Issuance of Licences to Sell Alcohol in Residential Estates

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs if the Ministry would consider stopping the issue of licences to sell alcohol in residential estates, especially in HDB blocks in estates where foreign workers are inclined to congregate, such as Little India.

The Minister of State for Home Affairs (Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member has suggested that the Ministry considers stopping the issuance of liquor licences in residential estates, especially where foreign workers congregate. I think it is a good suggestion, but as far as we have seen, such a measure is unlikely to resolve the problem of physical consumption of liquor at HDB void decks and other common areas. Those who consume liquor in these areas can easily circumvent such restrictions on sale by bringing in liquor purchased from outlets in other areas.

We will instead try to address the problem at its core. The SPF will continue to work closely with MOM to educate foreign workers on our social norms, and work with dormitory operators and employers to take greater responsibility over their foreign workers' behaviour. We have also deployed uniformed Auxiliary Police Officers (APOs) to patrol foreign worker congregation areas to deter, counsel and educate foreign workers against undesirable behaviour. The APOs have the powers to arrest persons who cause law and order problems and will take action against those who commit offences, such as littering and even spitting.

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My Ministry will also explore with MND and other stakeholders alternative solutions to address alcohol consumption and related problems in residential areas. We would be happy to work with the Member to study this further. The Government will continue to monitor the foreign workers' congregation areas closely and tailor our ground measures accordingly.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Moulmein-Kallang): Sir, I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I want to register my deep appreciation for the deployment of the Auxiliary Police Officers (APOs) in our area – that helped a lot. I have two supplementary questions for the Minister of State. First, is the Ministry of Home Affairs aware that some shops in Little India, which are just below the residential units in the same block – have the licence to sell alcohol. Some of them have actually stocked up, not just beer, but entire shelves of alcohol, including whiskey and so forth. And so, this has created a great ease for foreign workers or other visitors, to buy these liquor easily, and then opportunities to get drunk and the need to relieve themselves arise as well. These are issues that the residents are facing, so I would deeply appreciate if the Ministry could re-consider the issue of licences to sell alcohol to these shops in this vicinity.

The second supplementary question is: is the Ministry willing to consider the practice in some countries where businesses that are issued licences to sell liquor are physically located a bit further away from residential areas so that the problems that I have raised will have less potential to occur? Sir, for your consideration, please.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Sir, I thank the Member for her clarifications. Well, I am not surprised they will be stocking up a large variety of alcohol, because of the congregation of foreign workers in that area. The workers come not only from that area but from dormitories all over Singapore. I think we can work together; work with them, together with grassroots, perhaps advise them that it is not the issue about the stocking up, but the alarm they are causing to our residents and how we, perhaps, can address this together.

On the second question: how we can implement other measures? MOM, MHA as well as MND are working together on the issue of foreign workers' congregation, and these are the kind of inputs we will take in and consider, and then will reply to the Members when the questions are raised.

Mr Speaker: Ms Phua, last question.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: Sir, I thank the Minister of State for being so open. I want to ask if the Minister of State is aware that the practice of not issuing alcohol licences to these shops in the same vicinity that I spoke about was actually practised before. It was quite effective then, but somehow through the course of time, this issuing of licences re-surfaced and the problems are arising again. I would ask the Minister of State and the Ministry of Home Affairs to seriously consider stopping the issue of these licences in our area.

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Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: We have to balance the demands not just of the shopkeepers to sell liquor, but also the locals who may sometimes want to buy from the shops at the ground floor of their blocks. So while we understand these issues are also causing other problems because foreign workers congregate in that area, these issues are rather unique to the area that the Member, Ms Denise Phua, has mentioned. Because it is quite a unique area, we have to think a little bit out of the box on how to work together with the storekeepers, how to work even with the foreign workers, the dormitories, to prevent such disamenities from causing problems to our residents over there. As an example, we do inform the employers of recalcitrant foreign workers who keep getting arrested for disorderly behaviour. And because of that, their Work Permit pass may not get renewed because they are such a nuisance to our society.

Mr Speaker: Mr David Ong, last question.

Mr David Ong (Jurong): Sir, may I make a point to the Minister of State that this situation is not unique only to Little India. We see this in the heartlands and at the void decks. These shops sell liquor and we have people congregating in those areas. They drink, they litter, they urinate and they cause nuisance at times, and fights as well. So, especially for kiosks located at these void deck areas, if we can restrict the sale of alcohol, that will help. I hope that the Ministry can consider this.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Sir, I thank the Member for the clarification. When I mean "unique" I did not mean that it only occurs in Little India. Little India is unique because it is a congregation point for foreign workers from all over Singapore. In other places, like we have found in Mr Cedric Foo's area, they are usually from the nearby dormitories, and usually the way to resolve the problem is slightly different from that which we have to face in Little India. For example, we do not have to deploy APOs in these areas, whereas in Little India, because of the size of the crowd and the intensity of the merrymaking, and so forth, we have to make sure that our presence is felt.

In the case of Mr Cedric Foo's area, for example, we have been working with him. They have Citizens-on-Patrol who go around making friends – not just the residents but the foreign workers as well. They become advocates to their fellow members not to cause a nuisance to the nearby residents, and I think the same kind of solutions and other kinds of solutions are possible for us to work together with the MPs of the area.