Singapore MP sorry for 'time-bombs' comment on South Asian workers
"Congregations of such high density are walking time bombs and public disorder incidents waiting to happen," she said.
"It is important that we do not take our eyes off this matter lest we want history to repeat itself," she warned.
Phua proposed in her speech that authorities "ring-fence the communal areas of residents such as the playgrounds and void decks (lobbies of apartment buildings) so that the old and the young get to use the space meant for them".
Her remarks triggered angry reactions.
"She has forgotten who cleans her corridor, her estate, who built her flat, who do all the dirty jobs that Singaporeans do not want," wrote one person on the Facebook page of Transient Workers Count Too, a non-profit group helping migrant labourers.
"You need cages to make you feel safe?" another person asked.
Singapore is predominantly ethnic Chinese, with less than 10 percent of its population belonging to the ethnic Indian community, but it hosts tens of thousands of Southeast Asian workers as well as professionals from around the world.
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