Kissoon wrong on Rickey Singh

Apr 23, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am responding to the vicious attack launched against celebrated Caribbean journalist Mr. Rickey Singh by Mr. Freddie Kissoon in a recent column. He has demonized this distinguished character.
Kissoon insinuated that Mr. Singh supports Guyana’s PPP and Trinidad’s UNC and Indo-Guyanese in Barbados because of racial affinity. It is not true that Singh has supported either party or that race played a role in calling for fair treatments of immigrants in Barbados.
So this scathing attack by Kissoon on Mr. Singh is unjustified and inaccurate and distorts the famous journalist’s position on race and on a human rights issue relating to immigration.
Singh never wrote about his identity or race. For Kissoon to raise it is insulting to the man. Singh is an independent thinker whose writings are fair, balanced, objective and neutral. Singh is not affiliated with any political party or movement and all parties and individuals have been the target of his pen with objective remarks.
Anyone who knows anything about Dr. Singh would tell you that he has no racial bone in him.
Thus, he will not bring himself to support any political party, least of all because of race. And he has never identified with his race or brought up his identity on any issue.
Singh is a true journalist reporting events as they occurred. Singh reports on facts unlike some writers who parade themselves as journalists. He does not manufacture information. His commentaries and analysis are incisive and balanced and are based on factual information, not on innuendoes and rumours.
Singh has critiqued the PPP and the UNC in his writings over the years. President Jagdeo and Basdeo Panday, former UNC leader and Prime Minister, have been the subjects of his critical commentaries and so also have been other leaders. Prime Minister Patrick Manning showered lavished praises on Singh as a fair and objective reporter in 2006. Other Caribbean leaders also showered praises on him over the years.
Because of his experience and reputation, Singh is viewed as the Dean of Journalism in the Caribbean region.
He is an icon, a role model for journalists. He is widely respected throughout the region. I am no friend of Singh. But I attended several summits in the Caribbean, including the Commonwealth Summit last November, and observed how reporters deferred to him on virtually any matter and they applaud his work. Adulation is accorded to this great journalist by other budding journalists. Everyone goes to him for information. He is a dictionary of information on events.
Young college students also admire Singh. I recall during the anti-dictatorial struggle in the 1970s in NY, people overseas look to Singh for information about life in Guyana and the state of the freedom struggle there. Singh’s reports were considered credible. I recall one incident in which the head of the City College Caribbean Students Association, a Jamaican, told me he did not believe elections in Guyana were rigged. When I showed him the reports from Caribbean Contact written by Singh, he changed his mind saying Singh was the most credible reporter in the region and joined in the condemnation of the Guyanese dictatorship and electoral frauds.
So Kissoon is wrong on Mr. Singh.
Vishnu Bisram

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