December 9th SHAH ALAM: The Malaysian government should take heed of Bangladeshi workers rioting in Singapore yesterday owing to the rising influx of foreigners into the country.
Deputy PKR President N. Surendran said that the federal government should act to avoid events that can threaten the peace and safety of the public from occurring in the country.
According to Surendran, in order to prevent such possible riots, there should be a move to reduce dependency on foreign workers within the country.
During the incident yesterday, at least 10 policemen and civil servants were injured after a mob of an estimated 400 foreign workers set fire to five vehicles and one ambulance at Little India, Republic of Singapore.
The riot took place at 9.30pm, after a road accident involving a Bangladeshi worker who was killed in a bus accident at the an intersection between Race Course Road and Hampshire Street.
“Indeed, if we scrutinise the country, there are over two million registered foreign workers and it is likely that there are over three million illegal immigrants; these are huge numbers.”
“They may have resorted to violence because of their state of poverty and exploitation and although we do not support them in their actions, their violence is only to be expected.”
“On other factor could that forced them to take such extreme actions could be the strong stand taken by the government, blackmailing practices and corruption by the law enforcement officers,” he commented when contacted by Selangor Kini.
However, Surendran admitted that in the presentation of the 2014 Budget, no provisions or measures are designed to reduce dependency on foreign workers.
Surendran said that this depicts the negligence and irresponsibility of Barisan Nasional in managing the influx of foreigners.
“It does absolutely nothing to reduce or restructure the economy in order to curtail our dependency on foreign workers.”
“This demonstrates the irresponsible attitude of Barisan Nasional and simultaneously does not mean that we have to crack down hard on foreign workers who come to our country to make a living, but rather action must be taken to reduce their numbers,” he added.
The incident was the first of its kind in Singapore since the Race Riots of 1969 which lasted for seven days leaving four dead and 80 injured.
