7/22/2008

Would Singaporeans be motivated by money?

In Parliament Kan Seng announced that a $1m bounty is waiting for anyone who squealed on Mas Selamat's whereabout and leading to his recapture. What he emphasised is that the money is from private individuals, not from the govt. Maybe the govt does not believe that people can be motivated to work for money. But apparently the two individuals thought so. And they would like to sacrifice half a million each to motivate the poor Singaporeans to look out for Mas Selamat. Will it work? Is money that important in the psyche of Singaporeans that they will not work harder to capture Mas Selamat? Why won't Singaporeans go out and hunt for him in the name of country and nation? What happen to the selfless Singaporeans that believe in some virtues like sacrificing for the nation, dying for the nation, instead of working just for money? The other point to note is that till now, 5 months after his 'escape', there is not a thread of news on his whereabout. There are two possibilities. He is long dead in the wilderness. That explains why no one knows where he is. The second explanation, more frightening, is that the people who helped him to escape and harbouring him, are damn professional, committed and will protect him at all cost. And these are people who are unlikely to be moneyminded. They are unlikely to sell him out for money. People who are motivated by a cause will die for the cause, like those suicide bombers. Money is not important to them. Money only motivates the superficials or those who need money. As a country, we need to motivate our people to work, sacrifice and die for the country on more noble causes or on some silly idealism. This kind of motivators will beat money anytime. Our NS men will die and fight for the country even if they are paid a pittance. Without such sense of duty and commitment to a nation, we are as good as a goner. The $1m will be a test to see if Mas Selamat's accomplices could be bribed by it. And if $1m is too little, maybe gradually increase the stake and see how much will they bite. Eventually the price should be high enough to move some of them, hopely.

6 comments:

Mockingbird said...

S$1 = 1m Indonesian rupiah; no small amount of money for any poor Indonesian.

Then again, i'm not sure if any amount of money is enuff to tempt a truly devout follower of Mas Selamat.

Mockingbird said...

Of coz we are motivated by money, but does anyone of us have any info about MSK's current whereabouts?

Anonymous said...

I was wondering, after 5 months, why now? Out of the blue and from two private individuals too.

Anonymous said...

how come the govt did not put up a reward earlier? Create a problem and expect the private sector to provide a solution....? :-(

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

that you got to ask them. they see things from their own perspective. we see it from ours.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they know some things that we mortals do not. Like what the immortal one said about the next ten years being promising, when almost everyone else seems to have a different take.