Hi, Martin
It has been
three months since you left for England. How is your life in Cambridge
University? How are you living there? The weather there has been very cold do
you have enough warm clothes? If you need money or clothes do let us know. If you are concerned about mom and dad, they
are fine we just had a family dinner and we are missing you. If you were with
us it would have been more enjoyable. Without you around the house seems a lot
quieter.
Did you
know that there is a riot that recently happened in Singapore? Let me tell you
more about it. The riot took place at Race Course Road and Hampshire Road on
Dec 8. And about 9.23pm the police received a call saying ‘A bus has knocked
down someone here, ambulance required.’ And after investigations the police
found out that a fatal traffic accident had happened between a private bus and
a pedestrian and after that something happened, a riot broke out. The riot
involved around 400 people and they damaged several vehicles including police
vehicles. The situation went out of control and 300 police officers were sent
to control the situation, 27 people were arrested. After a few days the
government decided to ban alcohol consumptions and sale in Little India.
The next
day Channel News Asia reported that an Indian news channel named Sun-tv made a
false report on the Little India riot on 9th December, they reported
that an Indian was pushed out of the vehicle by the driver. It also claimed
that Indian nationals were hiding in their homes for fear of being attacked by
Singaporeans and the local Chinese or harassed by the police. These were all
inaccurate news reports , the Singapore's Consul-General in Chennai wrote a
letter to the editor in-charge of the news section of India's Sun TV and Sun-tv
agreed to air the correct version based on true facts on the 10th of
December.
Another
misreport was from a newspaper named ‘The New York Times’ dated on 28th
of December which also misreported about the Little India riot, they said ‘It
linked the riot to foreign workers' frustration over wages and living
conditions’.
My views
about the Little India riot is that it was an unfortunate incident and I was
shocked it could happened in Singapore. I think that banning the sale and
consumption of alcohol was a good temporary
solution but I think the government should actually find a long-term solution.
With regards of the misreports is that they should have reported the true facts
and not make-up a story and broadcasted it, to me I felt that inaccurate reports
will affect Singapore’s reputation and workers will hesitate to work in Singapore in the future.
That’s all I
have to share with you while you were away. It’s getting late and I have to
turn in soon because there is school tomorrow, I hope to hear from you soon.
Warm
regards from your dearest brother
Nicholas.
