The first riot in Singapore in 44 years, it prompted new alcohol-control legislation and renewed debate over migrant worker treatment.
Key Facts
- Date
- 8 December 2013
- Rioters involved
- approximately 300 persons
- Duration
- about 2 hours
- Sentenced
- 25 rioters sentenced persons
- Deported
- 53 workers deported persons
- Years since last riot
- 44 years (since 1969) years
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
On 8 December 2013, a bus fatally struck 33-year-old Indian construction worker Sakthivel Kumaravelu at the junction of Race Course Road and Tekka Lane in Little India. The presence of intoxicated migrant workers and misconceptions about the incident, as later determined by the Committee of Inquiry, created conditions for collective unrest.
Approximately 300 migrant workers, predominantly Indian nationals, rioted for about two hours in the Little India subzone. The mob attacked the bus involved in the fatal accident and emergency vehicles that arrived on the scene. It was the second riot in post-independence Singapore and the first in 44 years.
Twenty-five rioters were sentenced, 53 were deported, and 200 were warned. A Committee of Inquiry concluded in June 2014. The riot resulted in stricter alcohol laws, culminating in the Liquor Control (Supply and Consumption) Act 2015, increased surveillance in Little India, and new facilities for migrant workers, alongside broader public debate on migrant worker integration.
Political Outcome
New alcohol-control legislation enacted; 25 rioters sentenced, 53 deported; increased migrant worker oversight and facilities introduced.