Documentary: 101 East – We built this city (Video)

After Singapore’s first riot in decades, locals ask hard questions about the migrant worker abuse.

 On the night of December 8, 2013, paramedics rushed to the scene of a fatal traffic accident in Singapore’s Little India neighbourhood, where tens of thousands of South Asian workers socialise on their day off.

Little did anyone expect the situation to escalate into a bloody riot, Singapore’s first in more than 40 years.

Foreign workers power Singapore’s booming economy, forming a fifth of Singapore’s 5.3 million population, mostly in low-paying jobs that locals avoid.

The accident had occurred after construction worker Sakthivel Kumaravelu, a 33-year-old labourer from India, was stopped from boarding a bus ferrying migrant workers back to their dormitories. The bus ran over and killed him as he chased after it and fell.