South Korean Hostages

so the S. Korean hostages are back.
its reported that the South Korean government paid US$20 million in ransom to these terrorists. the terrorists themselves remarked that they will use this money to buy more weapons, train more people, and essentially further their terrorist cause.

jie, when you replied to my initial blog that they should die, i felt it was a little harsh. but in light now of the way their reckless actions had thrown (in your words) thrown years of diplomacy and peace works into disarray, i too agree they should have just died.

in fact frankly speaking, the government should not have intervened. i understand they are citizens of S. Korea but the government had warned them not to go already. yet they chose to defy the government's warnings. by interfering, you have elevated the issue into a political one, which serves the terrorists' purpose perfectly.

Cause or Effect?

i know this has been posted on Mr Brown show for some time already.
but i am posting this here again, i think its very thought provoking.

i am not claiming Taiwan is better than Singapore or vice versa. i think that's not the point here, nor were the commentators talking about that in the clip too. the whole thesis really is, do we care more about the cause or the effect?

i think it would be hard to argue that singapore is a worse place to live in than taiwan. our infrastructure, tax, yada yada, are all superior to taiwan, whatever measures one chooses. but how was this achieved?

the commentators mentioned a very poignant point. much of what singapore achieved was due to superior and absolute leadership. once this leadership passes on, can singapore maintain its achievements?