'As the world demonstrated for peace on Saturday, the streets of Singapore were strangely silent. Why is it that thousands of Singaporeans will queue for hours to buy Toto tickets but not to hold a placard for world peace?'

--Tor Ching Li, Today, February 18th 2003.

Why? Why does it seem as though Singaporeans don't care for world peace? Is it because we're all scared little mice who are afraid of being caught by the police for protesting against war? Did you know some families are willing to sacrifice their lives for peace in their country?

Reading the papers yesterday, I caught a headline. 'Show Malaysians we're no pushovers.' or something along those lines.

It seems as if we're only concerned about our own well being, that, so long as it concerns our region, our lives, directly, we'll respond. Are we just a bunch of self-conceited fools? Can you people not see that if war breaks out, we'll all be affected anyway, whether or not our relationship with Malaysia has improved?

As I said in a previous entry, in Britain, thousands, millions of Britons gathered to protest against war. In America, celebrities wrote letters to the President, again, more citizens gathered to protest. In Singapore? Not a murmur, not a squeak of protest. Is this because we're all terrified that we'll be 'brought in for questioning' if we protest against something that is wrong? If we do it without a license?

It's as if Singaporeans all think that everything that has a protocol, and indeed, most things in Singapore follow the protocol, and that this procedure must be adhered to.

It's like a class, or a school. If one wants to succeed, then everyone has to participate, not just one student from the class.

I remember reading one news report. Someone was quoted as saying that the Prime Minister and President of Britain and America respectively 'couldn't go against thousand of their own citizens.'

I also seem to remember, quite clearly, that not so long ago, the Straits Times had headlines such as ,There are many ways to skin a cat, Singapore is being treated like a cat, and so on. Many headlines along the same lines. Singapore was then arguing with Malaysia over the price of the water. It seemed as if Singaporeans were happy to denounce the Malaysian Prime Minister, and fight back. But, now, this war may concern world peace, and not just our own little piece of land. Where has that spirit gone? Are we supposed to let the Americans attack Iraq, which may lead to another World War? The Americans may be right, but they should not resort to war so quickly and rashly.

In this, I feel, the Singapore Government is at fault. They have so conditioned the Singaporeans of today so that everyone thinks that to protest is wrong, and obedience is right. So much so that no one really dares speak up, because, 'oh, but if I initiate a rally, I will surely be arrested or brought down for questioning! Besides, it isn't worth it, I don't want to be fined....'one could almost imagine a whiny little voice accompanying this sentence.

I may sound bitter, but much of it is true. The Government does not allow protests or rallies, you need a license to speak, one cannot simply stand in a corner and begin talking.

The freedom of speech has practically disappeared.

The Singaporeans are afraid. Where has the spirit of the old days gone?

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