2 Articles In 1

2006-06-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Forgive me for not writing an article for the last week for I was busy. To compensate for this I would post 2 articles in this post. Sorry and Thank you.

The first article is from TODAY, June 12, 2006. The title is,"An act of desperation or suicide jihad?" The prison facility, Guantanamo Bay, holds terror suspects from around the world that have been detained without trail. 3 of the prisoners have committed suicide by hanging themselves in their cells with clothes and bed sheets. To American military authorities such as camp commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris, it was a statement of war.” They are smart, they are creative, and they are committed" he said of 1 of the prisoners," they have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. And I believe that this was not an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us. Only 10 out of the 460 detainees have been charged in Court. The US defence department approved the use of sleep deprivation, exposure to hot and cold, bright lights and sounds during questioning. Sheer hopelessness of their situation may have driven the men to suicide claims lawyers representing the inmates. Some of the 89 of the prisoners-the 3 who killed themselves among them- went on a hunger strike on June 1 to protest their situation. These men had to be force-fed, a process that involved the use of nasal tubes and restraints.
This pretty much sums up what the article writes about. As we all know, Guantanamo Bay has an infamous record for treating prisoners without humanity. A few months back, there was an issue about prisoners being chained and tortured. Most of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay have not been charged in court and are kept in Guantanamo Bay for questioning. I demand that more humanity should be given to the detainees. Even though they may be part of their "Jihad", it would make no difference if we were to mistreat them like how they mistreated us. This would spell no difference between us and the suspected terrorist. I do hope and pray that the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay have their prayers answered and be treated with more humanity.

The next article is “Now Loan sharks spam debtors’ doors”, TODAY June, 8 2006. Two weeks ago, Philip Toh opened his letterbox and found a brown envelope lying inside. Typewritten in Chinese and broken English, the letter, written by “Ah Soon”, warned that his gate would be locked and paint would be spilled on his door. This is what happened to the debtor’s neighbours. The loan shark mass mailed his threat to all resident who lived within a floor of the debtor to put pressure on the man to pay up. This is not the only recent case where a loan shark has dragged in a debtor’s neighbour and threatened them with locks and paint to arm-twist his real target. In the few cases, similar to this, the letter carries the same message and words of threat, suggest it could be the same loan shark using this technique in different parts of the island. The only thing to distinguish the letters in different neighbourhoods is the name and address of the debtor. These letters are accompanied with “hell-bank” notes- burnt by the Chinese during prayers as offerings to the netherworld- as well as a mobile number, which presumably belongs to the loan shark. The debtor’s neighbours have been invited to call the loan shark on the spot, should they see the debtor.
The letters have evoked mixed reactions among getting dragged into disputes between their neighbours and loan sharks. Most debtors’ neighbours are afraid of this. The police warned the public against confronting with the loan sharks or their runners. “The affected residents and their neighbours can help the police with their vigilance and expeditious reporting and the descriptions of suspicious people in the neighbourhood and unlicensed money lending activities,” said police spokesperson, “ however they should not put themselves at the risk by doing so.”
This article shows us the daringness of Singapore Loan Sharks. This issue appals me to know that innocent neighbours are dragged into the problems of their neighbours. I hope the police hunts down there loan sharks and be punished harshly. The neighbours should assist the police in anyway possible. Hunting down these despicable crooks should be the police force number 1 priority. It confuses me to as why would people want to borrow from unlicensed money lenders when they could borrow it from banks. The only way to put an end to this is to stop people from borrowing from unlicensed money lenders and borrow from banks.

2006-03-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

After reading the article, I was grievously hurt and traumatised. I cried upon reading the death of the young child who has only lived for 2 years. It pains me to know that her step-father slaughtered her and dumped her nude corpse. Some time I wonder what this world is turning into. First there was a sex Video made by the well known Tammy and now this. What is happening to Singapore? I do hope the law would come down hard on him, a death sentence would be most appropriate. Such vile scum should not be allowed to live. I do hope that such things would not happen again.

English Journal

2 Articles In 1