• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

Any chance of a Singaporean winning the Nobel Peace Prize?

by onlinecitizen
11/12/2014
in Letters
Reading Time: 4 mins read
11
nobel prize winner
Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai and Indian child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi received the Nobel Peace Prize awards. Image: BBC
By Teo Soh Lung
Yesterday was Human Rights Day, 10 Dec 2014. Kailash Satyarthi, a children’s right advocate for decades and Malala Yousafsai received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In every country, there are people who thrive to improve society. They see poverty, injustice or unsatisfactory conditions in the country and take it upon themselves to improve the situation within their limits. It could be children who because of poverty or discrimination were unable to receive an education or workers who are exploited by their employers. These people try to do what they can to alleviate the hardship and improve the society they live in.
In India, Kailash Satyarthi alarmed by the poverty and lack of opportunity for children to education, took it upon himself to improve the situation. He worked for decades, campaigning for children’s right to education. In Pakistan, the quest for education for girls, led Malala Yousafzai to brave her life in order to be educated. Both faced severe setbacks, suffering serious injuries at the hands of opponents who preferred to maintain an unjust system rather than see improvements in the society they live in. Both were rewarded when they received the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday.
How a society treat its weaker members, regardless of race, religion or nationality is one indication of the kind of society we are. If we ignore the plight of those less fortunate than us and carry on building our wealth at their expense, the society that we will become will be one that is self-centred and mean. We become dehumanised and go about our daily lives blind to others who do not share our wealth and status. We become an uncaring society.
In the early 1980s, and I am sure in every past decade, there were also Singaporeans who like Kailash tried to improve the social condition in Singapore. Young Singaporeans in the early 1980s attempted to improve the society they live in. They gathered together in a space provided by the Catholic Church, located at Lorong 19 and subsequently at Lorong 24A Geylang. That space, buzzing with activities was the Geylang Catholic Centre. Volunteers conducted English classes, planned activities for children and migrant workers, attended to injured foreign workers who could not receive compensation because their work permits were cancelled by their employers, assisted foreign domestic workers who were owed wages or who were ill-treated by their employers, helped former drug addicts and other ex-offenders. They spend a huge part of their time doing all these work without a salary.
Strangely, like the work of Kailash and Malala, the valuable work of the Geylang Catholic Centre was not appreciated. As in the case of Kailash and Malala, the government did not attempt to protect them form zealots in their midst. But unlike India and Pakistan, in Singapore, it was the government that was the obstacle to progress. It felt threatened for suddenly, they were told that certain policies were unfair and unjust. Take for instance, the simple case of unpaid salaries. It was easy for employers to cancel the work permits of the workers and send them home. The Ministry of Labour at that time did not bother to attend to such claims and it was much easier to let the employers send the workers home penniless. And so it was a matter of a few years that the centre was shut down and the volunteers arrested under the ISA.
Watching Malala and Kailash gave their speeches last night, I was thinking if it was ever possible for a Singaporean to win a Nobel Peace Prize or any awards of sorts for work local or overseas, such as work by Dr Ang Swee Chai. If the government sees itself as the sole authority that controls society and all its activities, it will never allow spontaneous volunteerism. Or if there was anything spontaneous, it will step in to “guide” its activities. It will want to ensure that every organisation is controlled. I see this happening today –the yearly funding of organisations, the government’s presence in all kinds of pro bono work, the co-opting of young people who have proven themselves to be good organisers into the PAP fold etc
As Singaporeans, we need to think hard about the kind of society we want to be. Do we want to agree with the government all the time, or do we want to sit back and ponder if there is something not quite right and take it upon ourselves to improve the situation. Do we need to look at the region around us. Is there a possibility of the people in the region getting together and making an effort to unite rather than to depend on governments to divide us.

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.

Related Posts

LTA revises ERP rates up after latest review; Gantries reach as high as S$5 for 8:30am – 9:00am
Singapore

LTA revises ERP rates up after latest review; Gantries reach as high as S$5 for 8:30am – 9:00am

07/02/2023
Stern warnings was an “in-between” solution as CPIB lacks sufficient evidence to prosecute six former KOM executives for bribery, said Indranee Rajah
Parliament

Stern warnings was an “in-between” solution as CPIB lacks sufficient evidence to prosecute six former KOM executives for bribery, said Indranee Rajah

06/02/2023
19-year-old delivery rider in China covers 5km in 22 minutes to deliver antivenom to woman who had bitten by snake
China

19-year-old delivery rider in China covers 5km in 22 minutes to deliver antivenom to woman who had bitten by snake

06/02/2023
Why is Gautam Adani’s Indian empire in turmoil?
AFP

Adani shares dive again as Indian opposition stages demos

06/02/2023
Josephine Teo defends SPH Media Trust in Parliament on its circulation scandal; Commitment of S$900 million funding will still be made available
Singapore

Josephine Teo defends SPH Media Trust in Parliament on its circulation scandal; Commitment of S$900 million funding will still be made available

06/02/2023
Japanese-Canadian junior high school girl breaks national record with 3km in 9:02 mins
Japan

“I want my normal life back,” Sherry Drury withdraws from National Junior High School Tournament due to overheated public attention

06/02/2023
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
11 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

LTA revises ERP rates up after latest review; Gantries reach as high as S$5 for 8:30am – 9:00am

LTA revises ERP rates up after latest review; Gantries reach as high as S$5 for 8:30am – 9:00am

07/02/2023
Stern warnings was an “in-between” solution as CPIB lacks sufficient evidence to prosecute six former KOM executives for bribery, said Indranee Rajah

Stern warnings was an “in-between” solution as CPIB lacks sufficient evidence to prosecute six former KOM executives for bribery, said Indranee Rajah

06/02/2023
19-year-old delivery rider in China covers 5km in 22 minutes to deliver antivenom to woman who had bitten by snake

19-year-old delivery rider in China covers 5km in 22 minutes to deliver antivenom to woman who had bitten by snake

06/02/2023
Why is Gautam Adani’s Indian empire in turmoil?

Adani shares dive again as Indian opposition stages demos

06/02/2023
Josephine Teo defends SPH Media Trust in Parliament on its circulation scandal; Commitment of S$900 million funding will still be made available

Josephine Teo defends SPH Media Trust in Parliament on its circulation scandal; Commitment of S$900 million funding will still be made available

06/02/2023
Japanese-Canadian junior high school girl breaks national record with 3km in 9:02 mins

“I want my normal life back,” Sherry Drury withdraws from National Junior High School Tournament due to overheated public attention

06/02/2023
FY2023 Budget Statement to be delivered by Lawrence Wong on 14 Feb, 3.30pm

FY2023 Budget Statement to be delivered by Lawrence Wong on 14 Feb, 3.30pm

06/02/2023

Scholar, lawmakers and journalist among Hong Kongers on trial

06/02/2023

Trending posts

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

by Yee Loon
30/01/2023
25

...

Cognizant India transfers staff to work in Singapore as recently as this year

Local IT grads can’t find jobs while engineers constantly transferred from India to work in SG under CECA

by Correspondent
05/02/2023
94

...

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

by Augustine Low
01/02/2023
47

...

Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

by Correspondent
03/02/2023
26

...

No response from Josephine Teo on whether Mediacorp has been instructed to stop coverage of SMT circulation scandal

No response from Josephine Teo over alleged blackout of coverage by Mediacorp over SMT circulation scandal

by Terry Xu
06/02/2023
11

...

Excessively charging for an essential need, and calling it affordable because people still can pay for it?

by Terry Xu
31/01/2023
40

...

December 2014
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Nov   Jan »

The Online Citizen is a regional online publication based in Taiwan and formerly Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.

Navigation

  • Editorial
  • Commentaries
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Community

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Letter submission
  • Membership subscription

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Fact Checking Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

wpDiscuz