Letter about Graciousness
to the Forum page of Today
A VSS member sent the
following letter to Today newspaper. It doesn’t seem to have been
published.
I refer to “Gracious,
really? 90 per cent of Singaporeans think so”, (March 12) and the
reply by Mr Rick Lim Say Kong (March 16).
Perhaps we need an expanded definition of graciousness. Gandhi
wrote that a nation’s “moral progress can be judged by the way its
animals are treated”. These non-human animals are the weakest among
us. They cannot speak for themselves; they depend on us to protect
them. Is not the strong caring for the weak a key component of
graciousness?
Fortunately, Singapore’s track record in regard to the treatment of
our fellow animals displays many positives and shows promise of
further improvement. For example, local organizations such as
Acres, Cat Welfare Society, Action for Singapore Dogs, House Rabbit
Society, Animal Lovers League and Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals demonstrate people’s commitment to treating our
fellow animals properly.
In terms of legal protection for other animals, laws are in place
in Singapore and being enforced to stop the trafficking of wild
animals, such as turtles, and the harming of domestic animals, such
as cats.
While we still have room for improvement in how we treat domestic
and wild animals, our treatment of factory farmed animals, such as
chickens and pigs, stands out as the area where our graciousness
towards other animals needs the most improvement. Worldwide, humans
consume more than 50 billion land animals annually, and in
Singapore we consume millions. Whether these helpless creatures are
raised and killed here does not matter; our dollars make it
happen.
The large majority of
these animals live short, miserable lives confined from birth in
cramped unnatural conditions. For instance, the typical chicken
lives but six weeks, seldom seeing the sun, squeezed into a space
about the size of an A4 piece of paper.
However, even in the area
of meat eating, Singapore shines compared to the majority of the
world’s countries. With approximately 4.5 million people, we boast
about 400 dedicated vegetarian restaurants and stalls, with
vegetarian options available at many non-vegetarian
eateries.
Furthermore, my
unscientific observation is that more people here are eating less
meat. Recently, a medical doctor told me that she is eating less
meat and dairy because of their effect on global warming, and a
professor told me that he eats less meat due to his revulsion over
the treatment of factory farmed animals.
Therefore, as to our
treatment of our fellow animals, it does seem that Singapore
already does relatively well and has the potential to continue as a
model for other countries.