|
Today I find myself living in one of the safest cities in the world, Singapore. But the truth is, even here in Singapore, security cannot be taken for granted. It is a small nation that has no natural resources to speak of, even something as basic as water is constantly threatened to be cut off by Malaysia. The ubiquitous Al-Qaeda network in the form of Jemaah Islamiyah is on this tiny island as well, a plot to bomb American soldiers near Yishun MRT was uncovered by the Singapore authorities months after the September 11 attacks on US soil. Singapore captured those men, but since then bombs have gone off in Manila, Zamboanga and Bali most likely perpetrated by the same group. So do we really believe we can find all the terrorists, not only of today but of the future? The United Nations (and its previous incarnations) has tried for more than a century to architect peace for the world. But it has clearly failed. The grand scale horrors of the World Wars may have stopped but only in the forms they had existed before. When the enemy is unseen and there are no front lines, when death can be ingested, touched or merely inhaled, have we in fact created a more peaceful and secure place? Where have we gone wrong? This time even our hindsight is not perfect. Perhaps it is because the international body has never understood that peace was, is and never will be something it can engineer nor administer. Not recognising this truth, the remedies it provides are often ephemeral and sometimes even dangerous. Solutions for threatening situations tend to be doled out in formulaic economic and political reforms. Often the reform requires the “delinquent”country to be more like America or Britain and its idealised democratic society. The UN fails to consider, however, that hundreds of years of evolution, not sudden imposition, gave rise to these strong democracies. Thus, almost always, the result of intervention has not been an empowered people but further corruption and chaos. Worse for them. Worse for all of us. Of course the installment of UN peacekeepers to prevent further violence is not always unwelcome. East Timor, Bosnia and Cambodia are grateful for the help in stopping the bloodshed. Neither has each effort by the international body failed. So in place of artificial, temporary measures such as economic sanctions and imposed political reformation, the UN should instead busy itself in building institutions that are respectful of the world's many social and cultural differences. There needs to be the creation of dialogue and forums and circumstances that allow opposing sides to find common goals and interests. And it cannot be at the political level; it cannot be among leaders of countries. These institutions of education, affirmation and inspiration should rise where the people live. For truly, although a government or international body cannot possess peace to give away or apportion, there are those who do possess it. Those who own peace are us, as individuals who cherish life, not our own, but all others. The act of achieving peace lies in us when we choose to respect our differences and appreciate that all our lives are fragile. Foreign Minister of Israel Shimon Peres who resigned recently puts it this way; “Peace is a matter of an agreement, not a matter of imposition, not a matter of a one-sided act, not a matter of power. A good neighbour is always better than the best of guns that you can acquire.” In a world increasingly helpless and desperate, looking towards the government or international bodies to right the wrong in the world today, the policy and power of peace and security in fact belongs to the individual. The government cannot stop a lone terrorist from killing. However, a compassionate neighbour can. At the end of the day, no place is safe, unless we, as individuals, decide to make it so. The day we learn to guard and cherish each other is the only day that security can make its home. (The writer, an expatriate living in Singapore, has studied and worked in the US.)
|
我目前住在新加坡，一个可说是非常安全的都市。不过，就算在这儿，人们也不能视安全为理所当然。新加坡是一个没有天然资源的小国，连基本的水供也时常面对被马来西亚切断的威胁。 似乎无所不在的卡伊达恐怖组织，也以回教祈祷团的形式在这里出现。回教祈祷团在义顺地铁站放置炸弹，炸死美国军事人员的阴谋，在九一一事件发生后几个月，被新加坡当局揭发，一些成员也被捕。 然而，连串爆炸事件过后在马尼拉、三宝颜和峇厘岛发生，它们很可能是回教祈祷团所干。 我们真的相信可以逮捕现有和未来的所有恐怖分子吗？ 联合国（和它的前身）尝试为世界创造和平已经超过一个世纪，但它明显的失败了。像两次世界大战那么大规模的惨剧虽然没有重演，但改变的可能只是形式而已。 当我们看不到敌人，战场也没有前线，而死亡可能在接触、吞食或呼吸的瞬息间发生，我们可以说已经制造了一个更和平和安全的世界吗？ 我们哪里做错了？这回就算事后孔明也没有令人满意的解释。可能国际组织一直不明白，通过操纵的方式永远不能带来和平。 它们往往提供短暂甚至危险的补救办法，也认为解决危机的良方是经济和政治改革。所谓的改革一般上是要求“问题国家”变得更像美国或英国，或者他们理想中的民主社会。联合国似乎没有考虑到，美国和英国的民主制度是经过几百年的时间逐步发展形成，同样的制度不能强加于其他国家。 国际社会干预的结果几乎都是造成更多的贪污和动乱，受干预国家的人民并没有因此获得更多的权力。情况对他们来说比以前更糟，对世人来说也一样。 当然，帮助制止更多暴力事件的联合国维和部队，并不是到处不受欢迎。东帝汶、波斯尼亚和柬埔寨都非常感激和平部队协助他们停止国内的血腥冲突。联合国的努力也不是每一回都以失败收场。 联合国应该致力于建设尊重不同国家的社会和文化习俗的机制，取代施加经济制裁和政治改革等不切实际和非长远的措施。 不同意见的各方，需要有商谈和讨论的空间，寻找共同的利益和目标。这样的沟通不应该局限于政治层面和国与国之间。另外，公众也应该有机会接受教育、肯定自己和发挥理想。 政府和国际组织虽然不能给予人们和平，但是，人们却能让自己享有和平。人们不但应该珍惜自己的生命，也应该珍惜他人的生命。当我们选择尊重彼此间的不同，意识到生命的脆弱，我们便能取得和平。 最近刚提交辞呈的以色列外长佩雷斯曾说：“和平是一种协议，不能强行施加，不是单方面的行为，也不是权力的表现。一个好邻居永远比你所能获得的最具威力枪支来得强。” 世界局势越来越显得绝望和无助，人们实际上肩负维持和平和安全的责任。政府不能阻止一个独来独往的恐怖分子滥杀无辜，一个充满同情心的邻居却可能阻止悲剧的发生。 归根结底，除非每个人都选择并确保和平，天底下没有任何地方是安全的。只有当我们学会珍惜和维护彼此，我们才能长久的享有和平。 ·作者曾在美国读书和工作，目前旅居新加坡。叶琦保译。
|
