The public hearing into the worst riots in Singapore in 40 years at Little India, a precinct of Indian-origin businesses, will begin on 19 February. The state-appointed Committee of Inquiry (COI) on the 8 December riot will start the hearings at the Subordinate Courts. It intends to call at least 70 witnesses, an official statement said. Some of the key witnesses who would be called to give evidence include the driver and time-keeper of the bus involved in the fatal accident, which sparked the riot.