SM Goh Chok Tong attended Ms Lo Hwei Yen’s wedding. MFA issued a solemn letter of condolence for the loss of her lives to the terrorists, but the I recall the only tone was that of enmity in PM Lee Hsien Long’s letter of condolence to JBJ’s son. Why should Ms Lo be treated better than JBJ?

Hi smallvice,

I would like respectfully ask that you refrain from making political remarks relating to Ms Lo’s death. If you’d like to comment on the broader political implications of the Mumbai terror attacks that would be more appreciated. Thank you.

Zheng Xi

i completely concur. its a regrettable and unnecessary death. let’s not bring ourselves to the level of politicizing an innocent death.

what we really can do is to show support and solidarity now. Then work on how to effectively combat terrorism, from pre-emptive and actual attacks. and what we can learn from this sorry episode. that would Singapore’s best memorial to Ms Lo.

The best thing we can do is to ensure that no group or individual will think of targeting Singaporeans in the future. Whatever this means, we will leave it to the AAR gleaned from the Indian authorities.

Let’s not politicise this thread. Keep it simple, keep it respectful.

I’m sorry, I don’t see the point of this article. I am sorry for Ms Lo’s death, and I think the family should be allowed the privacy to grieve.

That Singaporeans have forums to express their condolences is a positive thing. That said, her family will have their own arrangements for her funeral, and I think we should leave it to them without continually bringing her case up, whether in search of a moral or an anti-terror lesson. That is terribly ST, don’t you think? Next we’ll be hearing nation-building rhetoric building on someone else’s personal tragedy.

Governments are doing their jobs, as far as we know. And if there are any political implications to discuss, I don’t feel it’s appropriate or respectful to be constantly using Ms Lo’s case as a springboard.

Gerald Giam have several good points in his blog on what could be done, looking forward and I shall not repeat these here. The Mumbai attacks raise the possibility that
there is a higher risk carrying a Singapore passport and this is something that many did not think of before.

Some thoughts from me on how to stay safe when abroad:

1. Always provide your embassy your contact numbers when you are abroad so that you or your loved ones can be easily contactable in event of an emergency. This can be easily done on the MFA website.

2. Always look out for exit points especially in the hotel that you stay in. This can mean surviving a crisis situation if you are fully aware of your environment.

3. Buy travel insurance when going abroad if you can. Of course, no one likes to make such a claim but at times it is something that can provide some peace of mind. For example, I have so far make two claims during my travel for plane delay (once in Sydney and the other in Guangchou). This helped me to defray the cost of hotel stay and meals.

4. Try not to venture outdoors in the evening alone espeically for single ladies. As it may be unsafe overseas, it is advisable that if you want to go outdoor in the evening do get someone to accompany you. We may be too used to our Singaporean lifestyle of venturing out anyhow anytime back home. The outside world is a jungle out there. Just in Sydney alone, at least ten people are hospitalised every weekend due to fights in pubs and bars.

5. Stay calm and sober. Of course this is easier say than done. In a crisis situation, sometimes we are lost and often in a panic mode. Those who have a better chance of surviving in a crisis situation tends to have steady nerves and a clear mind. Look out for ways to escape if possible and stay alert on any possible mode of escape.

6. Learn some self-defence skills. When abroad, even though some may try to avoid trouble, trouble may look for us involuntarily. A person armed with some self-defence skills may display more confidence than one who doesn’t to escape from a crisis situation. Of course, if one is overpowered by weapons, it is best not to defend ourselves anyhow.

I hope this will help one to be more prepared when facing a crisis alone when abroad. Nevertheless, sometimes, being at the wrong place at the wrong time doesn’t help. My condolences to the family of Ms Lo. It has being a very downcasted weekend for me here in Sydney knowing that one of our own has perished in this tragic barbaric act.

May Ms Lo rest in peace and may God bless her soul.

The world will never learn that violence begets violence.

We keep developing weapons which are more and more destructive. Yes even Singapore. We manufacture cluster bombs and land mines!

We train people to use those weapons.

Then we preach the virtues of PEACE !

We are a whole lot of hypocrites!

…adding to gilbert’s advice, which may seem a bit overly precautions, sometimes lapsing to a sense of complacency and naivety may be the biggest danger, singaporeans are typically unfamiliar with street crime like muggings, petty thief, tempting victims to criminal indeed…

back to the matter of terrorism, they were indiscriminate, they were targeting foreigners, unfortunate as it is, she was a victim of circumstances.

it beggars a bigger question what do these people want?

Whenever you check into a hotel or any unfamiliar building, always always know where the fire escape is located on your floor! When crisis strikes and panic becomes the over-ridding emotion, knowing where to run to is the most important first action.

This question should have already been asked after 9/11…

[...] orbituary at orbituaries.com.sg – The Lycan Times 狼人時報: In Memory of Ms. Lo Hwei Yen – TOC: Is anyone safe? – Endoh’s Dungeon: How many more Lo Hwei Yen do we need? – Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Don’t become [...]

I believe in one of the love stories darkness once wrote. He once recommended 3 things.

- try to check into the second storey. No higher. You can do this by getting a medical condition that says that you suffer from vertigo or heights. That way if anything happens. Its easy.

- In the novel. The author says. If the baddies come avoid the fire exit and the top of the roof. Those are the points they will cover.

- Instead he hero keeps a rope and he takes it everywhere with him.

Any way in this story, the baddies sorround the hotel and the hero grabs a chair smashes the window and rapels down the building and he even lands in a ferrari and off he goes.

I think cultivating the habit of asking for 2 storey placement is a good idea, I have been doing it for years as I travel quite alot of dentistry conventions.

Good afternoon,

Nice write up. One of the problems with terrorism is the perception of risk will always be higher than the actual risk. I am not trying to make lighten this episode, but it’s important to see it all in the right context. Otherwise all of us will simply be huddling around a candle in air raid shelters drawing lots on who we should eat next – life will simply grind to a halt.

IMHO one should be more preoccupied about the real killers like stress, regulating salt intake and asking ourselves whether we are all getting enough exercise.

Like I said, those are the real killers.

SD (Internet Liaison officer of the brotherhood)

1) smallvice585
The lesson is better to die in a terrorist attack than to die opposing the government. (that is if you consider GCK gracing your funeral something to be proud of)

typo: not GCK but GCT

Hi singaporedaddy,

You’re right that we should be preoccupied with the real killers which is also within our control unlike acts of terrorism which we will never know when or where it will hit us.

This, however, does not mean that we stop expecting the authorities to do nothing about it and for it to start focussing on a healthier lifestyle for themselves.

As with the rest of the posters, I too do not want to politicise the death of Ms Lo and I would like to offer my condolences her husband and her family. It is inevitable that she has now become the face of a Singaporean victim of terrorism.

It does tells us the dire need for our MHA to take accountability for the escape of Mas Selamat. The more we must demand responsibility for his escape because he continues to pose a danger to all of us, day in and day out, as long as he is not in captivity.

I cannot imagine what he is doing now, if he is still in Singapore, making contacts with his terrorist groups and making plans for an attack on some of Singapore’s prominent institutions and shopping centres. I pray that the day never comes and that he could be apprehended before any damage could be inflicted on us.

We need a new ‘Home Team’ to try out new ways to apprehend him. The current team has failed and must be relieved off their duties. No less.

Nice to hear from you again Gemami,

“It does tells us the dire need for our MHA to take accountability for the escape of Mas Selamat. The more we must demand responsibility for his escape because he continues to pose a danger to all of us, day in and day out, as long as he is not in captivity.”

I shouldn’t be too bothered abt that Gemami. Remember the toilet rolls they found? That’s a big clue; you know what I think; it was those pesky little green men bent on a spot of alien abduction; no doubt about it; and that my dear watson explain the mystery of the rolls and how a man with a bad leg could have made a renactment of a shawshank redemption special….besides all know those martians are all just over 4 ft and a bit, dont we – hence the rolls? Nope this is a case for agent molder and scully.

No worries there my friend, mas selamat is very far away.

As for terrorism yes, I agree Gemami we should take it more seriously, but really my only concern these days is how do I smile at a pretty girl on the mrt these days with coming across as a crazed suicide bomber.

Do you see my problem?

SD

Hi singaporedaddy,

Now that you’ve mentioned it, I have to be more careful with pretty girls on mrt.
Know what? I might switch to buses instead but then again how can we be so sure about the old aunties riding in them with their market trolleys? Argh! what a dilemma!

this is in response to the writeup from smallvice585 on December 1st, 2008 1.29 am .

I believe we should treat JBJ’s case and Miss Lo’s case differently. JBJ’s case is a political issue, where the tone and the way the letter was been crafted has to be different.

In the case of Miss Lo, she is a victim of a terror act, where lives were lost! And she does not deserve to end her life in this manner. Do ask ourselves, what wrong have she done to deserve this?

And if we all do recall, in any act of any armed actions, the killing of the old, young, children, and women are strictly prohibited, and if convicted will be charged in the War Crime Tribunal, or in any Court of Justice. Of course in this event, the terrorists were been taken down by force and there is no need for any of this.

But ask ourselves, killing someone whom is not armed and not trained in any form of military or firearms, such killings are deem as murder!

Maybe I’m too carried away by this incident, however I must stress that I’m mad when I learnt the news of her tragic death. She’s the first Singaporean victim to have lost her life to terror.

Well, I guess we should all move on together as one, and pray for her family, and hope that Miss Lo could rest in peace.

Learning from this incident, Singapore should increase the defence budget.

We cannot have terrorists running around in Singapore killing innocent tourists.

Secondly, Singapore must not get involved too much in showing off her soverign wealth funds or condemn the terrorists groups too much because it will draw attention to us.

What happens if some terrorists decide to hold some singaporeans hostage to ask for ransom, is Singapore going to pay up?

The best thing to do is to stay in Singapore and work quietly. At least Singapore is safe because of the excellent governance by the Singapore Government.

I believe we should treat JBJ’s case and Miss Lo’s case differently. JBJ’s case is a political issue, where the tone and the way the letter was been crafted has to be different. In the case of Miss Lo, she is a victim of a terror act, where lives were lost! – ACJEN (#20)

Have you not heard of legal terrorism? Wall Street Journal is a recent victim of legal terrorism, so was Tang Liang Hong, JBJ to name a few fellow Singaporeans. A terrorist is a terrorist, regardless if he is backed by state organs or not.

Ms Lo’s death is tragedy and I think most decent minded people will be placing their prayers with her loved ones in their hour of need.

However, we need to remember that terrorism cannot force us to stop living our daily lives, of which international travel is becoming an important and regular part of it. Yes, we have to take what precautions that we can take on an individual level, but we must remember, giving into the fear of terrorism is precisely what the terrorist want.

On a broader level, I hope that government’s absorb the right lessons. We will, I hope, never fall for the fallacy of the Bush administration, which is to justify torture in the name of saving lives. Using torture, as the Indian High Commissioner to Singapore, a former hostage negotiator pointed out, “Is plain stupid.” Due process of the law must remain sacrosanct.

That’s right. We cannot live in fear and dread suspicion of every corner and every human we meet but then again who can blame us. I doubt the citizens or even the patrolling “policeboys” in the MRT will be much of a help in deterring a suicide bomber or a terrorist on a rampage. They will end up as statistics themselves.

how good is our counter-terrorism network and skills? I hope we don’t have to worry about all these and the next terror news we read in the papers are not in the HOME section..Or better still we don’t have any terror news at all…

May Ms Lo rest in peace and may God bless her soul.

Dear 8) sobri on December 1st, 2008 9.13 am,

I agree with you that:

“The world will never learn that violence begets violence.
We keep developing weapons which are more and more destructive. Yes even Singapore. We manufacture cluster bombs and land mines!
We train people to use those weapons.
Then we preach the virtues of PEACE !
We are a whole lot of hypocrites!”

What I wish to add, which may appear cold under current circumstances, is that the death of the innocents is a fact of life since time began.

As much as we condemn and talk of our revulsion of what happened to Ms Lo, the killing of the innocents like the innocent Iraqis, the innocent Afghans, the innocent Jews, the innocent Palestians, the innocent tourists in Bali and others will go on and on and on.

It is cruel, unfair and unjustified but it will continue because of the greed for power & money and the ‘perception’ of justice and loyalty. If the power crazed in Thailand do not stop soon, innocent locals and foreigners in Bangkok (I’m referring to those not involved in the current demonstrations ) will be victims too.

If Govt supports war so that they can earn some bucks by selling weapons including cluster bombs without caring for the deaths of the innocent; if Govt supports war because Big Bro says so based on lies and rumour of affiliation to ‘terrorists’ and WMD, then the death of any innocent is nothing more than a collateral damage – a negligible cost to wealth accumulation and entry to political gentlemens’ club and one-up-manship.

Of course, they may tell you it’s only the deaths of a few for the benefits of many.

What’s the difference between using cluster bombs to kill innocent women and children in Iraq from the safety of helicopter gunship compared to the killing of innocent tourists in a Mumbai hotel with knives, AK17 and grenades?

Why are young men (those from the helicopter gunship in Iraq and those in Mumbai) capable of such carnage? I guess they take their orders from their Commander-in-Chief. Call them soldiers or ‘terrorists’, they are loyal to their cause as I think theirs “is not to reason why but to do or die”! Or both.

The difference lies with who the victim is. If the unfortunate victim is one who is close to us, our feelings will be gutted with the “Why me?” syndrome.

Ms Lo may be the first of many in Singapore.

Just do not be surprised if you or I become the next victim – paying for the sins of those too blinded by greed to know that there are other life enhancing ways to making money than selling weapons of pain, suffering and destruction.

feedmetothefish

First, my deepest condolences to the husband and family members of Ms Lo Hwei Yen. I can really feel how they are feeling because I have personally went through a series of tragic and sudden losses (deaths) of my family members (i.e. my father choked to death when I was only 5, my mother burnt to death, my wife and my only daughter of only 16 (Silkair 1997) , and recently, my most favorite niece also a 16 (killed by an SBS bus at zebra crossing at Changi Village); and I had a series on mental breakdowns which took me 10 years to slowly and painstakingly recover). Reading the news about the death of Ms Lo, I felt like another knife has pierced my heart again, as though she is someone close to me (though I am a total stranger). My tears simply flows down my cheek, uncontrollably ….

Next, the question we (supposedly would-be ‘innocent’ victims of terrorism) should ask ourselves is this: How did terrorism all started? My answer to this question is: It started because some people were suffering in silence for too long and justice is in no way within their reach because they were the powerless “innocent” victims of those selfish ‘gentlemen” in power and those whose greed for wealth accumulation knows no bound. Yes, those hypocrites! Those who would bent on painting to the world how great they are and how their integrity and sincerity are unblemished, etc. etc. etc. Yes, those hypocrites in power of wealth and position!

Though I do not condone terrorism but I feel that that is the only weapon the once-innocent’ victims, the little people, have against overwhelming odds in this world of cruelty, unfairness, greed and pretentious behaviour all in the name of “for the good of the country” or “for the good of the world” or “for the good of mankind”. But is it really and truly for country, world or mankind? Or is it for their own selfish personal interests? Power, Wealth and Fame?

Think deeply
While
Suffering in Silence.

” Legal Terrorism implies the use or threat of use of legal proceedings by the perpetrator against an individual/group to force them to carry out their desired agenda.

This term gained wide currency in India with the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict in 2005 in Sushil Kumar Sharma Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Ors case on Jul 19 2005. In the course of delivering its judgment the court observed that the misuse of anti-dowry provisions with oblique motives have the potential to unleash a “Legal Terrorism” and that the provisions are intended to be used as a shield and not an assassin’s weapon. In the course of the judgment the court has also recognized the impact of this “Legal Terrorism” on the accused. It acknowledges that acquittal of the accused does not in all cases wipe out the ignominy suffered during and prior to trial and sometimes adverse media coverage adds to the misery.

This has since become a defining phrase for highlighting the misuse of laws such as Domestic Violence Act.”

extract from wikipedia.

In response from smallvice 585’s comments.

Yes, and I must stress to smallvice 585, please stop using JBJ and other political issues to come on par with Ms Lo’s situtation. Her case is something which all Singaporean felt the most. In such case, I believe we should not use Miss Lo case as a springboard to spark any issues on political.

And smallvice585, if you would like to discuss any political issues that has or have any impact on th Mumbai attacks, I believe your views would be much debated on, on another forum page, but not here. Let’s end this ‘Legal terrorism’ issue. To me it seems senseless to bring up any of this political issue to Ms Lo case.

If you would like, you may want to attend Ms Lo’s wake, you will see scores of people, from the private and the civil service sectors paying their last respect to her. I believe after attending her wake, you will come to realise why politics should not be brought up.

and I concur with Zhang Xi and Me for their comments. Let’s end this ‘political’ debate here, and join hands to pray for her and her family.

Cheers.

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, I have to be more careful with pretty girls on mrt.
Know what? I might switch to buses instead but then again how can we be so sure about the old aunties riding in them with their market trolleys? Argh! what a dilemma!”

Aunties with trolleys?….ah now you’re talking natural born killers….there goes the knee caps.

Frankly speaking. I think trolleys should be banned. Those things are so deadly. You have no idea.

replies to:-
#1) smallvice585
could you refrain from making political remarks about ms. lo’s death.. -.-
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
This 2 day shootout in Mumbai is extremely tragic, yet it is even more tragic that one of our fellow singaporeans, Ms Lo, has been killed while being held hostage. I offer my sincere condolences to Ms Lo’s family and may Ms Lo rest in peace.
I hope that world leaders will soon understand that minor conflicts among countries can be put aside and they must all collaborate together to combat terrorism and prevent more innocent lives from being taken away.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Aiyo, we cannot blame PAP la. Not that i’m pro-PAP or anything but the straits times clearly states that because the Mumbai government was not persuaded by the Singapore government to withdraw troops, she was killed. Makes me wonder why they don’t choose an ang moh to do it. Wouldn’t AMERICA have a bigger cloud over India? (if you understand the expression).
xxx

Death of a civilisation – that is what I feel is happening to Singapore each day. Ms Lo’s death was at the hands of terrorists – people who have no respect for law or human rights, or the sanctity of life.

The very simple acts of many foreigners here in Singapore lead to the death of civilisation in this country. Like the terrorists in Mumbai, they have no respect for law, human rights or life. I am talking about the whole lot of people who cycle on the pavement. It is a simple transgression but it destroys our safety for pedestrians.

How do you tell the difference between the Singaporean ah pei and an mg (elderly men and women) who ride their bicycles on the pavement from the foreigners? The locals are very considerate – they know they are flouting the law here by riding on the pavement, so they are extremely considerate. The foreigners ride like they own the roads. They are likely to be smoking a cigarette, going at high speed or ringing their stupid bells at you. They are often on motorised bicycles or worse, if they are not Chinese nationals, they are these ang mohs with their expensive racers zooming down Holland Road, or Orchard Road. Once we saw an ang moh woman zooming down Botanic Gardens!

Ms Lo left Singapore for one day to Mumbai and her life was tragically taken by terrorists. I left Singapore for 10 years to come back to a Singapore overtaken by terrors on the pavement. The police will not do anything to impose their fines, the LTA will not do anything but asked that I go buy hospital insurance for our toddler should she get knocked down by the cyclists. The traffic police will not do anything until there is an accident. No, it is not safe here anymore.

Whose fault is it to let terrorists reign in their land? Whose fault is it to allow lawlessness to persist? Whose fault is it to allow lawless foreigners to terrorise Singaporeans?