Ms Lo’s untimely death has got nothing to do with her parentage (father a grassroots leader). It could have happened to anyone who was there at that time.

The only thing I saw “technically” wrong – letting the terrorists know that that the govt troops were upon them. They weren’t stealthy enough. Someone must have forgotten that these terrorists were ready to die along with all the rest. Unfortunate!

Yes you are right Kelly that once terrorists get to the point of carrying arms, there is no reasoning and no return. Up until they are recruited however, there are many factors which can drive them to taking arms. And one of it is that they themselves feel a great sense of injustice has been inflicted on them, and there is no recourse to justice.

Imagine if I were a young Iraqi girl growing up in Baghdad. One fine day, a whole lot of US troops land in my country supposedly to get rid of dictator and weapons of mass destruction. In reality they only are interested in stealing oil with rich contracts given to Bush’s friends. In the meantime, my friends, my brother, my father all die trying to fight them off my country. Every place I love in my country is in ruins. I have no more home to live in anymore. Everyday I grieve for my family but there does not seem to be a stop to this nonsense. So while hiding in some hole somewhere, a fellow countryman talked to me at length about avenging the death of those I love. I decide to go ahead and be a suicide bomber…

The above scenario is repeated in many part of the world – people get recruited because they are in a state of agitation and unrest. Normal people like you and I are not likely at all to take up arms or blow ourselves to bits. No theory or brainwashing can get to us because we have so much to live for. But if the day comes when my country is taken, my child dies at the hands of aggressors, my loved ones perish for no reason, everything I live for and love are taken away from me, and there is no way I can get justice, then the root of hatred and vengeance may creep in my life.

Things around the world must change. The rich countries must stop exploiting the poor ones. Do you know how much some Costa Ricans get for the bananas they grow? That we get to buy for less than 20 cents a piece? When there is injustice in the world, those who suffer it day in and day out may turn violent.

Many terrorists’ stories of recruitment are very sorry tales of years of sustained abuse, poverty and disenchantment. In Bradford England, and many parts of the UK, discrimination on the basis of colour and religion is still very strong. When you grow up being stigmatised, you can be very warped.

And religious fanatics are not limited to the Muslims. Christians equally have blood on our hands. Those Christians who preach hatred for others just because they do not believe, and seek to destroy others, steal from them systematically on the basis that God is on their side – they too are responsible for the bloodshed. Remember Bush said he thinks God is on his side when he went into Iraq?

As long as we keep thinking – “we are right and they are wrong”, instead of trying to seek justice and peace in every area of our living, then the world will continue to be a place where injustice reigns. Stopping terrorists in their tracks is like fire fighting, very essential but also deadly. Prevention is way better than cure.

This babe is so hot! What a pity that such a young and vibrant life is lost… terrorism is bad. Why they go and shoot the rich and beautiful people?

Regardless of whether her father-in-law is PAP man or not, as a fellow Singaporean, I can say with a united voice that: we condemn the terrorists!

by the way, how did she die? killed by terrorist or friendly forces? report says everyone shooting in the dark, so how to see? also how come the terrorist ask her to tell singapore garment to tell india garment a message, the sinkapore garment also neber broadcast the message publicly.

i blame her tragic death on the ineptness of the garment – never responded to demand of terrorists fast enough. It’s garment fault and they should be held responsible!!

[---deleted---] What a pity that such a young and vibrant life is lost… terrorism is bad. Why they go and shoot the rich and beautiful people?

Regardless of whether her father-in-law is PAP man or not, as a fellow Singaporean, I can say with a united voice that: we condemn the terrorists!

by the way, how did she die? killed by terrorist or friendly forces? newspaper say everyone shooting in the dark, so how to see? also how come the terrorist ask her to tell singapore garment to tell india garment a message, the sinkapore garment also neber broadcast the message publicly.

i blame her tragic death on the ineptness of the sinkapore garment – never responded to demand of terrorists fast enough. It’s garment fault and they should be held responsible!!

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History is only written by winners and not cowards who fight this way.

If one reads up on extremist Salafist ideology practised by AQ affiliates, one would realise that these buggers are playing a zero-sum game, where our usual notion of costs and benefits in a strategic game do not apply to them.

How do you make it costly when their view of actions we deem costly, are in fact coded as a benefit?

However, I feel SSC has underestimated the psychology of these terrorists.

It is NOT only a matter of Bush starting the war, that they are angry with. They’re not only angry with Americans. If you understand the mentality and the other reasons for their hatred…for what they did what they did, you will see why understanding and trying to exist amicably with them is IMPOSSIBLE.

The reasons are simple: They won’t allow you to exist! They won’t allow for negotiations. They call the shots, not you. And even after getting what they want, do you think they would allow you to live?

Short of asking Bush to pay for the mistakes he made, the only way OUT of the situation is to STOP the terrorists, lock them up securely even if there’s no other penalty for them. If they are released, more innocent lives will be lost.

Revenge is not quite the same as “justice’. Do the family members of the innocent dead want justice?

What Singapore needs to do (or any other nation) is to stop playing the BLAME game and beef up on security.

43) peace – “real men dont kill women, children and innocent civilian in whatever name its called”

“Real men” like George Bush did systematically start this war of terror by skewing the US foreign policy to discriminate, dominate and kill. If anybody should perish in this war of terror, it is those who started and continue to perpetuate systems of injustice and discrimination in the name of religion, race, nationhood etc. As soon as policies are skewed not in fairness and justice, when groups of people are maligned and feel injustice, and there does not seem to be any recourse to justice and fairness, then there will be these who take up arms who go on killing rampages.

If these young men who went on a killing spree in Mumbai grew up with all the opportunities all Singaporeans have – to education, a chance at making good of our lives in all fairness and justice, with enough food and warm shelter, they would be out there making something good of their lives, instead of finding some sort of reprieve or cause to do harm.

There is no sitting on the fence in living – either we actively go out and do, promote good, fairness, justice, equality so that there is no poverty, that every human have a chance to live in peace, or we may one day perish at the hands of those whose lives are given to hatred and evil.

Until the ‘civilise world’ like the US or UK think they belong to stop systematically discriminating against minority in their midst and others around the world who have different colour, ethnicity or faith than them, and stop using their foreign policies to perpetuate more evil, there will be no end in this war of terror. I don’t know which is worse – using economics to terrorise other nations or using guns to shoot down people.

And there is really no reason for asking the Muslim Council in Singapore to speak out on this or other terror acts. They have no hand in Mumbai, nor do they approve of terrorism or violence of any kind. We should instead be grateful that our Muslim Singaporeans here are peaceable, good neighbours, most with sound teaching, and able to work with people like the JI extremists to teach them that true Islam is peaceful.

I think we should honour Ms Lo’s life by actively promoting peace and dialogue, understanding instead of hatred and revenge. An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.

Terrible is the consequence of radical ideologies, yet they seem nowhere near fading from mankind.

As we grief for the dead, let us not be defeated by the core aim of terrorism: fear.

Dangerous places to work or do biz.

While the timing of her death is not clear and the sequence of events is still hazy, it seemed from the various press reports that the commandos did not carried out their counter attack on the terrorists at ALL locations simultaneously.

When I heard that the commandos only stormed some locations, I feared for the lives of the hostages at the other locations. From the way how this attacked was coordinated, it is not inconceivable that the terrorists not attacked will be informed of the commandos operation. It is in the terrorists’ playbook to start executing hostages as a revenge for their fellow terrorists killed by the commandos’ action.

I wonder how many hostages were executed as a result of their failure to mount a single coordinated rescue operations at all hostage locations. The truth will never be known.

shame on you cowards

what is our muslim council say on this – come and speak out for God’s sake

this week, “lightning does not strike twice” does not only apply to Bali (2002 & 2005). within 3 years, Mumbai became the 2nd city to be experiencing such an attack.