Terrorism around us

Nowadays, when we open the newspaper, the first thing we see on the front page is always 'this place was bombed by terrorists', or 'the terrorists strike again' .Indeed we face terrorism everyday but we should try to curb it at least.

An example of terrorism is the recent hijacking of the plane by a single armed terrorist. At gunpoint, any pilot would have been scared to death and done whatever the terrorist wanted. But the pilot, seeing that the terrorist did not understand French, used it to his advantage. By the work of the pilot and several passengers, they were able to subdue the terrorist and bring him to the police. This act of heroism by the pilot was unprecedented. This example also goes to show how real terrorism can get; it can strike anywhere, anytime.
We should all take a stand in preventing these kinds of disasters from happening; already the government has taken action by placing up posters and such to remind us of what we should do to prevent terrorism. However, knowing what to do is not enough; it is the lack of courage that we Singaporeans face. Everyone is always scared to call the police when they see a package or a bag because if it was not a bomb, it would have all been for nothing and they would ‘lose face’. It is this fact alone that still prevents us from being a hundred percent safe from terrorists. I feel that it is always better to be safe then sorry, especially in this circumstance. Imagine the chaos and panic if a bomb exploded in Singapore. Thus we must all find the courage or in some cases ‘thick skin’ to be vigilant and prevent terrorism in Singapore.
However, one person’s work is not enough. Even if the pilot had managed to knock down the hijacker, if the passengers did not pitch in to help, the hijacker could have just as easily got back on his feet and shoot the pilot. Even if the whole police force kept a 24 hour watch on the island, there have only a limited amount of resources and they cant possibly be everywhere every time. Therefore, it is up to the citizens of Singapore to help the police, to be on the lookout for anyone or anything suspicious. This applies not only to terrorism but basic crime itself.
With the combined effort and courage of all citizens in Singapore, I am sure that terrorism will slowly drift away from us. Although we will never actually be free of terrorism, we should try our best to prevent it from happening in our land.