Sunday times- "Indecent proposals"

6/5/2007 page 4

It is shocking to know that men in Singapore are so desperate. Why are they seeking for satisfaction in young girls, as young as thirteen years old? Is it because they are looking for new and "creative" ways of entertainment? Or is it that they feel that it is a challenging way for satisfying their satisfaction? I think it is because of the society which they are living in now. There are more pressures and challenges which people are facing with right now as compared to the past ten years ago. In order to cope with these problems, some men started to seek other ways of entertainment in attempt to relieve their stress. One way is to go to chat rooms and asking young girls for indecent proposals.

Another shocking fact is that young girls are no longer as innocent as their age seem. It is sad that many of the consequences that they face in entering a chat room are due to their actions and it is thus, they deserved it. Why do they have to lead themselves into trouble by entering a chat room? It could be due to they want to discover a new way of making friends in the internet. Although they may know about the undesirable consequences which they may face, they would think that they are able to avoid them and able to handle them. However, many times, this is not the case. There are many news reports which show on the undesirable consequences which happened such as girls as young as thirteen getting rape due to entering a chat room and agreeing to meet up with the new friend she have made.

I hope that this article would help to discourage young girls from entering chat rooms by showing the possibilities of what undesirable consequences which may happen to them if they do so. I also wish to advise parents to keep a look out on their daughters who are below fifteen in entering chat rooms. If possible, try to discourage them from doing so by telling them the various consequences.

Should the salaries of ministers be increased?

I agree to the increase in the salaries of the ministers and the civil servants. Firstly, it would attract more people in joining the civil service. This means that there would be more people serving the country and more talented people would contribute to the civil service. Secondly, people in the civil service and the ministries would be more motivated to work even harder to suggest better policies and improve the lives of Singaporeans. Lastly, I feel that those, who had contributed to the civil service and had worked hard over the years, deserve a decent pay hike.

However, there would be many problems due to the increase of the salaries of the ministers and civil servants. One of them is the corruption level in Singapore's civil service may rise. This is because one could be honest at first when they just started working in the civil service. But as they rise up to higher positions, they may want more. As such, they may resort to bribery. Next problem would be the lower grade staff may not be happy with the increase of salaries of the ministers because their pay did not increase much but the ministers' pay increase and also is one of the highest pay in the world. They may feel that it is unfair and many of them are not high educated. Thus, they require a better explanation and understanding on why the ministers and civil servants' pay increased. Another problem is that the government have to think of ways on how to ensure the integrity of all the ministers and civil servants would remain after the rise of their salaries.

Will the ministers serve us better if their salaries are increased? Or they still maintain the way it is now or worse than now? The crucial thing is that the government has to ensure and prove to the people in Singapore that increasing the salaries of the ministers and the civil servants is worth it.

Word list

1. Robustness- the quality or state of having abundant or intense activity

2. Fester-aggravate

3. Dispel-scatter

4. Tenure-term

5.Phenomenal-extraordinary

6. Ingenuity-creativity

7. Turbulent-unstable

+me+

I am michelle from 06/07. Previously from Yio Chu Kang Sec, I was from choir. Now, currently in photographic society, I may end up with no cca again, due to the interview. My first three months cca was choir, however I quit as I feel it was too tough for me as the standard is really high, completely different from my secondary school standard although the achievement for my secondary school's is only two awards away from ajc's.

My hobbies are swimming, going online, watching movies with my friends and shopping. I love to cycle and really want to learn rollar blading. I guess i will end here. ^^