Refugees of Southeast Asia

Dear Sir/Madam:

We are the youth of Singapore, writing to you today regarding the refugees of Southeast Asia, having learnt about them after watching a variety of videos and reading up on the issue.

We are writing this letter to ask you to do something regarding the persecution that drives these refugees out of their homeland. We don't believe you are behind the brutalities that forces these people to flee; we do know that there are rogue troops, local commanders, and a million different things that this persecution can be blamed on. However, we write to you is because we know that you are in a position of great power, and can put a stop to this.

We apologise if this letter resembles none of the petitions you've seen before. We are young, we donЇt know how to write petitions; neither do we fully understand the complicated political pressures that you face, politics that can justify why attacks on civilians can be made in the name of cracking down on ethnic rebellions.

However, what we do know is the instinctual feeling in our bones that it is wrong, that this is wrong. We find it difficult to understand why attacks are being made on civilians, and even more difficult to understand why there are no efforts to stop this.

Sir, we would thus like to urge you to do what you can to stop the killing and attacks on the ethnic minorities. We know it is happening, and we know it is well within your power to put a stop to it.

Sir, we may be young now, but in 50 years' time you will be gone, and we will inherit the world you have created for us. Future generations will look at the persecution of these minority tribes in the same way we look at the persecutions of the past: mere barbaric atrocities committed by insignificant, small minded rulers, contributing nothing to the ebb and flow of history. These rulers are looked on with contempt, and future generations will mock at how "small minded" they are; their names live in the margins of history books.

But Sir, be the peacemaker that ends this conflict, and history will look kindly on you. History will see that you have had the ability to bring a look beyond the conflict to bring peace, an ability whom your predecessors have perhaps lacked. History will see that you are a peacemaker, someone who has altered mankind's direction for the better.

We will be watching, Sir, and waiting to see what you will do, hoping you will be a peacemaker. We urge you: do something - please.