Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2005 9:50 PM
Subject: Appeal to restore the Stray Cat Rehab Scheme (SCRS)
26th February 2005
Dear Prime Minister Lee
Your budget stood out this year as one with a heart. Generous perks not withstanding, what resonates and stood out must be your call for ”acts of kindness and compassion in a community bound together in a social compact that makes us care for each other and support the vulnerable – this way we will become a caring and inclusive society”.
For those of us who believe that the world is made for all living things, we hope that your definitions of “vulnerable” and “inclusive” are in the same vein as those expressed by many great thinkers of the last and present century.
Mahatma Gandhi pronounced that “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
His words were echoed by Alfred Einstein when he said “A human being is a part of a whole, called by us - universe -… He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… This delusion is a kind of prison for us… Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
Milan Kundera, in The Unbearable Lightness of Being remarked “True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when the recipient has no power. Man’s true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from the view) consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals… “
If the caring and inclusive society you spoke of, has as one of its corner stones, acts of kindness and compassion to animals, may we sincerely ask you to consider restoring the Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme (SCRS) that was abruptly terminated during the SARS crisis in 2003.
This restoration will drive home several messages aligned to your call for a community bound together by a social compact:
- that social problems cannot simply be wished away or dismissed. Mental or physical extermination whether it is shutting out aging parents from our lives or culling cats do not strengthen the moral fibre of society.
There are long-term repercussions which often rebound in a vicious cycle.
Milan Kundera described man’s lack of compassion to animals as “a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.” Rather, a better sense of community would spring from a society dedicated towards solving its problems creatively and in respecting life.
- that acts of kindness to animals are not “misguided compassion”. Like any act of kindness they have intrinsic value because they spring from the purest of motives. Restoring SCRS will extend the recognition of community volunteerism to many Singaporeans who, compelled by their own sense of humanity, spend their own time, money and energy to help sterilise, nurse, feed and rehome stray, injured and abused cats. Every good act in life should be applauded, regardless of the recipient.
Sir, by restoring the SCRS you will be sending a strong signal to the Singapore community and the world at large that the height of our country’s achievements is matched by the depth of her social consciousness. We will then be closer to realising a caring and inclusive society buttressed by acts of kindness and compassion that value EVERY FORM OF LIFE — whether it BE a tree, a cat or a human being, presently down and out.
Thank you.
50 signatures
