Newspaper Review Two

Date: 8 December 2008
Title: They kidnap your mind for life
From: The Straits Time B2

Introduction:

Five years ago, there was a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia. A Singaporean, Ms Sheikha Zulaikha Mattar, recounts what had happened then. She and her colleagues were at a barbeque pit fixing their dinner when they heard gunshots and saw fire works from afar, thinking that it was nothing serious, they continue with their activities.

Later they knew it was a terrorist attack as bombing started. The bombing had happened just right behind her and she was being thrown over the pool, situated at the residence, by the impact of the bomb. After the bombing, shooting started. Ms Zulaikha, unconscious then was being dumped into the debris-littered pool by an anonymous person. It was a temporary hideout for them from the terrorist shootings.

When the coast was clear, she ran quickly as she could with her blinded colleague and hid in an attacked house. Help came and till today, she still can recall vividly what had happened. The incident is traumatizing for this lady.

Reflection:

This incident left a scar in her life like the Singaporeans who went through terrorist attacks previously. If I were her, I would probably panic. This also tells me that terrorist attacks can happen anywhere and we should be vigilant and alert at all times. Ms Zulaikha’s ability to react in such event deserves to be praise too.

I can infer that the comfortable life that we are leading now somehow cause us to think that we are terrorist-attack-free. But the incident in Mumbai, Bali and United States show the opposite. Probably because it never happened to us before so we simply ignored the possibility and let our guards down. If we let our guards down, terrorist would strike easily.

Vigilance has also build up over the years as I looked at the past terrorist attacks in Singapore. (Indicated in the article) Life still carries on after the attacks to prevent the terrorist from getting what they want, which is to see us in a sorry state. We should stand up against them not using arms and violence but by using intelligence.

Lynn