Personal Response to Current Affairs

This is my second personal response to current affairs, which is on issues regarding teenagers. This article was taken from the Straits Times on February 16, 2007. The write of this article is Yap Su Yin.

Youth gambling: Nipping it in the bud

This articles talks about the importance of rooting out youth gambling, and also explores some of the interactive initiatives aimed at young potential gamblers. All teenagers, exposed to many gambling behaviours, are prone to becoming gamblers themselves in later life. It is alarming to me how often teenagers like to bet with one another in our current society. It is scary to know that I also could become a gambler if I am not aware of gambling issues.

Many teenagers develop potential gambling habits early. Parents do not emphasise the importance of not gambling that much on children, thus the children do not realise how serious the consequences of gambling can get. They start risk behaviours early, betting small amounts of money with one another on unimportant outcomes. Sometimes, these children will deny the bet and refuse to pay the other. Over time this kind of behaviour can become a habit. However, it is apparent that this kind of behaviour would not be tolerated in the real society. A worse scenario is when you gamble without thinking and land in heavy debts, threatening you and even your family life.

Though schools have given education on the consequences of gambling, the lecture format of informing the students turns them off. Undoubtedly, lectures are boring and uninteresting, leaving them disinterested and turned off. Most teenagers nowadays prefer more modern and “cool” ways of informing people, such as videos. Youths are an important group to inform on problem gambling as they are one of the groups most prone to become gamblers. This is very true as studies have shown that many Singaporeans became gamblers at a teen age. Thus, the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) has come up with new interactive methods to get anti-gambling messages across to teenagers.

One of these methods is a schools roadshow, which has mobile exhibits as well as interactive, educational games about problem gambling. Another method involves screening a short film depicting gambling issues, and followed up by getting youths to discuss the issues raised. Films and games are helpful, as these interactive methods will get the necessary message across to the teenagers more effectively than a mere talk or lecture. The discussions also help teenagers to think more critically about these gambling issues, making them realise the many pitfalls of problem gambling.

To understand this article, I need to know what attracts teenagers and what does not in order to understand the rationale in organising these interactive events. However, as I am also a teenager, I tend to think little of potential gambling behaviours that even I occasionally demonstrate. Thus it is harder for me to understand why these organisations are making such a big fuss out of young potential gamblers. However, I have learnt that I should never treat gambling problems lightly, and should do my best to get rid of them should I ever show the potential. If there is a problem, no matter how small, it should be gotten rid of immediately.

Personal Response to Current Affairs

This is my first personal response to current affairs, which is on societal issues. This article was taken from The Straits Times on February 11, 2007. The writer of this article is Sarah Ng.


Excuses aplenty from litterbugs


Recently, cases of littering in Singapore have been rising over the past years. The author is trying to show that there are many litterbugs in Singapore, yet will go to great lengths to escape a fine if confronted by an NEA officer. This article makes one wonder why litterbugs are so desperate to escape fines, yet continue to litter. The growing number of litterbugs is indeed a worrying situation for all Singaporeans, as more litterbugs would mean more litter in our country, and that is surely not a good sign.

There are many types of littering offenders that are found in Singapore. When caught by NEA officers, some of them will try pleading for their case with incredible excuses such as litter that just happened to fall from their hands. Others might turn verbally abusive, even challenging the officers by not giving them their particulars on purpose. However, the offenders are usually cooperative as they know the severity of not cooperating with the officers—the police can be called in. Some even try to escape this by running from the NEA officers, dashing across roads and risking their lives. It is great wonder why they would risk their lives just to escape the fine, but do not dare to accept the fine.

As in the article, the Sunday Times did its own checks, and found that almost all who were found to be guilty of littering had a ready excuse at hand. Of course, it is true that some of these people’s excuses are real, but most of them are apparently faking it. Most merely want to avoid a fine. Thus it appears that most people litter, not because they do not know the law, or that they littered by accident, but on purpose. They just feel lazy to walk to a bin to throw their litter, stating it as being “too troublesome”. They will also try to escape a fine as much as possible. This is understandable as they would not want to lose money just for littering, a seemingly small issue.

As I am still a teenager, the education from schools about not littering has made me refrain from littering, and also made me treat litterbugs with discontent. As I do not know the exact reasons of littering, I would tend to treat most excuses of litterbugs to be false. However, it is difficult to tell who is lying and who is not in these situations. This tells me that when analysing any situation, we should not jump to conclusions, but look at the situation thoroughly first.

Ultimately, it is not the officials that keep Singapore as a clean city, it is the people that do. Singaporeans have the biggest role to play in ensuring the country’s cleanliness. Not only would Singapore be dirty and unsightly if the littering problems were to ensue, even public health would be at stake.

Thus, for the sake of everyone, we should all do our part to minimise our own littering.