Dear Editor,
Melvin Chung is dead — another victim of the crime epidemic. But it goes way beyond that. Mr Chung is a prominent businessman who has done a lot for the country, and as a result of his death, many people may lose their jobs, which would only add to the already high unemployment rate and further add to the decline in our economy.
But I guess the people who pulled the trigger are not in the least concerned about the national economy. The people who pulled the trigger have absolutely no concern about the pain that they have brought to the family and friends of Mr Chung.
They care only about putting money in their pockets and to hell with everyone else and the country. It is amazing the things that people would tell themselves to justify their actions. These murderers may have told themselves that they have a right to "eat a food" - to get money by any means, and everyone and everything is fair game.
This kind of thinking is not as unusual as we may think. There are a significant number of people who have developed this destructive mindset, and the only way to change it is to infiltrate the breathing ground of the indoctrination. It is not difficult to find someone in the ghetto who would commit the most vicious crimes for essentially a few dollars. Within these environments that are largely run by dons who have made themselves out to be like gods, there are a lot of so-called soldiers who are just waiting for the opportunity to prove themselves.
There is no shortage of volunteers who in some cases would do the job for a mere "30 pieces of silver," or in some instances just to prove a point. In the absence of a viable deterrent, crime and in some cases murder, have become rites of passage for many young men in these ghettos.
Consequently, our government must quit pussyfooting around the gang issue and get down to business. Gangs, regardless of the severity of their crimes, must be publicly declared as terrorist organisations and all their members immediately placed on the nation's most wanted list.
The government must make frequent public service announcements that anyone who becomes a member of a gang would be declared as having hostile and destructive intent toward the citizens and the nation, and will be punished to the full extent of the law. This would discourage many would-be gang members because the risk would now be more evident and there would be no ambiguity that the risk has far outweighed the reward.
But this is only the beginning. The government and the private sector must assist young men living in depressed communities to stay away from crime by creating community centres with emphasis on job training, psychological counselling and personal development.
Norman Edmonson
Bigupja2@hotmail.com
Melvin Chung's death goes deep
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Melvin Chung is dead — another victim of the crime epidemic. But it goes way beyond that. Mr Chung is a prominent businessman who has done a lot for the country, and as a result of his death, many people may lose their jobs, which would only add to the already high unemployment rate and further add to the decline in our economy.
But I guess the people who pulled the trigger are not in the least concerned about the national economy. The people who pulled the trigger have absolutely no concern about the pain that they have brought to the family and friends of Mr Chung.
They care only about putting money in their pockets and to hell with everyone else and the country. It is amazing the things that people would tell themselves to justify their actions. These murderers may have told themselves that they have a right to "eat a food" - to get money by any means, and everyone and everything is fair game.
This kind of thinking is not as unusual as we may think. There are a significant number of people who have developed this destructive mindset, and the only way to change it is to infiltrate the breathing ground of the indoctrination. It is not difficult to find someone in the ghetto who would commit the most vicious crimes for essentially a few dollars. Within these environments that are largely run by dons who have made themselves out to be like gods, there are a lot of so-called soldiers who are just waiting for the opportunity to prove themselves.
There is no shortage of volunteers who in some cases would do the job for a mere "30 pieces of silver," or in some instances just to prove a point. In the absence of a viable deterrent, crime and in some cases murder, have become rites of passage for many young men in these ghettos.
Consequently, our government must quit pussyfooting around the gang issue and get down to business. Gangs, regardless of the severity of their crimes, must be publicly declared as terrorist organisations and all their members immediately placed on the nation's most wanted list.
The government must make frequent public service announcements that anyone who becomes a member of a gang would be declared as having hostile and destructive intent toward the citizens and the nation, and will be punished to the full extent of the law. This would discourage many would-be gang members because the risk would now be more evident and there would be no ambiguity that the risk has far outweighed the reward.
But this is only the beginning. The government and the private sector must assist young men living in depressed communities to stay away from crime by creating community centres with emphasis on job training, psychological counselling and personal development.
Norman Edmonson
Bigupja2@hotmail.com
Melvin Chung's death goes deep
-->