Ministries

Ministries are created to govern the needs of society. Sure, the problems that the world currently face cannot exactly be classified solely under the jurisdiction of politics or economy. Still, that aside, the presence of a ministry governing finance and trade indicates the nation's commitment towards boosting such sectors of its society. Israel, for example, has a Ministry of Agriculture. Yet, there is no need for that in a country like Singapore; hence the lack.

Of course, in Singapore, things are always a little more complicated; there are statutory boards, and then there are ministries. Most boards fall under a ministry, but some do not. Whichever one it falls under, the physical embodiment of a particular field of development is still always indicative of a government's priorities.

Why then, I must query, is there nothing about the moral development of the society?

The newspapers endlessly report about Singaporeans exhibiting very self-profiting acts of disconsideration, often at the expense of others. The reports often draw tirades of chiding from other readers. Still, the issue remains that nothing is being done about it. In this aspect then, we are great hypocrites. We insist on instilling in our young a strong sense of moral and values, yet do nothing to reinforce this when mature in age. Our actions regarding this suggest something very sinister: that to us, moral development is something very childish. Sure, it does nothing to boost our GDP per capita; it in fact stands very firmly in the face of upward mobility -- the monetarily successful have always been the more mercenarically driven. So then it must come to this: do we want a people who can make our country rich or do we want citizens who invite respect?

Thus far, we have been content with banishing such considerations into the categories of parental nurturing. Yet, sex education, an issue similarly categorised, receives a lot of support from the government in terms of parental talks. Why then the disparity? Perhaps, it is because morality is a very dilemmatic issue. For even as parents tell their children of morals to live their life by, they often end with an additional clause of "but discernment must always be exercised." It is as though the passing on of moral awareness is but merely a formality; one that parents themselves do not fully agree with.

And so we are faced with negative reinforcement of the same ideals that morals are impractical, but good to have. The children who grow up without proper inculcation of morals are eventually tasked with passing on the same morals -- but how, when their belief in it is heavily eroded? These same people then eventually grow up to become a part of the government, and similarly then banish the teaching of such morals to the arbitrary umbrella of "family jurisdiction."

And thus the cycle continuously repeats itself. And thus people will keep complaining. And thus everything stays the same.

Perhaps it might be a childish proposal, but is it not time we had a Ministry of Moral Development, then?