June 06, 2017, 07:07 PM 
The Singapore Police Force has issued a rebuttal to Yeoh Lam Keong, the ex-GIC chief economist and adjunct professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
This was after Yeoh posted on Facebook on June 5, about how alienation from the police was a big reason for the cause and poor handling of the riots in little India and that alcohol is just a convenient scapegoat.
His comments were made to accompany an Independent UK article about how police cuts are linked to the recent attacks in the United Kingdom.
This is Yeoh's original post:
Unfortunately we've made the same penny wise pound foolish policy decisions that have resulted in inadequate community policing in Singapore too. Alienation from the police was a big reason for the cause and poor handling of the riots in little India. Alcohol is just a convenient scapegoat.
"This kind of rhetoric may seem persuasive and eloquent but, as so often with politicians trying to avoid blame, it is untrue. It is untrue because it misses a key and huge fundamental point to the protection of our national security: community policing intelligence.
Police officers embedded in the community, there to help, there to listen, there to understand the community they serve. It is in the community where the best intelligence is learnt and gathered, from the people who notice a change in behaviour of their friends and neighbours, allowing early intervention and monitoring.
Theresa May’s cuts have removed these officers from the streets. The intelligence they brought in through local knowledge and community engagement has dried up and collapsed, and the local bobby known to all has gone, replaced by a reactive police “service” that is inadequate – as the press is always so quick to point out when mistakes are made and splashed all over their front pages."
This is the police's response:
