AHC: Singapore Wank
- Thread starter mlp
- Start date
How about:
a.) A Malay-dominated Singapore with a sizeable and more prominent Peranakan community (both Baba-Nyonya and Chitty).
b.) A variety of Malay was adopted as the Singaporean lingua franca.
a.) A Malay-dominated Singapore with a sizeable and more prominent Peranakan community (both Baba-Nyonya and Chitty).
b.) A variety of Malay was adopted as the Singaporean lingua franca.
Today's Singapore is arguably pretty wanked. One of the busiest ports in the world, a standard of living far above that of its neighbors, great schools...
Agree. Singapore is pretty wanked nowadays.
They probably cannot have a better government, I would say it is one of the best governed place in the world, if not the best, given their lack of natural resources like Norway.
What can they really ask for? Natural resources? More land ? I can hardly think of any.
Curiousone
Banned
Civil Liberties?
"Whatta we want?! The right to chew-chewing gum!
Whenda we want-it! Now!"
Flocculencio
Donor
Our government is authoritarian and failing to look after it's people properly. The deal was always a tradeoff of liberty for comfort. They've forgotten that.
Curiousone
Banned
And chewing gum is no more littering than a sports car is speeding.
I picked the lightest example under a state which restricts freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, right to life, engages in torture.
Curiousone
Banned
"They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." attrb- Benjamin Franklin.
Flocculencio
Donor
Frankly when you're bringing people from third world conditions to first world conditions the above is of limited applicability. The issue people have now is that the government isn't actually improving the lot of the people and is still engaging in the the repressive bulls hit which is why civil society and the push for civil liberties is growing stronger and stronger here.
Re the chewing gum thing, no one actually has a problem with it. I'm Singaporean and I engage in demonstrations and rallies for freedom of speech and civil rights but the laws against graffiti and chewing chewing gum can stay on the books. When foreigners point those out as examples you just look silly. I'd rather you criticised my governments use of the the death penalty, muzzling of the judiciary and other real issues of concern.
Flocculencio
Donor
The rationale behind the ban on the sale of chewing gum (not its consumption) was that it it was a major public cleanliness issue (it's near impossible to clean off streets).
Please focus on the very valid civil rights issues you do raise because that's what people like me are pushing pushing for.
Curiousone
Banned
I think there's an attempt a humour that's been missed there with chewing gum.
Perhaps if you'd lived in a city with graffiti you might have a different opinion of it.
Flocculencio
Donor
Actually at independence we were were second till the city with the second highest per capita gdp in Asia after tokyo
Flocculencio
Donor
I've spent four years in the UK. No thanks. Some of it is beautiful, the majority is worthless.
Street artists have have designated public spaces for tagging, and friendly private establishment owners can open their structures for tagging too. I don't see why random places should be open for vandalism by random schmuck.
True but that says more about how abysmally poor Asia was than anything else. By any measure from infant mortality to GDP per capita Singapore was third world. Now despite its flaws its one of the most prosperous and successful cities on the planet.
Flocculencio
Donor
I agree but that's not justification for autocracy. As they they developed and prospered the ROK and Taiwan moved from dictatorship to to democracy. Singapore was never as oppressive as their their regimes were were but that doesn't justify the ruling ruling party staying in power.