Koh Jie Kai / Senior Writer
As with many other people, I was shocked to learn about Seng Han Thong’s injuries at the hands of an apparently mentally unstable attacker.
I was however, revolted to read some of the comments on the attack. There are apparently quite a lot of people out there in Singapore who apparently believe that there is some sort of “karmatic” law of nature out there which justifies serious injury (or death) upon politicians responsible (partly or fully) for unpopular government policy.
To those people out there who claim that this attack was a justified response to a lack of public space (speech-wise), I’d like to point out two things. Firstly, it appears that Mr Seng’s assailant was mentally unsound–I doubt that political protest was on the top of his mind when he threw that lit kerosene bottle at his victim.
Secondly, a culture of tolerance for violence as an answer to political problems does nothing to help Singapore develop as a liberal democracy. You might as well argue, for instance, that it was “natural” for the late Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to be murdered, because it best reflected the sentiments of the religiously fanatical.
No, if you’re fed up about the current state of affairs in Singapore, for whatever reason, there are many things you can do. Write for TOC, or to Singapore’s many political blogs, or to your Member of Parliament, or to the press. Turn up at a protest or two at Hong Lim park. And so on.
The Government has already made limited concessions to freedom of speech online. If we want the political freedom of adults, don’t give the Government excuses to give us the privileges of children.
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Vivtimised Citizen (#98),
Political violence includes non-physical aggression too!
Duress, if any, is the worse form of Violence that Violates the human mind.
Like Raping in public the mind, the soul and the heart violently, over and over again, each time, the damage exponentially is inflicted, causing never closing gap in the wound.
Its the worst form of violence.
17% burns… the palm roughly equates 1%. the upper body 8-9%. the privates, 1% regardless of size
so go figure how badly burnt he is.
if only the 70 year old uncle had been alerted to social workers…
it could have been a happier cny for the mp
my bad.. its 15% not 17%
It is simply actions and reactions.
There must be underlying reasons.
http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/1747-man-sets-singapore-lawmaker-on-fire
It’s celebrated by the SDP, a promoter of HUMAN RIGHTS.
The govt shld take a good look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are still in touch with the ground, with the ordinary people. WKS first words were to to warn that violence cannot be tolerated but didnt go further to assuage the public feelings that perhaps the 70 yr old attacker had a legitimate grievance too, altho that shld not be a right to attack someone and endanger his life.
My sense is that there is a lot of bottled up frustrations on the ground with the way things are, and even public rants have been like like so much head-bashing against a wall of denial, of shameless high-salaries, of flaunting of wealth, of hypocritical remarks, of dismissive wave of the hands. As we drown deeper in the recession, I think things may get worse and not better.
Minister MPs should come out of their ivory towers and their GCB (good class bungalows) to connect with the people. Why quibble and split hairs over nickels and dimes for the poor but pour billions into longkangs in risky investments from town councils and our GSIC/GLCs? Where is the big picture? Have we lost the wood for the trees?
I have completely lost all respect and confidence in the Political Leaders from the PAP….they have totally abrogated their fundamental duty of looking after their constituents especially the poor (or insane) who forgo Psychiatric treatment because they could not afford to pay for the medical attention.
Or the poor who do not have Electricity or Water because they could not afford to pay the arrears
Or the marginalised who had their flats repossessed.
For example the perverted logic that they “HELP” the poor to get their Electricity Supply reconnected by INSTALLING PAY AS YOU USE Meter …which provides ONLY 80% of the Value of Payment ….how machevellian and perverted a logic…this is a very good example of the perverted nature of the Government We have now.
Meanwhile We have Permanent Secretaries and Politicans who earn obscene salaries in the Millions of dollars paid by Taxpayers and going for 5 week vacation and spending close to $50,000 in Fees (excluding Air Tickets and Lodgings) just to learn to cook French Cuisine.and then rubbing salt into the woiunds of the poor by bragging about it in the National Newspapers.
Or charging conservancy fees that will result in more than ONE BILLION $$ in surpluses and then gambling in Highly Speculative and dangerous Mini Bonds and Structured Financial Products and losing Millions in the process.
No wonder there are people like this 70 year old driven to the wall and retaliating the only way they can i.e. VOILENCE….This is not an isolated case as claimed by one of the PAP Politicians but the TIP of the ICEBERG as our society drifts farther and gfarther apart.
If the PAP does not correct itself and stop their cruel an inhuman policies the day may suddenly come when “Storming of the Bastille” occurs…..it will be too late then for the PAP.
I may not be so prone to VOILENCE but I certainly will excercise my rights in the the next General Election.
Today news says govt going to pump SGD35m for mentally ill. Why waste these kind of $ & time? These ppl should just be kept lock-up until they pass on. Anyway, every citizens in Singapore deserve an angpow during bad times. Why exclude some ppl?
Hi #109) loop,
Why pump in $35M you ask?
Don’t you think MM is worried sick already?
SHT got burnt and now he is being targeted by the same type of people they have created.
Faster pump in money to address the situation before another fiery encounter.
His daughter can have more business as she is a neurosurgeon, and therefore an assured bonus at the end of this downturn year. Can kill two birds with one stone then why not?
The math adds up, doesn’t it?
Just in case TOC might find this out of context, I must add that mental problem is adding to the political violence in SG, in recent times.
All you points seem to say:
Attack on PAP MP: warning for PAP
What if an oppo MP was attacked: Natural answer–government agent.
and why bother with human rights when you all celebrate attacks and destruction? Why not go to Gaza?