Dear readers I have a good piece of news to announce.

This Blog has the honour of being one of the top three best GP blogs in JC1 AJC!!!

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This blog will continue delivering essays as often as I can spare. After Promos, there'll be more.

Does it never end? Oh well, anything for you dear reader.

Ok celebrations over! Back to mugging!

Cambridge and Oxford Letter Writing Competition

Rear Admiral Teo Chee Hean
Minister of Defence of Singapore
Singapore

Dear Sir:

I am writing this letter to express my opinions on the recent issue of the kidnappings of South Korean missionaries by Taleban insurgents, and how this tragedy might have impacts on Singapore and our stance on terrorism should we be ever caught in such a situation. My objective in writing this is to plead with you to make our stand on terrorism clear and more importantly, implement possible measures to ensure that this does not happen to one of our citizens.

Recently, as you may well know, a group of missionaries from a church in South Korea was kidnapped in Afghanistan on 19 July. The ransom set was the release of Taleban militants held prisoner by the Afghanistan authorities and the withdrawal of South Korean troops from Afghanistan soil. South Korea and Afghanistan acceded to neither of these requests but have been trying to negotiate with the captors in vain. Deadlines for the withdrawal of troops and the release of Taleban prisoners have come and gone, the result of which is the killing of 2 of the 23 hostages, one on 25 July and the other on 30 July.

The Taleban have refused to negotiate and have even tried to kidnap the mediators. National grief in Korea has quickly given way to anger and antiwar groups have been campaigning for the withdrawal of troops. Meanwhile, pressure is on the US government to change their hardline stance against negotiating with terrorists, and help to negotiate the release of the hostages.

This incident has brought untold grief to the whole nation of South Korea and to the families of the victims. The capture and killing of hostages in cold blood can never be condoned, especially if the hostages were simply involved in humanitarian work. The South Korean government is right in not granting the terrorists’ requests as such a move would only serve to embolden them to more heinous acts to get what they want. However, more could have been done to prevent this tragedy, I feel. The missionaries should not have chosen such a dangerous area to render aid and they also did not take the necessary precautions in protecting themselves.

This brings me to my point. While we as a small nation are not directly involved in this crisis, if there comes a time when one of our own is caught in a similar situation, what would be our response? Also, if foreigners were to be captured by terrorists on our own soil, then how would we react? And can we possibly prevent such a disaster from even occurring in the first place?

In the recent Temasek Seminar 2007 of which you were a guest speaker, the theme was “Securing our future amidst changing times”. The seminar as you recall was about how to counter possible threats to Singapore’s growth and survival in the uncertain times ahead. One issue that was brought up during the forum session was the very same issue I am raising now. In your response then, you said that the government here would definitely not compromise its principles and give in to terrorists demands, among other things.

While I fully agree with you that we as a nation should not give in to such terrorist groups, I feel that more has to be done to safeguard especially our overseas citizens. If say a Singaporean is captured and held for ransom by terrorists overseas, this would have dire implications on our nation’s prosperity. Firstly, national interests would have to be heavily slanted towards ensuring the safety of the hostage, which might cause the government to compromise on other areas of national concern. Other pressing issues may be overlooked and the government would be hard pressed to continue to maintain peace and order while having to deal with this problem. More important would be that Singapore as a people would lose its trust and confidence in the government’s abilities should it fail to safely bring back hostages. As such, an otherwise capable government may be forced out of power, and Singapore may have to languish in the hands of some second rate political party. The impact on society would also push the government’s capability to ensure peace and order as some self serving groups might take the opportunity to campaign against the government’s actions and stir up feelings, which may lead to chaos and disorder.

Furthermore, should a foreigner ever be held ransom on Singapore soil, Singapore’s worldwide standing as one of the safest countries to live in would be seriously challenged, should our armed forces fail to rescue the hostages. Business would be affected as investors would lose their trust in Singapore as a safe country and take their businesses elsewhere. Companies seeking to sink roots into Singapore may think twice after such a tragedy manages to happen here. Of course the tourist industry would be severely affected, as tourists would not want to come to a country where their safety may be at stake.

Perhaps you think that I have painted too bleak a future for Singapore should this event occur. However the social and psychological effect that terror activities inflict on people cannot be underestimated. As such, while I feel that we do have plenty of measures to prevent a terror attack or kidnapping from occurring within our borders, more can be done to prevent this from happening to us overseas.

Tourists traveling to areas deemed socially or politically unstable should be warned and if possible, discouraged from traveling to these places. The possibility of suffering a terror attack overseas in such areas is high. The government should at least take more detailed measures to warn and equip travelers to handle such situations.

Perhaps all these can be done by taking a leaf from current awareness programs to prevent terror attacks on our island. For example, the advertisements at train stations which periodically extol us to watch out for suspicious activities could also be used to cultivate awareness about precautionary measures to take when traveling to overseas countries. Perhaps less emphasis could be placed on preventing terror attacks here and more on the possibility of terror attacks abroad and how to prevent them.

I hope that you will seriously consider these problems that I have brought up and take action to address them. Singapore’s progress and survival should not be risked just because one little detail is overlooked. I sincerely hope that the government will do all it can to stop such terror activities from happening to our people. Prevention, after all, is better than cure.

Yours Faithfully,
Mr Jeremy Su Xiongchang
Anderson Junior College