Riot Exposes Dark Side of Singapore's Boom

From all appearances, Singapore seems to have dealt with the nation's first riot since 1969 with its usual efficiency. The streets of Little India -- where an Indian migrant worker was killed by a bus on Sunday night, sparking two hours of mayhem -- have been cleared of debris. The government has called for a commission to investigate the incident, and has charged 24 Indian nationals with rioting. Officials have banned the sale of alcohol in the area this weekend. Citizens have been instructed to remain calm.

Up to this point, official have resisted linking the outbreak of violence to the alienation and poorworking conditions of the migrant workers who gather in Little India on Sundays — their one day off, if they're lucky. There's nothing wrong with this logic: the several dozen rioters who attacked police and first responders on Sunday night work for different employers, all of whom may be perfectly upstanding businessmen. The rush to find deeper sociological explanations for acts of disorder -- think of the London riots in 2011 -- is often misguided.