[arbus]

I'm a Singaporean and have served for some time in the military( Compulsory National Service as well as a short stint as a regular) and I think that the comments below seem to misunderstand the level of control that the government has over speech, people and companies in Singapore.

We have many restrictive laws here but they are very selectively enforced. As long as you stay away from "hot" topics such as direct criticism of the ruling party and sensitive issues such as immigration, you are ok. But if you make too many waves, there are many ways in which such selective enforcement can come back to bite you.

On an individual level, you will get much more attention on things like your tax returns. Your Provident Fund usage can be limited in many ways(It is a opaque system and they don't need to give you any justifications)

If you own a company, it will also be subject to a much higher tax scrutiny. They can choke your company by limiting the number of foreign talent that you can hire( again an opaque process). They can reject your applications without any reasons and simply say better luck next year.

Even with all these pressures, Singapore is a great place to do business and just enjoy a generally high quality of life as long as you don't do anything foolhardy or get really unlucky with the cards that you get dealt.

On a side note, if the person in question above was involved in some tricky business, then I would not put it past this government to take drastic measures

[contingencies]

Singaporeans: "We have high quality of life!" "We have relative freedom of speech!" "We are modern!"

Rest of world: Singaporeans pay top dollar for tiny apartments, have no nature, no drugs (and thus little art), no real political freedom, are forced to military service (read: military brain washing on top of the social/education system serving) and self-censor routinely whilst claiming their government is really OK! On top of this, they are all kind of insecure because the way work is omnipresent, everyone competes all the time on appearances, the extreme financial burden of having a kid there (even though few do, because they are educated enough to know it's a death sentence of decades of mortgage, even with the government kickbacks) and the increasing immigration of younger, better Mandarin-speaking, less demanding workers from China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia.

[bitcartel]

Singapore, a tiny piece of land with no resources, has been transformed over 50 years from a colonial backwater into a first world country. People once in poverty now live much more comfortable lives. Of course things could be better but the issues you raise are no different from the issues people face in other countries and major cities.

[arbus]

Maybe I'm out of my scope in your points about nature or political freedom as I haven't really experienced life in other countries enough to comment but I would like to explain the military part a bit more.

True it is compulsory but I think that a great majority of the people who experience it are better off for it. Our country has the highest rate of millionaires(1 in 6) and the kids that come from these households are much better off for the work ethic, value of money and socialization that we instill in them. The training that they go through may not be as rigorous as those who go through full spectrum military training in other countries but it teaches them mental discipline and the ability to give and take orders(20% of each years' intake go on to become commanders) which I'm sure you would agree too many kids learn far too late in their lives. It also has the side effect of providing baseline physical fitness, allowing for a much healthier population in the long run.

[mhartl]

have no nature

Have you been to Singapore? It wasn't nicknamed "The Garden City" for its skyscrapers.

[Xofel]

Pains me to agree, but spot on.

[confluence]

You are exhibiting some insane cognitive dissonance there. Your post is internally inconsistent. Singapore is Disneyland with a death penalty.

[jessaustin]

I'm pretty sure that the nation in which Disneyland is located still has a death penalty.

I really appreciate arbus's comment. You're right that it doesn't hang together in a completely rational way, but it is a rare accurate illustration of how Singaporeans really feel. For an empathetic person, it isn't hard to imagine feeling this way, if you grew up there.

People in other countries also have idiosyncratic ways of tolerating the limitations of their systems. Singapore is perhaps an extreme case.

(I lived in Singapore for a couple of years, a long time ago.)

[2muchcoffeeman]

As I said in another post, I grew up in Singapore. I've been in Australia now for a decade or so.

I prefer having more freedoms to less, but in retrospect I quite like the way of life there. There's nothing that I do or have done that would have landed me in trouble in Singapore.

So for a lot of these average people, it's great.

[chaostheory]

> I'm pretty sure that the nation in which Disneyland is located still has a death penalty.

I didn't know our Disney resorts had the death penalty for certain offenses committed within the park.

[jlgreco]

He means Florida still kills people.

At the very least though to Florida's credit, at least Amnesty International is confident that they can get a solid read on the number of people actually killed by Florida. There are grave concerns over even the reporting of executions in Singapore.

[chaostheory]

Yes I realized that. I was just pointing out that the post above him meant a "Disneyland with the death penalty". He probably realized that as well, I just didn't care for his sarcasm.

[arbus]

Sure its a Disneyland with a death penalty if you want to call it that but you seem to be implying that either I'm in acceptance with the way things are run or if I'm not, I have no business living here.

I think that uprooting from your home, leaving your family, friends and culture behind takes more than just disagreement with the wayyour government is run. This is of course assuming that you or your loved ones are not in immediate danger of any kind.

[markdown]

It's hard to understand, isn't it?

However, I feel the same about where I live... Fiji. We're run by a dictator at present, but you wouldn't know it unless you got involved in anti-government "activities".

[lgieron]

In communist Poland it was basically the same... The ruling cronies didn't care about you as long as you didn't threaten their power.

[lostlogin]

Or unless you were a New Zealander who funded the new constitution only to have it thrown away at a cost of millions.

[chaostheory]

Well in his defense, he's posting from Singapore. Who knows if he has VPN or not.

[doktrin]

Thank you for sharing your perspective. I hope you can understand why many reading it will find this depiction quite non-utopic.