Can We, The Singapore Society, Accept Them?

Juz watched the Channel U’s show, Let’s Shoot 3. This week topic was abt “Whether or nt We Can Accept Those Ex-offender Back to Our Society”.

I watched n took some notes, wanna share with all of you… Here are some questions and opinions that I found interesting and rather new… Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions okie? =]

1. Once the offender has accepted and finished his punishment under The Law, does that mean that he has been responsible of his own offences, and therefore shdnt be biased by society anymore?

One of the panelists, Mr Chai Shen Jiang, the Vice-Editor of “Wo3 Bao4” (My Paper), said that:

“There are 2, or even 3 layers of punishments, namely, Law, Society and Moral! Even if the offender has finished his/her punishments under The Law, this didn’t mean that he has done the same for the Society and Moral responsibilities.” In other words, even the offender has take up his/her responsibilities for the offences under The Law, it may not necessarily means tt that’s the end of the story. The real punishment only starts when you step urself out of the jail.”

Wont it be too cruel to the offender?

2. The other panelist, Mr Wong Ming De, said that, “When we were young and made a mistake, our parents would always say as long as we admitted the mistake and remorsed, then our parents would forgive us and give us another chance. Why cant we further broaden our love and forgiveness to a larger picture?”

I believe all of us had heard “The Story of Mr Washington”, we want other ppl to forgive us and give us chances, why cant we do the same to others?

If you are the family member of the victim, will you still forgive the offender?

3. Singaporeans are nt very forgiving, bt are very forgetting. =x Maybe a while later, we wont even rmb who are Mr Durai and Mr Richard Yong and wad they had done liao…

Will we? =x

4. You cant give yourself any excuses to make a mistake or commit a crime. You cant expect ppl to forgive you, even after you have been punished under The Law.

I think this was very true. Sometimes I myself also made some mistakes and gave some excuses. Hm… I was a shallow person honestly, I nd your opinions, if nobody forgives us even after we have been punished, then wads the use of punishment? Juz for punishing so that the victim will feel fair? Or juz simply to deter ppl from committing crimes? (Eh, dont gt me wrong, Both are important, can is that all?)

5. Once you did a bad thing, no one will rmb all the good things that you have done…

Mr Durai has done extremely well for the fund-raising, making the NKF the richest NGO in Singapore. I nt sure when did he start to do all the bad things, bt I am sure at first, he was quite okie, isn’t he? If nt he wont be appointed to be the CEO at the first place rite?

If Mr Lee Ming Shun has been jailed and maybe nxt time be the “Road Safety” Ambassador, I think we will accept him bah… Bt if Mr Durai is back and be some “Charity Ambassador” or sth, can we accept him??? Hm…

6. One of the guests, Mr Jacky, was an ex-offender. He didn’t mind to show his real face in front of the national tv, bt at first he was behind the box because he said that he has to take care of the feeling of his family members and company, even though he said that his family, sons, or company have accepted his past.

Then Mr Chai Shen Jiang mentioned, “ Isnt it an irony, his family members, friends and company said that they have accepted his past, bt DO mind that Mr Jacky shown his face up in the national tv… Hm…

(Mr Jacky eventually shown himself up in his real face. Kudos for him! =))

The question is: The offender himself doesn’t mind, it is his family and friends mind… So whose problem is it? The offender himself? Or our society is simply nt forgiving enough? =x

7. I found this rather interesting… I found out that the most of the ex-offenders are employed only for the low-skill jobs. I think of this, “If you are an ex-offender, and you have a degree, can you still find a job in office and companies?