We have had several days of furious reporting on the proceedings and revelations of the Little India riot by the COI. The committee had a field day expressing great admirations to individual bravery and frowning at some acts of ‘cowardice’, not sure if this is an appropriate word to use. And there were suggestions of what would or could be done better. It was all about how the rioting could not have happened if the accident was properly handled, nipped in the bud by properly trained personnel who somehow failed to do so. There were so many disappointments on how the men in blue handled the incidents. And one striking moot point was the choice of not firing a warning shot that could have made a great difference.
Then the reporting in the media stopped. No more coverage. No more revelations of bravery and shortcomings and misgivings. What happens? No more COI, or is there an adjournment and we would hear more of juicy details later on? I am really looking forward to the interesting revelations and commentaries from the eye witnesses and the experts. And I must say I am not disappointed.
There was an adjournment and the COI continued with more aggressive bouts of verbal tussle between the committee and the witnesses. Yesterday was more between former Commissioner Tee Tua Bah and current DAC Lu Yeow Lin, a contest between the veterans who have been there, seen it and done it, full of valour and experience on one side, and top scholars, full of talent, meticulous and well honed technical skills and with modern management skill and expertise on the other side.
The veterans believed in actions, go in and get the job done quickly. Think later or think quickly. The new technocrats, careful, measured, situation appreciation, considered the lives of bystanders, officers and not wanting to aggravate a bad situation. It was all cool, calculative and thoughtful decision making. The veterans did not favour such an approach. Too slow and could even be the cause of emboldening the rioters. The new talents disagreed.
How would the situation be like should the veterans be in charge is a iffy thing. It could lead to even bigger riot or the rioters could scamper and all arrested on the spot with minimum fuzz.
The outcome could actually be extrapolated from the assumptions of the rioters. One view is that the rioters are like innocent and nice school children. If this is so, the aggressive and swift ‘nip in the bud’ approach of the veterans would surely do the job. Actually, if the rioters were like school children, they could send in a team of police women, as long as they are tougher than the female bus attendant, would do the trick. Just give the rioters a few pushes and they will all fall on the ground.
On the contrary, if the rioters were wild and untamed beasts, like how they beat up the bus attendant and driver and some policemen, and burning of police vehicles, a rough handling could actually go the way as described by the new talents, bigger riot and burning of Little India.
Between the veterans and the new talents, who is wiser? Which approach is the better one? Can we develop a computer game to offer the different possibilities and scenarios and see how they run out?
What do you think?
Chua Chin Leng AKA RedBean
*The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/