It's been 3 days since the huge fire which consumed the 3 shophouses my neighbour's children and nearly my house. The town council has gotten workers to clean up and repair the damaged remnants. From my corridor, I could clearly see the ongoing clearing progress. Not sure how to describe except to use the words 'the disaster scene still look like a disaster'.

I can't forget that very moment when I opened the door to see flames of 5metre high right at my face. The glaring orange flames, choking smoke with flying ashes billowing above my head and the angry roar of the burning fire. I don't quite understand how some homo sapiens can make jokes out of this situation like 'Why don't you wait for the firemen to save you' or 'Is it very exciting?' Wah! It means you can watch the whole place on fire huh?'. No, friends. It may be exciting but think again. The fire is not a matter I would like to twist it, bent it and joke about. Perhaps you can laugh at my gongness even in a dire situation like such. But do not laugh at the seriousness of the damage that the fire has brought with it; it has took away 2 of my neighbours who were just a couple years older than me. Put yourself into someone's shoes.

I prefer to forgive my dear friends for their ignorant statements, because they were not the ones who opened their doors to only stare helplessly at the raging fire. The fire could have endangered me and my family if it had spread to the shop directly below my flat, that sells stuff for Taoist praying purposes (i.e. incense, joss sticks & other highly flammable goods.

My mother knows the victims' family, especially the father. We live directly opposite each other, except they are on the 3rd storey, us on the 4th. We all live just next to a stairway which, supposedly, should give us first hand access to an escape route. Below both of our flats, there are shops which love to clog the common area and the stairways with goods. After closing hours, stacks of goods would be bundled up and left outside the stores on the common area. Both of our families know and understand the danger of the shopkeepers' practice. Both of our families have brought the situation to light. My neighbour had even gone on TV to disgrace the shopkeepers. My mother brought the matter to the USELESS MP Yeo Guat Kwang a few times. Not just both of our families, but also a few other neighbours who had also the same worry that such situation would occur. Our greatest worry came true and this time, the price is my neighbour's 2 children.

USELESS MP Yeo Guat Kwang replied by saying that our neighbourhood is a case of cancer; it has no cure. His irresponsible comment made our blood boil. But what can we do? The law states that we have to wait for 5 years before we can do a resale and move out of this horrible neighbourhood. I think my blood went above boiling point when i STILL see shopowners cramping the walkway after the incident. My sister saw shopowners throwing away cigarettes carelessly when she went to the market this morning.

We haven't spoke to my neighbour who lost his loved ones since that night. He have been busy taking care of his children's last rites. But I reckon there must be some anger and helplessness in him. I would be. Our greatest fear came true last Thursday morning. Whose responsibility is it now? Will the new 'come 1st Oct there will be restrictions to goods display outside the store fronts' rule work? Will it be reinforced from time to time? Will it work for 2007 and sometimes in 2008 only, and not the rest of the decade? Do we need another national TV debate to educate people the danger existing shopkeepers' practice could pose? I do not agree with some saying that shopkeepers cannot survive if they don't put out more goods to sell on the paveway. It's rubbish. If you have seen the stores before the fire, you would understand my point. What are the storerooms for? Shopkeepers even leave their goods in open after closing hours.

Anyway,these few days after i came back home from school, I can see lots of people surrounding the badly burnt shop. I have no problem for people who simply need to feed their curiosity. But they can stand there and watch the foreign workers clean up the scene for a few hours and jamming the walkway. Aren't the walkway jammed enough with goods and stuff? I now don't even call the walkway a walkway. A few people whom don't live here walked up to the corridor of our flat to take a look at the scene. Any more of those, I would have to tell them that our corridor is not open as a viewing gallery. They can take their arse off to somewhere else to do something more constructive.