During my absence until Songkran. I want all students to write 2
reflections on topics below, they are part of 4 writing assignments for the
whole course @ 10% each.
1. Essay One - Lee Kwan Yew on development and democracy.
The recently deceased former PM of Singapore Mr. Lee Kwan Yew was a
remarkable statesman from Asia who believed and proved that order is
important for development.
After separating from Malaysia in 1965, PM Lee Kwan Yew inherited an
undeveloped island with no resources. It did also did not have its own
water resources. PM Lee worked hard, implementing important rules against
corruption and no space for political opposition. He finally succeeded in
turning Singapore into a developed country.
PM Lee has been criticized in the West as being anti-democratic, , freedom
and human rights. In the attached the attached interview with Foreign
Affairs journal from USA. PM Lee remarks that it is Asian values that
helped Singapore to become a success story.
Read the interview and comment whether having only democracy and freedom
is enough for achieving development as freedom from poverty and corruption
?
2. Essay 2 - Martin Luther King and Nonviolent Protest against racism.
*King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail *
In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail because he and
others were protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. A
court had ordered that King could not hold protests in Birmingham.
Birmingham in 1963 was a hard place for blacks to live in. Everything was
segregated, from businesses to churches to libraries. Blacks faced constant
discrimination and the constant threat of violence.
To segregate is to separate from others. What this meant in Montgomery is
that blacks could only sit in certain places in restaurants, that they
could not go into certain businesses or that they could not use public rest
rooms that were for "whites only."
While King was in jail, he wrote a letter to the newspaper explaining why
he had broken the law. "I am here because injustice is here," he wrote. "I
would agree with Saint Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all.'"
Because black people had suffered injustice for so long, King believed they
should not have to wait any longer for change.
King believed nonviolence was essential for him as a man of God. He also
believed that violence would ruin the chances for change. King and others
were willing to go to jail for the cause of civil rights.
Question - Do you think nonviolence protest is enough to gain freedom from
the injustices of racism, if yes, then why are African-Americans are still
until today the underprivileged in USA ?
If not, then what more is needed to make nonviolent action successful
achieve freedom? Reflect on attached* Martin** Luthe**r King's Letter from
a Birmingham Jail*.
Here are three additional links that will help you to write you essay.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_from_Birmingham_Jail
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/king/aa_king_jail_1.html
http://www.gradesaver.com/letter-from-birmingham-…/…/summary
Please submit both essays to Mr. Kulthon on 10 April 2015. And have happy
Songkran holidays.
Ajarn Yusuf