Your nation, your home

Sit back.

Relax.

Take a deep breath.

Take a look around yourself. Strong, solid walls, unscathed by gunfire. Quality, undamaged furniture. Strong, unmarred tropical trees. Look up. A whole, complete ceiling, untouched by shells, without a single hole. Think about your dreams, your aspirations. What do you plan to do, want to be, in year's time? In five years' time? Do you want to occupy a position of importance, of respect? Do you wish to own a small fortune? Cash enough to buy a large freehold condominium apartment, without needing to pay monthly installments. Or perhaps, do you actually see yourself making a difference in another’s life, making society a better and safer place to live in? Or, as in less fortunate countries, do you wish to be still alive? Now, think about your family, your friends. How your grandmother can go out at night without getting mugged, how a young woman can walk the streets at night without being harassed, how you can go shopping in peace, without fearing that you will be looking into the barrel of a gun as you turn the next corner, how you need not worry that the unattended briefcase next to you in the MRT station will explode in your face the next instant?

This is Singapore, the Lion City. The city-state that has provided, is providing, and will provide a safe, peaceful place to call home, a sound education that your grandparents never had, the best healthcare in the region and a stable economy which in turn, will result in stable, well-paying jobs. It is a place with a mix of old and new, quaint and contemporary, from kopitiams from the colonial era to towering office skyscrapers.

Now, enter Remaking Singapore. If you have been reading the newspapers, you know what I am talking about. If not, here is a brief summary.

Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew started the ball rolling for ‘Remaking Singapore’ almost two years ago. Presently, the Remaking Singapore Committee (RSC) complements the Economic Review Committee (ERC) to seek “a fundamental review of Singapore’s strategies for economic growth and survival as a nation”. Recently, the head of the RSC, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said that the key issue is to change mindsets: “Singaporeans must learn to be less dependent on the Government, must take initiative for themselves and must not feel that the government owes them a living.”

Changing mindsets. Think about it.
At this point, consider the vaunted Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the renowned low crime rate of Singapore. Up till now, Singaporeans always relied on the efficient, uncorrupt SPF to maintain peace and order. It has successfully defended Singapore against all sorts of threats, from common criminals to drug traffickers to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorists. However, with the present Remaking of Singapore, in accordance with Dr Balakrishnan’s earlier statement, the people of Singapore must learn to rely less on the Government and the SPF to provide a safe place to live and instead rely more on themselves. This is so because the current Singaporean society, compared with other developed countries like Japan, Sweden and the United States, is an immature one. In most cases, a person only reports crimes, or helps in the apprehending of a criminal, when it is in his or her direct interests to do so. Many, especially the older generation, have an “it’s none of my business” attitude. Even with the largest, most developed and comprehensive police force, it is nigh on impossible to eliminate crime in any free democratic state without the mature support and the cooperation of the society, the common people. This is true even in a small, easily regulated country (like Singapore). In a free society, there will always be chinks in the strongest of armours, on the inside as well as on the outside. The best way to plug, or at least minimize, these chinks would be for the common plebeian, the average heartlander, to feel that he has a direct stake in not just his own property, but also the common property and the property of others. This would result in an effective force deterrent to crime millions strong.

“Isn’t this what the government has been trying to achieve for years?” I hear you asking, “Haven’t leaflets advocating crime prevention been handed out? Haven’t television programmes like Crimewatch and Heartlanders, which have crime prevention themes underlying their plots, been aired? Haven’t Neighbourhood Watch schemes and Community Safety and Security Programmes been implemented?”

True enough. In time, dividends in the form of lower crime rates without the need of fines and police enforcement will be reaped from these initiatives. Which brings me to another deep rooted problem in our society which needs to be resolved.

Recently, there was an article in the Straits Times about a man who, after being caught and fined for spitting, commented that he would have no qualms spitting in the future, as long as no police officer is in the vicinity.

Is this merely an isolated case or does it signify a more serious problem with our society, that our society is an immature one? My opinion is that it is the latter. People are following the law only because they fear being punished and not because breaking a law is wrong. In these cases, they know that committing a crime is wrong but that is not the primary reason that they do not commit one. In my point of view (pardon the strong language), these people are treating themselves as animals, not as Homo sapiens capable of higher thinking. In the past, domesticated animals that misbehaved were punished by baring their access to food. The animals soon learned to meekly comply with their owners or handlers. By their mindsets, these people are disrespecting their very selves, complying because of fear instead of reason. This has to change.

One plausible explanation of this is that, in today’s overtly materialistic society, morals are not given such a high priority anymore.

How can the SPF solve this problem? Education would work, inculcating positive moral values in Singaporeans. Police officers can also work towards dispelling the myth that they are cold, omnipresent law enforcers by being more humane and compassionate.

Over several years, this would facilitate the maturity of the Singaporean society. Once this is achieved and Singapore has become a gracious society, my recommendation is that the SPF should be gradually scaled down into a smaller but top-of-the-line force. A specialised one skilled in combating a major rising threat – terrorism.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism as “the use of violence and intimidation for political purposes”. Before September 11, what the world knew of terrorism consisted of Palestinian suicide bombers in Israel, LTTE attacks in Sri Lanka, the sporadic assassination attempt on a political figure and the occasional airplane hijacking. It was not given a high priority in most countries’ agendas.

All these changed overnight, as the horrors of the thousands dead sank in, countries found themselves beefing up security. Some countries failed, evident in the bombings in Riyadh and Casablanca a few months back. Some countries, however, experienced success; apparent in the JI arrests in Singapore, and more recently, the arrests of terrorist operatives in Thailand and Cambodia and the thwarted sale of the radioactive isotope, caesium-137, in Bangkok.

What makes terrorists so dangerous? My answer is that the structure of terrorist networks is amorphous, making them hard to detect. In the words of Sun Tzu, “The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the formless: if it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it nor the wise make plans against it.” In this case, the spy and the wise both refer to counter-terrorist and police organisations.

Nevertheless, terrorist organisations are not invincible. As the Thailand JI arrests show, as long as countries work closely together and pool their information, no terror cell is ever safe. In that case, one of the arrested was a Singapore national, and the arrest was brought about by information supplied by Singapore.

The SPF must continue to operate closely with law enforcement agencies in the region to have any chance at all of keeping Singapore a place free from terrorists.

Now, I have this to ask of you, the Reader. Do you consider yourself lucky to have a home in Singapore instead of a country like Israel, where one lives in constant fear that the person next to you might turn out to be a suicide bomber?

If so, then what do you plan to do to ensure that Singapore continues to be a safe, secure place? The government and the SPF cannot do everything.

What do you plan to do?

What indeed…



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ok, just to clear some misconceptions, I am student living in Singapore and this was my entry last year for an essay competition for a government statutory board in which I had to adhere to a certain level of content. My intention is not whatsoever to undermine my country nor any others and neither is it to promote them.

Taking the audience here into consideration, here are some translations of my local lingo.
kopitiams - coffee/eating shops
MRT - mass rapid transit, Singapore's subway system