What is the price of the future of an innocent 7-year-old?
Police arrested 11 people in connection with the cold-blooded chopping of seven-year-old Shum Ho Yin in Kwai Chung. Among them, two 16-year-old schoolboys were believed to be the hitmen although Yin's stepmother was thought to be the mastermind behind the assault.
i don't know the inside story. But it is unjust, to say the least, to brutally hurt an innocent boy. The mastermind, whoever he or she is, is insane. It is even horrible to hear that a sum of several thousands of dollars, no matter what the amount is, could motivate a gang of people to commit the crime.
Don't be shocked if you hear a hitman say: "Don't blame me on this. I just take the job whoever assign it for whatever reasons." Maybe, such a reckoning comes from the heroic movies or other nonsense.
The society seems to have long adopted this kind of absurd idea that an executor is just doing "the job", and as long as it is a "job" there is no value judgment.
"...I am just the messenger, don't shoot the messenger..." Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly, in its latest issue, quoted Regina Ip, former security chief as saying, recalling her stance during the legislation process of the National Security Bill in 2003, which was withdrawn shortly after half a million people took to the street. She wasn't the mastermind behind the scene. But the fact that she stepped down right afterwards illustrates that one cannot escape from the responsibility of a wrongdoing even though he plays the executor's role. This is out of question by morality, needless to say by law, in the aforesaid criminal cases.
What is the price of the fulfillment of benefactors?
Thousands of people, most being elderly, queued up for hours, for a bag of rice distributed during ceremonies designed to appease the spirits and bring good fortune to the living. An old woman died and several other elderly collapsed amidst the heat and the crowd. Some of them arrived as early as 19 hours in advance. And people rushed and elbowed one another when the distribution started. These ceremonies are common in the late summer season and apparently out of control as the crowds grow.
According to news reports, some go there for the rice while some for the blessing. Some others enjoy the company of their friends, as they have got nothing to do alone anyway. After the tragedy, people blamed the elderly for their greed for a plain bag of rice. But i cannot agree. The elderly themselves are the victims.
The government is looking for alternative way to distribute the rice bags, but some organizers are reluctant to adopt any changes. One skeptical organizer said the benefactors actually enjoy seeing a big crowd desperately pushing around to get the rice, so that they feel they are doing something really important to the needy.
Instead, i put the blame on those organizers who ignore the safety of the needy, especially the elderly, in order to fulfill the benefactors' ego.
One of the alternatives proposed by the government is to register the recipients in separate locations, and deliver the rice bags straight to the recipients' homes. i believe that is an effective measure to avoid the competing atmosphere built among the participants that could lead to disasters.
What is the price of the independence of a research report?
Two analysts from separate securities houses were charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of writing favorable reports on two listed companies in reward for bribes. One was said to have received $20,000 and the other $20,000 plus a palm phone.
Earlier, Nicholas Tan, former executive director of UBS AG, Louis Lin, former director of SBI E2-Capital China, and Adrian Foo, former fund manager of ING Investment Management Asia Pacific (HK) were each jailed for two years. The court found that Tan, Lin and Foo received $591,000, $1.2 million and $800,000, respectively, for the purchase of Kwong Hing shares and the publication of a favorable research report.
Research analysts are responsible for their clients to deliver unbiased investment calls. The amount of money involved in the investment world is so huge that it is easy to be tempted to abuse the professional practices. The business environment in the brokerage industry has been difficult in recent years, due to fierce competition. Some research analysts take the tolls. But that provides no excuse for corruption, whatever the amount of the bribe is. Investors count on you!
What is the price of public health?
The reckless businesspeople in mainland China who sell poisonous products is no news. The government should consider public health as the top priority and take decisive measures to embargo any food that has been found poisonous. The price we paid for the SARS outbreak in 2003 was too large to afford.
Social Value
It is most convenient to borrow an excuse for the wrongdoing by saying: "Well, other people are doing that, why can't I?"
Apart from the law enforcement, which is passive, social values work at the root. There are some values that bond a city together. We tolerate nothing like violence against children, apathy about the elderly, undermining public health, and corruption. These values are more important than the opening of Disneyland theme park in making the city outshine.
We must voice our disapproval of the misbehavior and let all the people know that not only the police but also the whole society is watching. The media, which are often criticized for offending people's privacy and publishing bloody pictures, are doing the right job of surveillance in the aforesaid cases.
Sep 7, 2005
Copyright Quamnet
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