Sun TV has been ‘approached’ by the Singapore High Commissioner for their erroneous coverage of the Little India riot that happened on Dec. 8.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. K. Shanmugam revealed this in a statement on his Facebook page, and even included a scan of the letter sent by the High Commissioner, which requests that Sun TV corrects both its broadcast and online material.
Read Mr. Shanmugam’s full statement below, and scroll further down to view the letter.
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.
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