tjc09_violence/Jia Yu/ 10S416

In Passage Two, the author mentions about Muslims in France being treated unequally by the locals and led to riots occurring. I agree with the author when people are given unfair treatment, they tend to use violence to express their unhappiness as these people feel this is the only way that they can attract people's attention and know more about them. However, I feel this is not the appropriate way as this can result in unnecessary bloodshed. This was once happened in Singapore, 1964, when racial riot between the Chinese and Malays occurred, leading to numbers of injuries and death. Hence, Singapore come out with policies such as having at least one minority race in every GRC, schools commorating Racial Harmony day to remind citizens to respect one another and avoid riots. Hence, criminal violence is minimal in Singapore.

In Passage One, the author states "Another observation is that murder and violence are higher in nations with the largest income inequality.". People who are very poor have to resort to criminal violence, such as theft, robbery, in order to survive as they may be unemployed or the standard living is too high for them. In Singapore, we seldom notice people resort to criminal violence due to poverty. This is because Singapore has assistance programs such as Central Provident Fund, which Singaporeans have to take charge of their finance and different subsidies for the needy people. Taxes are also exempted from those who incomes fall below $1500. Hence, people do not have to resort criminal violence and thus it is minimised.