I read in Today paper an interview with Iraqi UNIFEM coordinator
Ms Basmah Al Khateeb.(Today, June 4-5 2005, Instead of one tyrant,
we have 3,000).
One of her answers struck a cord in me.
Here is the extract:
Q: As a former civil servant to
Saddam Husseins government what was your reaction when the United
States invaded your country?
A: We had been told for so long that we could depend on the
government that even when we saw Saddams statue toppling over, we
thought it was a trick.
We thought he would show up and fight. We did nothing because we
had become so unused to using our initiative because in the earlier
regime if you tried to do anything different, you were punished.
Saddams government had killed all our initiative and our
willingness to be part of a civil society. It had become like a
dead muscle that needed physiotherapy.
Isnt that like Singaporeans.
Isnt that like us, Singaporeans?
