ASSAULTS AT DORMITORIES INVOLVING MIGRANT WORKERS FROM DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES
Recently, a resident sent to me a video over WhatsApp of what appeared to be a fight between 2 groups of foreign workers at a dormitory. The groups appeared to be divided along racial lines. I therefore filed a Parliamentary Question to find out the extent of the problem. In her reply in the House, Minister of State Ms Sun Xueling stated that there were 990 cases of assault (including affray and rioting) at the dormitories over 3 years. This seems rather high as it translates to almost 1 assault every day! I am glad, however, to note that there were no racially motivated incident. Nonetheless, I think there is a need to ensure that dormitories are closely managed so that the safety and security issues there do not get out of hand. My PQ and MOS’ response may be accessed below.
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Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Home Affairs in the past three years (a) how many incidents of assault involving migrant workers at dormitories have been reported to the Singapore Police Force; (b) of the number of incidents reported, how many have racial undertones; and © what proactive steps have been taken to reduce the risk of such incidents occurring.
The Minister of State for Home Affairs (Ms Sun Xueling) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Mr Speaker, Sir, there were about 990 cases of assault involving migrant workers at dormitories reported to the Police from 2020 to 2022. These include cases of affray and rioting. A minority of the cases involve persons of different races. As far as we are aware, none were reported to be racially motivated.
The Police work with the dormitory operators on safety and security issues. The operators are required as part of licensing conditions under the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), to put in place security arrangements, including closed circuit television systems and deployment of security officers. The Police also work with the operators to engage dormitory residents on crime prevention and safety and security matters.
