The last of the fires have been put out, the hurt are safely in the hospitals, perpetrators have been rounded up, and the authorities have vowed to hunt down more of those responsible for causing the riots.

With all that’s said and done, the next question is how Singaporeans will react and move on from this significant episode?

Being angry and scared that our security has been compromised is a valid reaction. However, how you react after being scared or angry is equally important.

The riots brought out the ugly side of not only the rioters, but also many Singaporeans who made xenophobic remarks online, which did not help the situation one bit. Other self-entitled Singaporeans moaned on social media about how the police did not handle the riot as effectively as they had liked, while others pinned the blame on the government for bringing in too many foreign workers.

But on the opposite end of the vitriol, we saw the graciousness and level-mindedness of many Singaporeans. Many called for the stop of unnecessary xenophobic remarks, while others reminded us that our fellow brothers and sisters in the SPF and SCDF are putting their bodies on the line trying to quell the riots and tend to the injured. We were also reminded that there are still many hardworking foreign workers in Singapore without whom we won’t be able to see Singapore build itself up at such a fast pace.

Big ‘Thank yous’ to the men and women of the SPF and SCDF! They did not back out when duty called. They went in, did their jobs, and made sure that as few people got hurt as possible.

A big ‘Thank You’ to the foreign workers too. No prizes for guessing who the clean-up crew were after the riots. Race Course Road was cleaned up this morning, no broken bottles strewn around, trash cans are put back in their rightful places, and normalcy is slowly being restored.

(Source)

So the question remains. How should Singapore move on? Should they take the path down the xenophobic/racist slope, which will further alienate our foreign worker communities, or the path towards greater understanding and conciliation?

I know which path I’d like to see Singaporeans on:

Update as at  9 Dec 2013 9pm:

Top Photo from Wikipedia.

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