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Little India riot: Kudos to MSM, shame on social media

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(13 Dec) – In the aftermath of the riot in Little India, there have been some who have been quick on the draw in castigating foreign workers for their unruly mob behaviour, and lambasting the authorities for not having used enough force to quell the violence.

Speculation was rife and hasty conclusions were drawn before mainstream media reports presented a clearer picture of what had transpired.

Pouring vitriol and making wild accusations serve only to obfuscate the facts. Such is the feral nature of social media, which tends to fan the flames of hate, and where anybody can be an armchair critic in bashing the police for the way they handled the situation and the authorities for allowing vast numbers of foreign workers to congregate in Little India.

Hopefully, those who read accredited mediator Linda Heng’s insightful article on Tuesday (“Climbing down the Ladder of Inference”) will be able to adopt a more judicious and less jaundiced approach to analysing the incident.

Her commentary is a timely reminder for us to consider an incident from different angles and re-examine our own responses. Undoubtedly, nothing good can ever come out of adamantly maintaining that one’s own conclusion is valid and repudiating alternative viewpoints.

Kudos must also go to the mainstream media for exercising restraint and reporting the facts objectively.

Wednesday’s articles (“Man in plaid shirt saved my life, says bus helper” and “Accident victim was sole earner in family”) serve as ballast in enabling readers to have a more comprehensive grasp of the incident. We begin to view certain key players in a more empathetic light, and are more mindful of how individuals are complex and cannot be defined by a single act.

May restraint and good sense continue to prevail. The riot is a wake-up call for us that we simply cannot afford to take social stability and harmony for granted.

 

Marietta Koh (Mrs)

* Letter first appeared in ST Forum (13 Dec)

 

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