July 21, 2009
Let's reinforce unity of purpose in fighting terrorism
WE CAN never overemphasise the need to remain vigilant against the threat of terrorism, as warned by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in last Sunday's report, 'PM Lee warns of evolving terror threat'.
He warned that the recent bomb explosions at the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta showed that terrorists continue to have 'new ways of doing evil, bad deeds'. Schools, religious organisations and the business community need to make a concerted effort to not only condemn the murderous acts of terrorism, but also set the boundaries that define good and evil in society.
Often, the human spirit needs to be rekindled to distinguish between right and wrong behaviour. Religions with good society and family values must take proactive steps to engage the public and schools by upholding godly values and renouncing the evil that destroys the fabric of society. Our children need to learn from religious leaders who demonstrate how their faith can build strong family bonds and create social stability, harmony and security. Where the fault lines of society are shaken, religious leaders are to super-glue the gaps.
Religious leaders in collaboration with the Government should openly reject socially irresponsible behaviour such as racism, religious intolerance, adultery as well as perverse sexual behaviour in society. Moral relativism has no place in a society that treasures and thrives on good, absolute values.
As part of civil defence, schools must be vigilant to teach children strong traditional family values through the covenant of marriage and fidelity to one's spouse.
Insidious and egregious practices such as abuse of human rights and extreme liberalism must be exposed and rejected for what they are. Drug trafficking, use of abortion as a form of contraceptive, polygamy and serial divorce will remain as wrongdoings. Our police force should be held in high regard as they enforce the rules against criminal behaviour.
Children must be encouraged to speak up against evil and not fear being rebuked for doing the right thing. The heathen attack religious people with the phrase: 'Get down from your high horse for we reject your holier-than-thou attitude.'
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew recently remarked that for 44 years, Singapore still has not yet achieved the ideals of nationhood. Perhaps the next step requires the conviction and partnership of religious and government leaders to take a firm stand against wicked deeds and support those who stand for the truth in nation building. It is time we took serious heed of the axiom: 'Righteousness exalts a nation.'
George Lim
July 22, 2009
Poor logic to equate terrorism with lifestyle decisions
I WRITE in response to Mr George Lim's Forum Online letter on Monday, "Let's reinforce unity of purpose in fighting terrorism".
Mr Lim is correct to label the Jakarta bombings as evil and murderous. But he is wrong when he goes on to argue that for Singapore to achieve social security, harmony and stability, "strong family bonds" and "traditional family values through the covenant of marriage" must be upheld. Accordingly, pre-marital sex, abortion, serial divorce and "perverse sexual behaviour", such as homosexuality, must be condemned.
It is poor logic to equate terror attacks to personal decisions such as homosexuality and serial divorce. These actions involve only willing parties and do no harm to others.
On the other hand, crimes like terrorism, murder and robbery involve the harm (and possible deaths) of other innocent parties. Rightfully, divorce, pre-martial sex and abortion are not punishable by the common law, which serves mainly to protect the fellow man. Countries such as the United States and France, while having astronomical divorce and pre-martial sex rates, are still prosperous and socially cohesive.
Mr Lim also argues that Singapore's government should partner religious leaders to take a firm stand against evil, heathen and non-godly values.
If this is so, then a good number of Singaporeans will run afoul of the rules simply on the basis that they do not believe in godly values, but answer responsibly to their conscience.
Many Singaporeans, while expressing faith in religion, also see no wrong in pre-marital sex, homosexuality and abortion, because these are matters of personal choice.
Surely atheists, agnostics and liberal followers of religion deserve the right to live unharassed by the beliefs of the staunchly religious.
Jonathan Kwok Dao Yang
-------
I quote what George Lim mentioned in his letter on Monday.
"schools must be vigilant to teach children strong traditional family values through the covenant of marriage and fidelity to one's spouse."
I'm sure Rodney Sim, and ELDER from LIGHTHOUSE EVANGELISM CHURCH - the man paid for sex with an underaged teen as mentioned in today's paper must have had really strong family values (he has 2 kids mind you). So strong that he couldn't resist having sex with a Chinese child prostitute. Well done you over-religious, self-righteous morons.
Terrorism came about because of these religious fanatics, and all George Lim's letter did was to self contradict himself.
Posted by: urbanator at Wed Jul 22 10:28:38 SGT 2009
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Jonathan old boy! I think you are missing the gist of what George is trying to say. George is merely inferring that if you get the basics right from the onset, perhaps people would not think of turning to terrorism or aggression for whatever reason. And he goes on to mention that religion and the government by working in collaboration on certain issues with youngsters might ultimately create a more upright person thus deferring anyone from going as far as thinking of resorting to aggression of any sort. Whether this will help or not is the question, but certainly there is some basis to what he is saying. After all if you are generally an organized person, the tendency is you will be neat and tidy in appearance and vice versa. Positivity begets positivity, negativity begets negativity get it. So don’t take his words out of context. But when it comes to certain beliefs, I think George is indulging in a bit of wishful thinking, he is like many others who believe all religions are the same, teach peace, love etc. Well he has another guess coming.
And urbanator old chap. Rodney Sim is a hypocrite like many other religious goons, and despite his religious foundation, he failed miserably and is certainly a perfect example that Christians are not perfect, but at least he did not resort to violence. His beliefs ultimately kicked in and he resorted to redeem himself by helping the girl and getting himself into trouble with the law while at it. This is somewhat what George is getting at. So save the rhetoric for yourself.
Posted by: ontheside at Wed Jul 22 12:22:55 SGT 2009
-----------
Hi ontheside,
I shall quote ad verbatim Mr George's letter:
Schools, religious organisations and the business community need to make a concerted effort to not only condemn the murderous acts of terrorism, but also set the boundaries that define good and evil in society.
Often, the human spirit needs to be rekindled to distinguish between right and wrong behaviour. Religions with good society and family values must take proactive steps to engage the public and schools by upholding godly values and renouncing the evil that destroys the fabric of society.
--------
He surely did not hint, or argue, that a 'morally decadent society' will lead eventually to terrorist acts, or that a more upright person may resort to aggression.
His argument, plainly, is to argue that schools, governments, businesses etc should combat 'evil' in society as much as they combat terrorist tendencies. His definition of 'evil', as we have seen, is very narrow, and includes all sorts of behaviour that many people consider very normal.
Why should people combat 'evil' (George's definition of evil) with as much vigour as they combat terrorism? They are miles apart. How can they be equated?
Posted by: jonkwok at Wed Jul 22 16:07:41 SGT 2009
-------
July 22, 2009
Man jailed, fined for paid sex with teen
His attempts to help her after she said she was forced into prostitution led to a police report
By Elena Chong
AN ACCOUNTANT who twice paid to have sex with an underage prostitute from China was jailed for two weeks and fined $16,000 yesterday.
The sentence amounted to a victory of sorts for Rodney Sim Hang Nge, 61, who had testified that he did not know the girl was 16 when he had sex with her.
He could have been jailed up to seven years, or fined a maximum of $10,000 on each charge - or both - under a new law, which makes it a crime to have paid sex with a person under 18. The law took effect in February last year.
The father of two grown-up children, a daughter and a son, pleaded guilty last December to two counts of paying $100 to have sex with the girl on Aug 3 and 5 last year.
But during his sentencing hearing, he disputed the prosecution's contention that he knew the prostitute was underage.
Another hearing was then held to resolve this.
Yesterday, District Judge Jeffrey Sim ruled that Sim, an elder at the Lighthouse Evangelism church, did not deliberately exploit a minor. 'He was misled by both the pimp and the minor into believing that the minor was 18 or above 18 years old,' the judge said.
Sim, he said, also tried to help the prostitute after she told him that she was being forced to work as a commercial sex worker against her will.
In fact, his attempts to help her landed him in hot water.
He took her to the Chinese Embassy and then to a police post to lodge a report, and this led to charges against him.
The judge said these facts made Sim's case different from that of Tan Chye Hin, 55, who was jailed nine months last year for having sex with the same girl.
The renovation contractor, who was the first person convicted under the revised law, knew the girl was a minor and had specifically sought her sexual services.
However, despite the differences in the two cases, the judge dismissed a plea from Sim's lawyers, Mr Shashi Nathan and Ms Tania Chin, for a fine to be imposed.
Judge Sim said a fine alone would not be appropriate, as the law was enacted to protect the vulnerable group of under-18 minors from being sexually exploited.
Sim, he added, should have insisted on verifying the girl's age from her passport before engaging her services, instead of relying on the bare representations of the pimp and the minor.
elena@sph.com.sg
Let's reinforce unity of purpose in fighting terrorism
WE CAN never overemphasise the need to remain vigilant against the threat of terrorism, as warned by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in last Sunday's report, 'PM Lee warns of evolving terror threat'.
He warned that the recent bomb explosions at the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta showed that terrorists continue to have 'new ways of doing evil, bad deeds'. Schools, religious organisations and the business community need to make a concerted effort to not only condemn the murderous acts of terrorism, but also set the boundaries that define good and evil in society.
Often, the human spirit needs to be rekindled to distinguish between right and wrong behaviour. Religions with good society and family values must take proactive steps to engage the public and schools by upholding godly values and renouncing the evil that destroys the fabric of society. Our children need to learn from religious leaders who demonstrate how their faith can build strong family bonds and create social stability, harmony and security. Where the fault lines of society are shaken, religious leaders are to super-glue the gaps.
Religious leaders in collaboration with the Government should openly reject socially irresponsible behaviour such as racism, religious intolerance, adultery as well as perverse sexual behaviour in society. Moral relativism has no place in a society that treasures and thrives on good, absolute values.
As part of civil defence, schools must be vigilant to teach children strong traditional family values through the covenant of marriage and fidelity to one's spouse.
Insidious and egregious practices such as abuse of human rights and extreme liberalism must be exposed and rejected for what they are. Drug trafficking, use of abortion as a form of contraceptive, polygamy and serial divorce will remain as wrongdoings. Our police force should be held in high regard as they enforce the rules against criminal behaviour.
Children must be encouraged to speak up against evil and not fear being rebuked for doing the right thing. The heathen attack religious people with the phrase: 'Get down from your high horse for we reject your holier-than-thou attitude.'
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew recently remarked that for 44 years, Singapore still has not yet achieved the ideals of nationhood. Perhaps the next step requires the conviction and partnership of religious and government leaders to take a firm stand against wicked deeds and support those who stand for the truth in nation building. It is time we took serious heed of the axiom: 'Righteousness exalts a nation.'
George Lim
July 22, 2009
Poor logic to equate terrorism with lifestyle decisions
I WRITE in response to Mr George Lim's Forum Online letter on Monday, "Let's reinforce unity of purpose in fighting terrorism".
Mr Lim is correct to label the Jakarta bombings as evil and murderous. But he is wrong when he goes on to argue that for Singapore to achieve social security, harmony and stability, "strong family bonds" and "traditional family values through the covenant of marriage" must be upheld. Accordingly, pre-marital sex, abortion, serial divorce and "perverse sexual behaviour", such as homosexuality, must be condemned.
It is poor logic to equate terror attacks to personal decisions such as homosexuality and serial divorce. These actions involve only willing parties and do no harm to others.
On the other hand, crimes like terrorism, murder and robbery involve the harm (and possible deaths) of other innocent parties. Rightfully, divorce, pre-martial sex and abortion are not punishable by the common law, which serves mainly to protect the fellow man. Countries such as the United States and France, while having astronomical divorce and pre-martial sex rates, are still prosperous and socially cohesive.
Mr Lim also argues that Singapore's government should partner religious leaders to take a firm stand against evil, heathen and non-godly values.
If this is so, then a good number of Singaporeans will run afoul of the rules simply on the basis that they do not believe in godly values, but answer responsibly to their conscience.
Many Singaporeans, while expressing faith in religion, also see no wrong in pre-marital sex, homosexuality and abortion, because these are matters of personal choice.
Surely atheists, agnostics and liberal followers of religion deserve the right to live unharassed by the beliefs of the staunchly religious.
Jonathan Kwok Dao Yang
-------
I quote what George Lim mentioned in his letter on Monday.
"schools must be vigilant to teach children strong traditional family values through the covenant of marriage and fidelity to one's spouse."
I'm sure Rodney Sim, and ELDER from LIGHTHOUSE EVANGELISM CHURCH - the man paid for sex with an underaged teen as mentioned in today's paper must have had really strong family values (he has 2 kids mind you). So strong that he couldn't resist having sex with a Chinese child prostitute. Well done you over-religious, self-righteous morons.
Terrorism came about because of these religious fanatics, and all George Lim's letter did was to self contradict himself.
Posted by: urbanator at Wed Jul 22 10:28:38 SGT 2009
-------
Jonathan old boy! I think you are missing the gist of what George is trying to say. George is merely inferring that if you get the basics right from the onset, perhaps people would not think of turning to terrorism or aggression for whatever reason. And he goes on to mention that religion and the government by working in collaboration on certain issues with youngsters might ultimately create a more upright person thus deferring anyone from going as far as thinking of resorting to aggression of any sort. Whether this will help or not is the question, but certainly there is some basis to what he is saying. After all if you are generally an organized person, the tendency is you will be neat and tidy in appearance and vice versa. Positivity begets positivity, negativity begets negativity get it. So don’t take his words out of context. But when it comes to certain beliefs, I think George is indulging in a bit of wishful thinking, he is like many others who believe all religions are the same, teach peace, love etc. Well he has another guess coming.
And urbanator old chap. Rodney Sim is a hypocrite like many other religious goons, and despite his religious foundation, he failed miserably and is certainly a perfect example that Christians are not perfect, but at least he did not resort to violence. His beliefs ultimately kicked in and he resorted to redeem himself by helping the girl and getting himself into trouble with the law while at it. This is somewhat what George is getting at. So save the rhetoric for yourself.
Posted by: ontheside at Wed Jul 22 12:22:55 SGT 2009
-----------
Hi ontheside,
I shall quote ad verbatim Mr George's letter:
Schools, religious organisations and the business community need to make a concerted effort to not only condemn the murderous acts of terrorism, but also set the boundaries that define good and evil in society.
Often, the human spirit needs to be rekindled to distinguish between right and wrong behaviour. Religions with good society and family values must take proactive steps to engage the public and schools by upholding godly values and renouncing the evil that destroys the fabric of society.
--------
He surely did not hint, or argue, that a 'morally decadent society' will lead eventually to terrorist acts, or that a more upright person may resort to aggression.
His argument, plainly, is to argue that schools, governments, businesses etc should combat 'evil' in society as much as they combat terrorist tendencies. His definition of 'evil', as we have seen, is very narrow, and includes all sorts of behaviour that many people consider very normal.
Why should people combat 'evil' (George's definition of evil) with as much vigour as they combat terrorism? They are miles apart. How can they be equated?
Posted by: jonkwok at Wed Jul 22 16:07:41 SGT 2009
-------
July 22, 2009
Man jailed, fined for paid sex with teen
His attempts to help her after she said she was forced into prostitution led to a police report
By Elena Chong
AN ACCOUNTANT who twice paid to have sex with an underage prostitute from China was jailed for two weeks and fined $16,000 yesterday.
The sentence amounted to a victory of sorts for Rodney Sim Hang Nge, 61, who had testified that he did not know the girl was 16 when he had sex with her.
He could have been jailed up to seven years, or fined a maximum of $10,000 on each charge - or both - under a new law, which makes it a crime to have paid sex with a person under 18. The law took effect in February last year.
The father of two grown-up children, a daughter and a son, pleaded guilty last December to two counts of paying $100 to have sex with the girl on Aug 3 and 5 last year.
But during his sentencing hearing, he disputed the prosecution's contention that he knew the prostitute was underage.
Another hearing was then held to resolve this.
Yesterday, District Judge Jeffrey Sim ruled that Sim, an elder at the Lighthouse Evangelism church, did not deliberately exploit a minor. 'He was misled by both the pimp and the minor into believing that the minor was 18 or above 18 years old,' the judge said.
Sim, he said, also tried to help the prostitute after she told him that she was being forced to work as a commercial sex worker against her will.
In fact, his attempts to help her landed him in hot water.
He took her to the Chinese Embassy and then to a police post to lodge a report, and this led to charges against him.
The judge said these facts made Sim's case different from that of Tan Chye Hin, 55, who was jailed nine months last year for having sex with the same girl.
The renovation contractor, who was the first person convicted under the revised law, knew the girl was a minor and had specifically sought her sexual services.
However, despite the differences in the two cases, the judge dismissed a plea from Sim's lawyers, Mr Shashi Nathan and Ms Tania Chin, for a fine to be imposed.
Judge Sim said a fine alone would not be appropriate, as the law was enacted to protect the vulnerable group of under-18 minors from being sexually exploited.
Sim, he added, should have insisted on verifying the girl's age from her passport before engaging her services, instead of relying on the bare representations of the pimp and the minor.
elena@sph.com.sg
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