Dorms urged to provide activities for foreign workers this weekend

[SINGAPORE] The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has encouraged the major dormitory operators here to provide more recreational activities for their foreign-worker residents this weekend, while "cooling-off measures" will be introduced in the wake of last Sunday's riot in Little India.

The measures aim to deter foreign workers from going to Little India on Sunday and to give "the different communities affected by the riot time and space to recover" from the incident, the police, Land Transport Authority (LTA) and MOM said in a joint statement yesterday.

MOM has been in close touch with dormitory operators, such as Vobis, Westlite and Keppel Housing, as well as employers associations like the Singapore Contractors' Association, the Association of Singapore Marine Industries and the Association of Process Industry. It has also spoken to some employers on the matter.