Of a tourist attraction and death of a countryman

So I am done with my mid-semester tests, which explains the long absence of posts here. Let's see, what happened in the span of nearly 10 days. A Filipino magician/flourisher Jenil paid Singapore a 3 day 2 night visit as a detour for Lee Asher's Malaysia lecture, it was a nice experience to receive a guest and play host, especially if it's a flourishing exchange. So basically, I had to slow down my usual pace of going through things and explain how travelling using public transport is done, what kind of food we usually have, how to order things, and general information about a glorious place called Singapore *ERP annoyances and crowded trains*. It's nice to explain such things to a visitor, it makes one appreciate the country and the systems slighty more. Tour-guide tendencies aside, I hope Jenil doesn't feel too odd when the rest of us speak Singlish or Chinese or when the food here doesn't suit his taste. It was a chaotic visit, as he only got to getting the bus ticket to Malaysia on the final day here or so. Really last minute. Regardless of that, it was a pleasant experience.

Now, for the grave end of the spectrum of discussing about my country. Lo Hwei Yen, a Singaporean has been brutally slain (at least that's what said from the press) by yet another group of religious extremists (sigh) in Mumbai on Friday night. Unsure of how and why she was killed, all I have to say that it is most tragic and unfortunate. I am sure the close ones of the deceased wouldn't want to find out the details of how she ceased life either, for it will bring greater pain and less possibility of a closure. But why she was chosen to be killed was a paramount question. I know that she was a very difficult position between choosing for her life or informing the government of Singapore, because she had known of the attack before it's been publicised (the terrorists asked her to tell the Singaporean government not to inform the Indian authorities, quite a retarded and logically flawed statement made by the terrorists, in my opinion). And, the terrorists wanted her to either stay silent or die. I guess her deeply rational lawyer-instincts made her inclined to do the righteous thing and forgone the thought that she might most probably lose her life in the midst of justifying her lawyer-instincts. I don't know if it's appropriate to refer her to the title of a "martyr", yes because she died in a terrorism siege and did the righteous thing according to what the common folksmen of Singapore has been saying on the streets. No because we are entirely unsure of what really happened and those Jihad-mad loonies might have just killed anybody who appeared to be an annoyance in their captivity.

I was just reasoning with myself about those Jihad activists, didn't their thick unpenetrative cranial matter hinted to them that since repeated attempts of such holy activities usually ended up in utter failure and comtempts of mankind, maybe, just maybe(!!), they are doing it in the entire wrong way and that they should just give up about an Islamic world with Allah (or whatever they wanted to campaign for, couldn't care less for their terminology and taglines), pack up and head back home and try lead a normal life. "Pick up a hobby, go to the library and read more, go on a trek, socialise with old friends, I heard it works!", that is my advice to them.

The only crime is stupidity. Get away from organisations. Question oneself. Use your brain ah! =(

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