The Issue of Moral Compass - Assignment Example

Moral Compass Moral Compass Question Why Palmer’s extramarital affair while holding a political office inclines towards being ethically wrong Based on a person’s moral conviction, the moral compass is a set of principles that tends to guide individuals to make decisions as per their moral standing as a way of preventing wrongdoing in the eyes of the society. Just like a mortal does, the moral compass direct an individual to perform what is right and expected of them by the society. In many cases, people that feel their moral compass guide they opt to step down, especially from offices of public as a way of portraying integrity and responsibility for their actions. However, many consider leaders found in extra marital affairs to be unfit to continue serving the people because they serve as the moral standards that the society gauges itself and many others look up to. In Palmer’s case, he had no option than to tender in his resignation because he felt that he had failed his society and that him staying on office would reflect badly of the society and create negative morals for other people in society. Ideally, society expects that a political leader or public office bearer is a complete package in that they need not act against the norms set by society that expect them to behave appropriately. However, many leaders that are of integrity have fallen victim to so-called moral violations irrespective of how much gain and the potential value they can bring to their society as much as this is the moral thing to do. Further, the society also uses the moral wrongdoings that a person may conduct as a way of illustrating their true self as the way they behave away from public glare reflects their nature hence breaching trust. The underlying fact that the FNP newspaper and the anonymous individual that sought to bring the matter to light did not understand is that Palmer is only human and was prone to err like any other regular individual. As a person holding a political office, a fraction of the population may find his actions to be ethically wrong because he breached the trust that his wife had in him by opting to have an illicit affair on the side. Using this scenario as a basis, many people in the society may develop distrust for an individual found to engage in extramarital affairs because this may reflect their disloyalty even to public related affairs. In many cases, others may consider this to be a sign of breaking laws as in many societies, it is taboo to only have one wife and none on the side. Therefore, when public office bearers such as Palmer find themselves in such compromising scenarios with integrity and the execution of their work, society expects them to resign from office because they view them as influences into bad moral practice. This serves as a basis for arguing that extramarital affairs are ethically wrong as much as they tend to be private for those in influential public officials because it is in line with the deontology ethical theory. In essence, this theory defines a scenario where decision making by an individual relies on their moral duties while also the rights of other society members. Question 2: Similarities and differences of moral significance between Palmer’s case and others in terms of the action taken in similar wrongdoing Differences As much as the moral compass may compel an individual to step down from office like Palmer did, others do not feel the need to do so and are forced to resign from office to safeguard an institution’s image. According to Alkhatib (2012), the former director of Central Narcotics Bureau in Singapore, Mr. Ng Boon Gay faced charges of sexual corruption as much as his defense counsel argued that it was a weak case meaning that infidelity in Singapore is punishable by law. The implication of this is that Palmer’s case did not attract any lawsuit because the affair that Palmer had did not intend to advance Miss Ong’s career or make her organization more favored for the services that they could offer (Tan, 2012). In this case, extramarital affairs to some institutions reflect poor judgment on matters that may affect others and an institution negatively because the society may feel that that is what the institution advocates for, which may not be the case. In many cases, some of these sex scandals tend to be more damaging an institution that to an individual that works for it as compared to the one that commits the perceived immoral behavior. Therefore, public institutions such as Central Narcotics Bureau that Mr. Ng and the Singapore Civil Defense Force that Lim Peter worked for may see the importance of protecting their image by allowing drastic actions be taken against those found to be in breach of their organization’s code of conduct and practice (Tan, 2012). In this case, Ng has had to face charges of committing a corruption offence that included the exchange of sexual favors for corporate advancement. On the other hand, Palmer handled his case quite differently as he explained to the society the reasons for his resignation despite the fact that most of his social networking accounts were closed after him handing in his resignation (Tan, 2012). It is not clear whether Ng and Lim took responsibility for their actions as neither of them has given statements that have indicated that they regret their actions. In comparing these two cases, Palmer showed remorse for having an extramarital affair, which was wrong in the eyes of the public as he offer an apologies to the people that he served and to his People’s Action Party (InSig.com, 2012) . This is an aspect that the other two men found to have committed infidelity seem to share because neither of them apologized for the actions that their society considers wrong. The handling of infidelity cases in Singapore tends to be different as illustrated in these three scenarios in that those that receive appointments to public offices face different fates as compared to those elected to office. In essence, Palmer tendered his resignation voluntarily in which his party diligently accepted and no further action was taken against him unlike Lim’s and Ng’s case in which they had to face corruption charges in court. From this scenario, those found to be tainting the image Singapore’s government agencies such as the CNB and the SCDF among a list of others through sexually related corruption have to answer to these charges in a court of law. This seems to be a way of upholding morality and holding individuals in public offices responsible for such crimes in Singapore. Similarities Mostly, those forced to resign because of their extramarital affairs becoming known tend to do so only because of the leaked evidence that exposes their perceived well-kept secrets. In essence, these three cases share one similarity, which is that the information concerning the secret affairs became known through third parties. The information delivery channel included anonymous messages and emails sent out to journalist that gave evidence of these extra marital relationships that compromised the integrity of these individuals in the eyes of society. The implication of this is that if this information did not come to light, then this would not jeopardize their integrity in the execution of their duties, which would not lead to their voluntary or forceful resignation. However, the women involved in these cases appear as though they are the victims here in that the men here might have taken advantage over them, which may not necessarily be true (Phua, 2012). In Ng and Lim’s cases, the women had the option of walking away from giving their bodies for sexual favors in order for their companies to acquire supply contracts meaning that they should also face similar charges in court (Stomp.com, 2012). As for Palmer’s case, Ong appears to have been in that relationship out of her own free will meaning that the blame should not be entirely on the man for the sin of infidelity. Later, the prosecution dropped the charges brought against Ng because most of the testimonies presented in court by Mrs. Sue Cecelia did not prove that the accused was at fault (XinMSN, 2013). Using this channel, Singapore is able to ensure that the moral compass of those in public offices execute their duties with integrity because they are the mirror that the society uses when gauging the government. Further, these cases affirm that an individual and the offices that they arecresponsible for are inseparable meaning that one cannot commit a moral offence in the name of right to privacy. In Palmer’s case, he felt it was his moral obligation to resign because he felt that he had let his society down by acting selfishly, which did not reflect well of the party that aided his election to parliament. On the other hand, Ng and Lim had to face charges of corruption in sexually related scandals as way of pointing out that using sex to solicit contracts from the government was the wrong of doing this hence the government had to come out strongly on this. Additionally, this indicated that the Singapore government condemned the actions of Ng and Lim because they both had to answer to these charges on their individual capacities and not as state agents. In the three cases, there were no dire consequences for those involved in the sex scandals such as them fathering children out of wedlock as this would have been under the consequentiallism normative ethical theories. However, leaders and people that are in public or high offices should serve as an example to society in terms of their moral behavior and them taking responsibility for their actions rather than society forcing them to do so. References Alkhatib, S. (2012).Defence lawyer says prosecution’s case ‘undesirably weak’. The New Paper. Retrieved on 2 April 2014 from http://www.tnp.sg/content/defence-lawyer-says-prosecutions-case-undesirably-weak InSig.com. (2012). PAP MP Michael Palmer quits after admitting to affair. Retrieved on 2 April 2014 from http://news.insing.com/tabloid/speaker-of-parliament-michael-palmer-resigns/id-87673f00 Phua, A. (2012). Women in cases may be charged. AsiaOne News. Retrieved on 2 April 2014 from http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120613-352472.html Stomp.com. (2012). Ng ‘did not get any gratification’. Retrieved on 2 April 2014 from http://thecourtroom.stomp.com.sg/courtroom/cases/ng-boon-gay-trial/ng-did-not-get-any-gratification Tan, Jeanette. (2012). Ex-CNB chief Ng Boon Gay charged with corruption in sex scandal. Yahoo News Sinagpore. Retrieved on 2 April 2014 from https://sg.news.yahoo.com/former-cnb-director-charged-in-cpib-probe.html Tan, Jeanette. (2012). Ex-SCDF chief charged in widening sex-for-contracts scandal. Yahoo News Singapore Retrieved on 2 April 2014 from https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ex-scdf-chief-peter-lim-charged-in-court.html Tan, Judith. (2012). SMSes expose Michael Palmer’s affair. AsiaOne News. Retrieved on 18 March 2014 from http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20121213-389445.html XinMSN News. (2013). Charting the relationship between Ng Boon Gay and Cecilia Sue. Retrieved on 2 April 2014 from http://news.xin.msn.com/en/timeline-cnb-sex-for-favours-scandal?page=8 Read More