Extracted from Strait Times ForumIT PAINS me to read about the dishonesty of our university students ('NTU hostel fined for rigging inter-hall games'; ST, Feb 1
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An event that was meant to promote sportsmanship and camaraderie was turned into a mockery of all that it aimed to be. This does not bode well for Singapore.
I am not making a moun-tain out of a molehill. If the students could do what they did for a trophy, just imagine what they would do if the stakes were much higher.
All that mattered to the students involved was winning - at all cost and by all means; even if the trophy in this case was just the title of champion.
I hate to ponder what the students would do where it really counts, that is, in their exams.
I shudder at the thought of these students graduating and joining the workforce or becoming businessmen or, worse, politicians.
Singapore is known for its above-board, clear-cut and honest dealings in all matters, business and politics, so much so that sometimes we are taken advantage of.
However, must we sacrifice the values of honesty and integrity for the sake of winning? Must we lie and cheat to gain an advantage? The answer is no.
At no time should our integrity and honesty be undermined. Just one instance of dishonesty is enough to shake people's confidence in us, and enough incidences will sink our credibility completely.
What will these students do when they graduate? They have shown themselves to be dishonest and conniving in small things like the inter-hall games; will they not be dishonest too in bigger things like their exams and, in the future, in business and politics?
Mr Adrian Yeo admits that it was a small mistake. I disagree with him that it was small, or that it was a mistake.
It is by no means a small thing to cheat, and it is by no means a mistake; it was a deliberate act.
I would think twice about hiring such people for my organisation, and thrice when deciding if I should assign them greater responsibility.
They would have to show that they have repented and changed, not just outwardly but right to the core, before I would trust them with bigger things.
If one cannot be trusted in small things, how can one be trusted in greater things?
LEOW SHIN HWAH 
do you think these people deserve trust or be given a second chance?
