St Margaret’s Prelim Paper.

1. St Margaret’s Prelim Paper.

2. Study Source A. • Are you surprised by what the source says about Singapore’s ability to fight terrorism? • Possible structure to adopt: • I am largely surprised by what the source says. (Back up with evidence + cross-ref) • However, I am not surprised that he says that … because (Back up with evidence + cross-refer) • Conclusion: Ultimately, although there are some points which are not surprising, I was on the whole surprised by what it says because…

3. Are you surprised by what the source says about Singapore’s ability to fight terrorism? • Yes, I am very surprised by what the source says about Singapore’s inability to fight terrorism. • He says that he does not think that Singapore has the “ability to take care of ourselves” because we are a “small country” where the government “has not really done much to improve the situation.” • This is very surprising, as even though Singapore is indeed a small country, the government has however mobilised a large part of its resources to combating terrorism. This is seen clearly in the background information which details the ‘Total Defence’ approach – “measures which involve all levels of society” to defeating terrorism, as well as international collaborative efforts which shows how Singapore’s small physical size does not hinder her large contribution to the international counterterrorism efforts.

4. Are you surprised by what the source says about Singapore’s ability to fight terrorism? • Moreover, Singapore’s vigilance towards the fight against Terrorism is also seen in Source B. Contrary to Source A, the government has been putting considerable though and planning and resources into the fight against terrorism over the past four years. It is therefore surprising that despite this, Source A still feels that the “government has not done much to improve the situation.”

5. Are you surprised by what the source says about Singapore’s ability to fight terrorism? • However, I am not surprised that Source A has doubts about the government’s ability to fight terrorism, as Source C rightly pointed out that “the escape of Mas Selamat is a good example of how incompetent our agencies have become.” Moreover, the fact that Mas Selamat is a home-grown terrorist shows that terrorists have exploited the racial division amongst Singaporeans to instigate them to fight against their own people.

6. Are you surprised by what the source says about Singapore’s ability to fight terrorism? Although the source has some valid observations, I am on the whole surprised by what it says, as I do not believe that Singapore’s small size is a hindrance to its efforts to fight terrorism. It is very surprising that the blogger still thinks that the government has not done enough despite the wide-spread efforts to counter the terrorist threats, that has mobilised the whole society, and even the international community.

7. Study Sources B and C How similar are the 2 sources? Explain your answer.

8. How similar are the 2 sources? Explain your answer. • Similar in what sense? • This is a very open question, so you must close it with the issue. “Can Singapore defeat Terrorism?”

9. How similar are the 2 sources? Explain your answer. • Although the sources are similar in that they both agree that Singapore’s openness as a society makes it difficult to combat the threat of terrorism, they are very different in their assessments of whether Singapore can defeat terrorism. • That they agree can be seen from Source B where it says “we remain vulnerable to terrorist attacks so long as we are an open country and an open society.” Moreover, Source C also observed that “these terrorists are everywhere . They have easy access to arms and bombs.” Hence they are similar in that they agree that Singapore’s openness as a society makes it difficult to combat terrorism

10. How similar are the 2 sources? Explain your answer. • However, they are different in their assessments of whether Singapore can defeat terrorism. • Source B is confident that because of the “considerable thought and planning, and considerable resources” that has been put into the fight, that it is possible to keep terrorism at bay. In addition, it speaks of a nationally coordinated efforts to ensure that Singapore can effectively tackle terrorism. • In contrast, Source C is dismissive of these measures. Seen from “can we seriously assume that the gvernment is able to tackle the problems? They can’t even help themselves.” It also rebuffs the government’s efforts to combat terrorism by suggesting that the government ministries have not quite worked together to combat terrorism.

11. How similar are the 2 sources? Explain your answer. • They are also different in their perspectives. • While Source B adopts a balanced perspective in that it admits Singapore’s vulnerabilities despite efforts, nonetheless it also shows that Singapore has been trying to combat the threat and has been largely successful • However, Source C is very one sided as it harps on the failure of the government to manage a particular incident (Mas Selamat’s escape) to brand government’s efforts as being meaningless.

12. How similar are the 2 sources? Explain your answer. They are also different in their purpose. As Source B is an official source, which was presented at the 2nd Regional Special Forces Counter Terrorism Conference, its purpose is to highlight the measures that the government has taken to combat terrorism, and thereby reassure Singaporeans as well as Singapore’s partners in combating terrorism about the government’s commitment to the cause. However, Source C is an unofficial source whose purpose is to criticize the inadequate measures that the government has in place, so as to put pressure on them to foster greater cooperation between various ministries and thereby become even more effective in its efforts to combat terrorism.