Hamimah Ahmat, a speech and language therapist at Singapore’s government hospital, was completely unprepared for what she saw when she logged onto Facebook that ominous Friday morning (15 March 2019). News of the tragic shootings that took place at two New Zealand mosques was the first thing to pop before her eyes.

Her Turkish husband, Zekeriya Tuyan is an information technology (IT) worker in Christchurch and he patronizes one of the mosques there every Friday for prayers. Ms Hamimah tried to contact him but to no avail. only to eventually receive a devastating call that Mr Tuyan was one of the dozens wounded during the mass shooting at the Al Noor Mosque.

Ms Hamimah wasted no time in flying down with their two young sons to the Christchurch Hospital in New Zealand where her husband was rushed to in critical condition and is recovering slowly in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Their relatives from Turkey gathered in the waiting room to lend their support to the family’s misfortune.

In spite of their long-distance marriage, the family makes an effort to get together during the school holidays in June and December. They also kept in touch frequently through Skype, where Mr Tuyan would teach his sons the Quran and discuss travel plans. Little did they know that their lives would change forever after their last Skype call that Thursday evening.

The gunman behind the killings was 28-year-old Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist. Prior to the attack, he published a “manifesto” online denouncing immigrants as “invaders” and proceeded to stream live footage of the attacks at two New Zealand mosques.

About 50 worshippers were shot dead while more than 40 others were wounded before authorities managed to nab Tarrant and charge him with murder the following day.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Smoke and mirrors at “An Honest Conversation”

By Kenneth Jeyaretnam TOC readers will be aware of the farce surrounding…

Conscientious objection now considered among “justifiable grounds” for military enlistment exemption under landmark South Korean court ruling

In a 9-4 historic ruling by South Korea’s apex court on Thursday…

学生反映媒体过度渲染教师检查内衣颜色一事

本月29日,《新明日报》报导,指南洋女中学生家长向该报申诉,有老师在突击检查女学生内衣颜色时,,竟打开衣领纽扣,直接拉扯出内衣肩带,认为这种做法不恰当,并引发家长学生不满。 据报导,有关事件发生于本月22日。有关老师是中四年级主任。由于其中一班的级任老师是男的,不能进行衣着检查,便由该名主任代劳。 由于学校的校服是白色的,校方有规定,学生的内衣必须是白色或肉色,不能是任何其他颜色。 但这名老师被指在检查过程中,将学生衣领处纽扣解开,拉出学生内衣肩带检查。家长在申述时指有数名女学生都受到如此对待,而感到不满。 至于英媒《海峡时报》则报导,南洋女中公关主任坦言女教师的检查手法“可能引起学生不适”,在文告提及,校长也电邮给所有家长解释此事并致歉。 与此同时,也有一些学生在社交媒体对于教师的检查手法表达失望,不过目前这些贴文已被移除。 虽然媒体报导显示学生对此事感到失望,不过有关事件被检查的其中一名女学生现身说法,认为媒体可能过度渲染此事,实际上在当时老师进行突击检查,并没有向媒体所描述的那般糟糕。 老师尽责   已获校内师生原谅 名为Aurora Woo在脸书留言指出,实际上有关教师是好老师,尽责也受学生爱戴。 “老师的本意是要检查内衣颜色,大部分学生她也只是透过肩膀透视观察,只有对一名学生要求解开领扣。校方也承认和老师的沟通有出现误会,并不需要解开衣扣。而那名老师事后也马上向有关同学道歉。”…