Singapore: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has vowed to ensure the safety of nearly a million low-paid foreign workers in Singapore, saying they should be treated fairly and paid properly on time, days after outbreak of worst riots in over 40 years for which 33 Indians have been charged.
"We believe that foreign workers in Singapore ought to be treated fairly and properly. We do not stand for ill treatment or unfair treatment of foreign workers," Lee said.
"We have to make sure they (foreign workers) are well treated, they are paid properly on time, their safety is taken care of, their living conditions are up to standard, and they are given full protection of the law," he said in Tokyo, where he is on a visit.
His comments came in the backdrop of the worst ever riots in Singapore since 1969. The trouble began after a bus fatally knocked down 33-year-old Indian Sakthivel Kuaravelu in 'Little India, a precinct of Indian-origin businesses, eateries and pubs frequented by most South Asian workers on Sunday.
Around 400 South Asian migrant workers were involved in the rampage that left 39 police and civil defence staff injured and 25 vehicles damaged. Thirty-three Indian nationals have been arrested and charged in court for alleged rioting.
Lee has ordered the formation of a special committee to probe the riots and warned to use "full force of the law" against trouble-makers.
