CURFEW-BOUND SINGAPORE WAS QUIET BUT TENSE TODAY (FRIDAY) AFTER TWO AND A HALF DAYS OF SPORADIC AND VICIOUS RACE CLASHES BETWEEN MALAYS AND CHINESE IN WHICH 19 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED AND MORE THAN 450 INJURED.

YESTERDAY (THURSDAY) AFTER AN INDEFINITE CURFEW HAD BEEN IMPOSED, THERE WAS A THREE AND A HALF HOUR BREAK TO ALLOW SHOPPERS TO BUY FOOD. SINCE MANY SHOPS HAD BEEN SMASHED BY RIOTERS, SOME SHOP-KEEPERS DIDN'T OPEN AND VAST QUEUES FORMED AT THOSE THAT DID. A FEW SHOP - KEEPERS TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION AND PRICES SOARED.

IT WAS DURING THIS CURFEW BREAK THAT FRESH RIOTING BROKE OUT AND SIX PEOPLE WERE KILLED.

NOW MORE THAN 10,000 POLICE AND TROOPS ARE PATROLLING THE CITY, MAINTAINING THE CURFEW. TODAY'S ONLY SERIOUS INCIDENT CAME IN THE GEYLANG AREA WHEN AN ARMY SECURITY PATROL FIRED TWO RIFLE SHOTS AND A TEAR GAS SHELL WHEN IT WAS THREATENED BY A LARGE GROUP OF MEN. THE MEN FLED.

IN A BROADCAST TONIGHT THE SINGAPORE PRIME MINISTER, MR. LEE KUAN YEW, SAID THE FIRST PHASE OF THE RIOTING WAS OVER AND IT WAS NOW NECESSARY TO DISPEL FEAR AND RESTORE CONFIDENCE.

BUSINESS SOURCES IN SINGAPORE CALCULATE THAT THE CITY'S ECONOMY HAS SUFFERED LOSSES RUNNING INT MILLIONS OF MALAYAN DOLLARS ALREADY AS A RESULT OF THE CURFEW.

THE CURFEW IS TO BE LIFTED TOMORROW FOR FIVE HOURS IN THE MORNING AND TWO AND A HALF HOURS IN THE AFTERNOON TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO GO SHOPPING.