The Japanese Tragedy

The people in Japan are still reeling in the aftermath of the most devastating earthquake, tsunami and the ongoing risk of nuclear contamination emitting from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plants ever to have rocked Japanese history.A substantially large area of north-eastern Japan has been laid to waste within a few split seconds at the hand of mother nature.

I share my sympathy to all the people who are affected in one way or another by this most tragic catastrophe especially to those helpless victims who have perished during the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. I silently pray for those who are rendered homeless that they may be able to find the strength to recover and go back to their normal lives in the shortest time possible.

Above all, I am impressed with the way how the Japanese people bravely and stoicly took this montrous calamity in its stride. There are no riots, no looting and no mass hysteria. There is a strong. sense of "shared" responsibility amongst the Japanese in face of adversity.I doubt there is another populace on this planet that is able to react more courageously. I salute the selfless personnel braving the risk of excessive radiation exposure to relentlessly fight to cool down the nuclear fuels located in the damaged plants. These are huge risks that the fronline staff willingly undertook to try to save their compatriots and homeland from further radiation fallout at their own personal costs. What they are taking are existential risks and they know it. It may be possible that some of these valiant men may have to suffer from the side effects of excessive radiation exposure that may cost them their lives later on if we can relate to the experience of the Chernobyl meltdown

I also contemplate that if a disaster will to happen in Singapore, will our citizenry be able to react in a commendable manner? I have my serious doubts. In most likelihood, the nation will collapse with the rich, foreign workers and the new citizens probably being the first to pack their bags and go. There will be mass looting, I would conjecture given the lack of a group identity and sense of "shared" purpose that we are all Singaporeans with a common future and deep affection for this tiny red dot. I doubt we will be able to find the same number of selfless men in our SAF and SCDF who will be able to cast aside the risk to their personnel lives in a brave effort to save their fellow countrymen and their country from further destruction.

If I have to make such a reflection twenty years ago with a much younger and less prosperous Singapore, I would probably be less pesssimistic on our collective social cohesion and ability to stand together in face of severe hardships. Such it the resultant outcome of close to two decades of relentless  insistence that you need to pay top dollars to those holding ministerial portfolio, to those in the SAF, to those in civil service, to those in PAP-related grassroot organization and to those in GLCs. The concept of service and sacrifice have been chipped away sliently and obscure in the process. The huge influx of immigrants over the last 5 years have diluted our national cohesiveness and our ability to care for each other just because we are all Singaporeans. Like it or not, there is a price to have to pay for the so called "progress".