Are Ethics and Morality Lacking in Our Leaders?
The PAP might claim to have the best and the brightest minds in their ranks, but with a corresponding ethical morality lacking in some top officials, how far will this take the party — and Singapore?
I’m getting increasing peeved with health minister Khaw Boon Wan, who has accumulated, in my mind, three strikes in recent times to his name.
Strike 1: he suggested sending the aged in our population, who were uncared for, to live in a village in Batam, Indonesia. Say what? In the subsequent uproar, he claimed to have been misunderstood and misquoted by the media. After all, he said, he was a staunch Buddhist who believes in filial piety.
Right. What, we wonder was his original meaning? Between ‘land is expensive’ and ‘Johore, Batam and Bintan’, we can’t think of anything else that he could mean. for the record, here is what the “good” man said:
“My personal view is, our land is expensive. But we have nearby neighbours in Johore, Batam and Bintan. The elderly want to reach their doctors within half to one hour. So retirement villages in neighbouring countries is possible, barring the cross-border hassle. It is best to find cheap land on short leases.”
Srike 2: following a string of organ trading cases in Singapore, including the high profile case where the CK Tang chairman was charged and convicted for buying a kidney, Khaw proposes the legalization of organ trading.
Brilliant. Money can truly buy you anything in Singapore eh? The donation of one’s organs is a free act of charity, and should not be submitted to the “logic of the market,” says Pope Benedict XVI. Never mind that this opens the door for the poor to be tempted, or even coerced, into selling their body parts. After all, who cares about the poor; it’s only the elite that matter. Bah.
Strike 3: he is currently toying with the idea of legalizing euthanasia in Singapore. Of course, the Catholic Church and MUIS, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, have voiced opposition to this proposal.
Wow. This is not a debate on human rights. We don’t have the right to murder another human being, and we certainly do not have the right to kill ourselves. Some call it ‘mercy killing’, pointing to the suffering and citing euthanasia as a humane way to make a dignified exit.
No prizes for guessing what God thinks.
Yes, the ageing population is a key problem facing our society. But I don’t think shipping our old folks off to an island, or allowing them to kill themselves, are plausible solutions!
To have intelligent leaders is essential, but inadequate. We also need stuff like integrity, morality, ethics, and principles. More than academic and corporate success, we need leaders who know what is right, and are willing to stand by it even if it means they risk losing their jobs.
Do men like these actually exist? Yes. Former president, the late Mr Ong Teng Cheong, is an example.
But others, like Khaw, are an embarrassment to the PAP. And it’s about time someone bats them out of the political ballpark.
