It is a pity that the government has ignored this call.

*Editor's note - Dormitories are defined as public places for the sole purpose of dealing with person who is found drunk and incapable of taking care of himself.The Foreign Employee Dormitory Bill defines dormitory as a public place for the purpose of section 18 of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act.

Top photo from Clarke Quay Facebook page. 

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