Returning Korean Hostages Offer Thanks and Apologies

After being held hostage for 6 weeks by Taleban extremists in Afghanistan, the 19 remaining South Korean hostages were finally able to return to their homeland. The Taleban insurgents captured 23 hostages nearly two months ago when they were in Afghanistan doing Christian volunteer work. Unfortunately, two male hostages were killed when South Korea failed to arrange the release of Taleban prisoners in South Korea and another two women were released a few weeks afterward.A Taleban representative claims that the South Korean Government paid 20 Million for the captives. However, the South Korean Government denies this, stating that the withdrawal of personnel was already in the works and that South Korea has already implemented a ban on travel to the area. Even though their intentions were noble, it was foolish to proceed with the mission. Furthermore, the South Korean Government has had to expend precious resources and put itself in an embarrassing situation to negotiate for the hostage’s release. This incident will definitely make the terrorists bolder in their future attempts and give them the misleading idea that violence can be used to achieve their aims. The Taleban is also now able to instil greater fear into the hearts of people worldwide, especially since they now claim to have an additional 20 million dollars to spend on launching similar terror attacks.
In conclusion, I believe that similar missionary groups should first consider the consequences of their action before deciding to embark on such duties

the rise of teen crimes in Britain

On the 23rd of August 2007, it was reported in The Straits Times, that in Liverpool, a youth riding a BMX bike gunned down a British boy who was as young as 11years old. Apart from that, there was another incident on a man at the age of 47 meeting his death from having head injures after trying to confront a gang of youngsters. Not long after, Mr. Evren Anil, was killed by a group of teenagers after putting up a challenge against a group of youths and an elderly man who tried to save him, had a knife next to his throat. All these incidents had occurred in Britain, with the rate of teen crime increasing rapidly and getting out of hand, it would seem that the teens have considered human life without a value. Teen crimes are not only present in Britain, but also in Singapore. Even though, teen crimes committed in Singapore got nothing to do with the involvement of guns, they are still on a constant rise and with the use of other weapons. If no action is taken to prevent it, it will continue to rise without any doubts, hence making Singapore not a safe place to live in. Stealing and shoplifting may be considered as a minor crime, for example taking something from a shop, but this can lead to greater temptation such as trying to break into other people's house to steal valuables as the small crimes are the ones that build up courage to do greater crimes. When these youths are not corrected early enough, they would tend to build up the confidence to do more and worse crimes, such as hacking into a computer system to steal funds. Experts who were interviewed by The Straits Times mentioned that the issue of teen crimes has been increasing for the last 20 years. The past 20 years had nothing or little help of prevention was given to stop teen crimes. However, this led to teenagers having the concept in their mind that nothing and no one is there to stop them from committing crimes, hence, they didn’t stop their wrong doings. Just like in Singapore, something must be done to overcome the problem of the rise in teen crime in order to prevent the situation from being bad to worse. Parents may be the cause of some teen crimes as it has got to do with the values that the parents teach their young. Parents should hold their responsibilities seriously so that the child will not be disrespectful to them. Parents should show more care and concern so that their young do not be led astray. Otherwise it would result in the lack of discipline and respect from the child. Such values such should be well nurtured at home, if not, the child would carry the values such as disrespect, out of their door step. In other words, parents are a form of cause of the rates of teen crimes rising. They must take up the responsibility to nurture their child and spend time with them which would create strong bonds and not let the young feel that their friends treat them better and care for them more than their parents do.

Showing consideration for foreign students

The campus shooting at Virginia Tech University in United States, I am sure many have heard of it. Thirty two innocent students have been shot dead. It may seem senseless because many people would say that these 32 students have done nothing to deserve ending their lives with a bullet through them. Heartless and inconsiderate, because these students study together, interacting with each other, yet, it just needed one armed student to harm many. A school is supposed to be known as the safest place other than home, that’s what most people believe. But, unfortunately, it does not apply to US. My views on this issue, it’s a horrific truth to know, what schools in US can be. Not to mention, a fair amount of Singaporeans would like to migrate there to study. To begin with, why is it possible that anyone can just step into a shop that sells deadly weapons, easily, and purchase it with just money, and walk out to the streets? Many would just question why weapons are allowed to be on sale in the first place. The Straits Times article states that 66percent of the Americans, owns a gun. The store owner who sold the gun to Cho, was sent for questioning. He said that Cho passed all the checks, without a trace of remorsefulness. He even brought up a suggestion that if the other students in the campus were to have had guns themselves, they would have been able to defend themselves. The privilege of bearing arms in the US is worrying many parents all around the world. US is what most people look up to, as they are more advanced and known to have the ability to think better. This will not bear well with the US education business as parents would have hesitations to send their child to US to study. Some parents are not even going to consider their choice of overseas education as to most parents, safety comes first. It is better to be safe, than sorry. This is not the first campus shooting in US. If the US government had banned the right of owning guns after the last campus shooting, these 32students would most probably be still living. The US government is most likely not going to do anything about it, judging from history. US is a huge country, it is understandable to be unable to maintain such laws as there would be a number who would be able to get away with it. We can learn from this incident out country is small enough to be easily maintained with high security, therefore we can carry out the law of not being able to import guns from overseas other than the authorities such as the police and military force. No civilian has the right to own arms. We live in a safe environment; there is a responsibility to ensure that this safe and secure environment is passed down for the future generations. Second, and more importantly, it is to make tourists to be able to feel safe and no sense of fear, which also means attracting other tourist to choose Singapore over other countries. There are many foreign students who have come from other countries to study with us. As good hosts, Singaporeans are willing to accept them and their differences and help them to integrate with the new environment. Not leaving them alone and making them feel left out, avoiding such students as Cho to have the mindset of harming the fellow students that he studies with. We will benefit when they feel accepted and welcomed here. Many of these students are very capable and intelligent; they would share their knowledge and help others within their capabilities. Eventually, they might choose to not return to their home land and settle down in Singapore and continue to work here as a form of contribution to our economy, the benefits of a growing economy. Other than that, some of them may have networks and connections that would help us establish business connections, especially home countries. To end this, I believe all students are advised to play good hosts to foreign students so that such horrific incidents do not happen in time to come.

Its WORK for the moment

Hey, so this is my new blog. Sadly, its for school work for the moment ): after that, it shouldn't be anymore.