Another 70 arrested for gang activities

Tues Nov 23 2010, My paper

From the article, it had shown that through the incident that took place in Downtown East and Bukit Panjang, it had alarmed the police and government. Police started to take aggressive actions towards gang activities and arresting these people that involves in gang-related activities and more. From a phrase in the article, “The latest clampdown brings the total number of people arrested for gang-related activities to 144.” As I read this sentence, I felt shock. What had Singapore turn to? Has Singapore turned into a country that has gangsters everywhere?

I thought some of the reasons might be because of stress, family or psychological problems. Singapore is a fast-paced country which there is always stress being placed on the children that they would do well in their studies for a better future. Pressure was nearly like everywhere for the younger generation. Teenagers might just be too tired and shut themselves off from the world, that it had made them gangsters today.

It had not only endangered the safety of people in Singapore. However, seeing youngsters turning bad nowadays as the numbers are rising, it worries me. Has the younger generation turned that rebellious, what would the future look like when the younger generations are the ones that uphold the future? I would like to just end here by saying, it is you who hold on to your future, you who decide how it will be, would you want to crush it by your own hands? Maybe teenagers nowadays would like to this about this question.

Felicia Tan
104945D

Nov 17, 2010

PAN-ISLAND EXPRESSWAY ROAD ACCIDENT

Girl dies in PIE accident

Unfortunately the girl succumbed to her injuries at about 11 am and was pronounced dead, said the police spokesman.

It was an unfortunate incident that had happened to a girl who was only 12-years old this year. That day should have been a happy day for the Malays to celebrate their festival. However, on this day, this family lost their beloved elder child. It was an accident that happened on the PIE on Hari Raya Haji. There were three injuries, one death and massive traffic jam resulted from the incident.

From this article, it might just seem like a normal traffic incident that has happened. However, do you people think for another second that it might be because of people overlooking in the safety precautions that should have been taken in the first place? Singaporeans or you could say that nearly everyone are complacent about taking safety precautions. People often thought that these accidents that happened and what we have seen on the news would not happen to us. Moreover, what if it might just happen to us one day, we will never know. Through this article, I would like to remind everyone that we have always thought that many unfortunate things would not happen to us but we might not know that any day, ill luck may fall upon us. Therefore, do not be complacent, maybe by doing something a bit more would just save our lives someday.

Felicia Tan

104945D

I always lived in fear and danger

The New Paper | Mon Nov 8 2010

Gangster who once slashed rival till his head 'split open' gets changed by mother's love and a university dean's faith in him.

A DECADE ago, he was carrying choppers and spending his evenings fighting in gangs. Twice, he stabbed men from rival gangs. Both times, he paid for it - with hefty prison sentences and multiple strokes of the cane. Today, Mr David Thorairajan Manickam, 29, can only look back with deep remorse over his violent past. He is now on the cusp of graduating with a degree in Psychology and Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource at the Singapore Management University (SMU).

Firstly, I would like to say that I am glad that Mr. Thorairajan had changed a lot from his past and had turned to be a man that would stand out to the public and let them know about his past. And his only motive to let people know was because he wanted to teach the younger ones of not following his actions in the past. It had been a pain and remorseful past for him and a painful experience for his family. 

Secondly, from this phrase, “But all this would likely not have happened and he would have continued on his path of destruction if not for the one person who turned him around - his mother.”.  I was touched as i saw this phrase. His mum had always been there for him and till at the point of time where everything goes wrong for him, his mother saved him from getting deeper into endless destruction.

From this paragraph, “ Mr Thorairajan, who still sports tattoos all over his body and has the Tamil words "I am not a good guy but a bad guy" tattooed on the back of his right hand as a searing reminder of his dark past, told The New Paper on Sunday: "When she came to see me in jail the last time in 2002, I just burst out crying.We were separated by a glass panel and I couldn't even touch her."I realised then I had caused her and my family a lot of pain and I had to change."Her love supported me when I was in darkness and isolation in prison." .”

I felt heartbroken for him, as because of a moment of folly, he did such remorseful actions. Seeing how his dearest mum that loved him so much to cry for him, seeing his only beloved son in jail but was helpless. I could nearly feel how Mr. Thorairajan had felt at that moment, how painful would his heart had felt. How guilty and remorseful could he been at that point of time and regretful of his actions. Therefore, people please think carefully before you act, it may lead to something you might not have expected and may be disastrous.

Mr. Thorairajan changed much and studied hard as his efforts started to pay off. He took his N levels, O levels with five distinctions and A levels scoring five Bs. It was such a gleeful matter to know how hard he has worked out for all these results and had proved that he really wanted to change. As time passed by, he was out of prison and involved with the “’Architects of Life’ programme which it works with the youths at risk which they conduct motivational and educational programmes for various schools.

Mr. Thorairajan said, "I use my life as an ex-offender to tell young people that they can turn their lives around too. I want to inspire others to realise that if I can do this, they can do it too." I found that he was very courageous to be able to speak about his past to let the young people know that although they may had done wrong, but if they wanted to turn back, there is always a chance and the first thing to do would be giving yourself a chance to turn back.

Lastly, I would like to say about recent cases in Singapore. Singapore had quite a few cases of death recently such as the death at Downtown east. I wish they would be able to learn from Mr. Thorairajan  to turn back in life or be able to pull themselves from the path of destruction as from what Mr. Thorairajan said, "I want to tell them that whatever they do affects not only themselves, but their loved ones." .”

In conclusion, I would like to say if you think your life only belongs to you and what might happen to you is only concern to yourself, you are totally WRONG. I do not believe that people are born to be bad but changed due to various factors and mostly, people have their loved ones too. Therefore, think for a moment, what effect it might have on your loved ones before you take any actions. You would not like to be like Mr. Thorairajan when he was in jail and heartbroken he was to see his beloved mother to cry helplessly and knew that everything was too late.

Felicia Tan

Admin No. : 104945D

  

Why Singapore can't produce a Zuckerberg ?

Mon, Nov 01, 2010, my paper From this article, I find that it’s true that Singaporeans does not have a type of spirit that they would work hard and willing to take the risk to set up their own business. From a statement in the news article, “In the film The Social Network, Mr Zuckerberg was portrayed as a rebellious geek who stood up to authority. Mr Mohan Belani, 27, who co-founded a home-grown mobile social-gaming start-up this year, said while the education system here produces good workers to join multinational corporations, it is "very hard to find raw talent here who would be willing to take the risk, join start-ups and slug it out for a year or two". ” I totally agree with the statement as we, Singaporeans often are being protected by our parents and being influenced by a mindset that we should always try to work hard just for a stable and high pay position and this is our typical Singaporean ‘kiasu’ spirit. I think that there are talents in Singapore but none would dare to take a risk to set a business that have unpredicted future. Another statement from the news, “Pundits cite factors such as the nation's limited pool of resources and, more importantly, its kiasu climate of being afraid to fail or lose face.”. I felt that this is true that Singaporeans are ‘kiasu’ and I felt that this has to be changed because Singapore most important resource is human resource. Although the present, was the Y-Generation, the youngsters are often being influenced by their parents and I would not wish that this would continue. If Singapore continues to promote this ‘kiasu’ spirit, Singapore would not be able to advance in any area when other countries are advancing in fast speed in every second. Singapore would lose out to other countries if this continues! In conclusion, I felt that Singaporeans should walk out of the black box and have the spirit in having the willingness to take risk in their business to let themselves succeed in the future, as without failure, you would not be able to go as far as to your potential.

Name: Felicia Tan
Admin No. : 104945D