<above pic: click to read the letter clearly>
Many Singaporeans are upset about a news bulletin by Chennai-based SunTV (9 December, 7pm). I went online to see it for myself. The reporting was erroneous and irresponsible. The report stated that an Indian national who died on Sunday in Little India was pushed out of the bus by the female bus driver. The report then said that Singaporeans and Chinese attacked the foreign Indian nationals, who were now hiding in their homes for fear of being harassed by the police or attacked by locals.
These allegations are quite untrue. It is a pity that such sensational allegations have been made without any reference to what actually happened. The deceased was not pushed out of the bus. He was led off the bus as it was full. He was in an intoxicated state and was causing trouble in the bus. At one stage he even dropped his pants in the bus. The initial investigations show that after he got off the bus, he ran alongside the bus unsteadily, fell under and was killed instantly as the bus turned a corner. This triggered the ensuing riot. The situation was contained by the police with 28 arrested for rioting and vandalism that day. The riot was an isolated accident arising from the unlawful actions of an unruly mob reacting to a fatal traffic accident. PM Lee has announced the convening of a Committee of Inquiry (COI) to look into the incident. We will get to the root of this.
A letter has been sent by our High Commissioner to India, to Sun TV. A copy of that letter is enclosed (above picture).
Minister Shanmugam
*Article first appeared on his FB page here.
Editor's Note: We applaud Minister Shanmugam's quick and tactful response to ensure that Singapore tries it's best to rectify the false information. However, this just shows how flawed the MDA regulations are. Local media is heavily restricted with the "purpose" of preventing such inaccurate and inflammatory content from being published.
However, international news remains untouched despite many of the international news channels being available in Singapore through pay-TV. Would the MDA ask all other media companies around the world to register and pay $50,000 before being able to report on Singapore issues? Or is this another case where a set of law is applied exclusively to Singaporeans and another for foreigners.