Shots that were heard around the world

I am sure you have heard about the Campus shooting at Virginia Tech University in the US and the lost of 32 innocent lives. It was senseless and cold-blooded. Senseless, because these people have done nothing to deserve this abrupt end to their lives. Cold-blooded, because these people were at a familiar place, doing the familiar thing with the familiar people -- they were at school. Supposedly a safe place, anyone would say. However, it was not so, at least not in the US. What are your views on this issue? In this post I will share my views on this horrifying incident. To begin with, how was it possible that it was so easy for a guy to walk into a gun store and in a very short time purchase all that was needed with few questions asked? This is the big question that boggles the mind of many Singaporeans. The Straits Times article revealed some appalling statistics: that for every 3 Americans at least 2 own a gun! When the store owner who sold the guns to Cho was interviewed, he simply said that Cho passed all the checks, without a trace of remorse. He even suggested that if other students were to have had guns on campus, they would have been able to defend themselves! The right to bear arms in the US is worrying many parents from different parts of the world. This will not bear well with the US education business. Some parents are going rethink and reconsider their choice of overseas education. This is not the first campus shooting. If the US government had reverted the right to own guns after the last campus shooting, these 32 lives would have been saved. Is the US government going to do anything? Judging from history, probably not. What lessons can we learn from this incident that has happened so far away from us? First, we can be thankful for the wisdom of our government. No one has the right to own arms. Law and order is maintained and we live in a safe environment. While we enjoy this safety, it is also our responsibility to ensure that this safe and secure environment is continued for our future generations. Second, and more importantly, is the need to accept the foreigners in our midst. There are many students in our midst who have come from various parts of the world. It will do Singaporeans good to accept them and help them to integrate with the new environment. Not that the loners are going to shoot anyone, like the lonely Cho, but we will benefit if they feel accepted and welcomed here. Many of these students are very capable and intelligent, like the ones in my school. If they choose to stay on in Singapore and continue to work here and contribute to our economy, we will all enjoy the benefits of a growing economy. Besides, some of them may even help us establish business connections with their home country. Like it or not, we are interconnected and interdependent on each other.

It's not just about pay, it's about securing bright future

The issue on the ministerial pay can be considered "The talk of the town". Everyone has heard about it, students, parents, teachers etc. However, everyone has different opinions on this issue and I am here to share mine. In his speech published in the Straits Times, PM Lee stated that there are four questions we need to ask ourselves : What kind of government do we want? What kind of people do we need to run such a government? How can we sustain this system for the long term? How should we pay those people serving in government as ministers or as civil servants? I agree that what we pay ministers will directly impact the kind of government and system. However, I want to put forward another aspect on this topic. Singapore is a democratic country, this means that the government is elected by the people. In a democratic system, the people have the most power. In this case of the ministerial pay rise, I believe that the decision should be made by the people and not within the cabinet itself. However, the problem comes when the people all have different persepectives of this issue. Some think that a raise will not do the government good as it will make people unhappy and they might lose in the next election. Others say that the raise is good to the country as people with higher capabilities may be attracted to serve the government, thus giving us a more efficient government. With so many differing opinions, I think the best way to resolve this issue is tbrough a referendum. However, if we put ourselves in the ministers' shoes, it will seem reasonable to have a pay rise. A minister's job is demanding and stressful, not to mention the sacrifice of privacy, sometimes affecting even their families. But if they chose to serve the country, how can they compare serving the country with other jobs? I think as ministers, they must have a sense of duty and responsibility to build this nation. They must have the desire to serve and to give back to society, a conviction that Singapore is worth fighting for, and finally the confidence that if they join the government, they can do something worthwhile. However naive or altruistic this thinking may be, this is what marked the difference between a minister and a CEO of a MNC. With this in mind, a person should be paid according to the demands of the job, but then again with the true sense of duty and responsibility, they would not ask for a pay rise! Let's use an analogy, if a hardworking employee works day and night, overtime etc. He does not ask for a pay rise, instead it is his boss that will see his performance and give him a pay rise. In the same way, I think the group of people who should decide whether there should be a pay rise should be the citizens of the country. Therefore, to me the most important issue here is not really about the pay rise but is who initiated the idea of a pay rise and by how much should it be raised. Since this issue interests almost everyone, from the neighbourhood coffee shops to the offices in Shenton Way, it seems the most sensible thing to do is to have an independent council to propose and the people decide through a referendum.