Exactly 23 years ago this day, Singapore was presented with a grueling test that saw our public service deliver ground-breaking results. SQ117 - flying from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore - was hijacked by 4 Pakistani Terrorists who threatened to kill passengers on board should their demands not be met.
The negotiating team was highly effective, making a disguised attempt to stall for time as counter-strike operations were being prepared. As the main strike operation came, commandos were highly effective, ambushing and killing all 4 terrorists within 33 seconds without and civilian casualties.
Shining in the face of adversity with such success is something that has brought us pride to our public sector. Move forward 23 years and it is unfortunate that the state at which our public bodies have responded to recent public disorders have been nothing short of appalling, to the extent that it has caused us disgrace on a national level.
The Little India Riots may be a sorry state but the way our civil service has handled it is nothing short of a joke: Both the SPF and SCDF heads were on leave at the same time while the police on the ground have not much of an Idea of what to do. More appalling is the PAP’s response to it by banning alcohol sales and passing a law which is anti-human rights in nature.
Even as ordinary Singaporeans continue to recover from shock, 2 checkpoint breaches took place within 2 months. One lady was caught only 3 days after driving through high-security places while another male perpetrator was caught only after 5 hours. At this point, the PAP ministers are still not willing to take responsibility and resign.
Even from today’s news, we see admissions from the horses’ own mouth that Singapore is lacking in police resources while the migrant areas are the most high-risk areas while an increasing number of petty crimes are carried out by (mostly Malaysian) foreign trash even though we have given them riches beyond what their home country can offer.
Well done, PAP. You can be sure that more and more Singaporeans will vote you out in the next election!
Joseph Kheng-Liang Tan
* The author is a 21 year-old polytechnic graduate who is currently pursuing his law degree in Australia. Widely quoted for his views, he has contributed extensively in his personal capacity to top socio-political sites such as TRS and TRE. He is also supremely homophobic and would rather vote for the PAP should the opposition send in a homosexual representative.