Apathy is defined in the Oxford Online Dictionary as follows:

1. Freedom from, or insensibility to, suffering; hence, freedom from, or insensibility to, passion or feeling; passionless existence.
2. Indolence of mind, indifference to what is calculated to move the feelings, or to excite interest or action.

The system of Death Penalty in Singapore is a contentious issue, even though there has not been a widespread public debate on the whether death penalty is justified and effective. This may be due to Singaporeans having grown accustomed to the mentality that "If we did not have the death penalty, crime would soar and Singapore would be crawling with murderers and drug traffickers". However, this claim is difficult to justify and there has not been any comprehensive study to verify the truth of the statement, ie whether the administration of death penalty indeed has a deterrent effect on criminals and especially so with regards to drug traffickers.

"Nuclear power plants certainly has a future in Asia because Asia is developing and requires enormous amount of energy for development" -Manoon Aramrattana, deputy secretary general of Thailand's Office of Atomic Energy for Peace

From an environmental standpoint, nuclear power is the cleanest and safest way to generate large amounts of energy. Nuclear energy emits no harmful gases or toxic metals into the environment and its yield is extremely high. One pound of uranium produces 20,000 times more energy than one pound of coal. It is also viable as a long term solution as the supply of 238 Uranium, which fuel breeder reactors, is enough to last us for thousands of years to come. It contributes to the reason why many countries are implementing or considering nuclear power.

Lynchpin and Gears
When the British decided to pull out, South East Asia was nowhere near what she is today. “Singapore was the lynchpin, take her out, what do you make out of it,” Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, the previous Prime Minister of Singapore commented. As a lynchpin is a metal part used in mechanical engineering to prevent a wheel or other rotating part from sliding off the axle it is riding on, Mr. Lee was describing Singapore’s pivotal role. In the twenty first century, one can literally see and feel the prodigious transition of each individual country’s presence. Singapore is probably still a lynchpin but in the coming years, we are transmuting from the lynchpin to a gear. As a matter of fact, all countries in ASEAN are playing the roles of the gears. Only by working in tandem and harmoniously is ASEAN able to function efficiently and effectively.

The modern state as one knows it has its historical origins in the treaty of Westphalia. Also known as the Peace of Westphalia, it refers to the pair of treaties, the Treaty of Osnabrück and the Treaty of Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24 of 1648 respectively, which ended both the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War.

The ramifications of the treaty of Westphalia have greatly influenced the formation of the modern state. For Germany, the settlement ended the century-long struggle between the monarchical tendencies of the Holy Roman emperors and the federalistic aspirations of the empire's German princes. The Peace of Westphalia recognizes the full territorial sovereignty of the member states of the empire. This meant that within its own territory, each state has absolute sovereignty, total monopoly over the use of force to defend its rights which is seen as inalienable.