This type of system reinforces what William Gibson so vividly described in his essay, 'Disneyland with a Death Sentence' [1], published in Wired more than 20 years ago
Except California doesn't execute people any longer. It has been a decade since the last and I wouldn't hold your breath on the next. Singapore has executed people in that time.
There are a few more responses I commonly see about Singapore:
4. Political dictatorship
5. Lack of freedom of speech
6. Lack of press freedom, government controlled press
7. Capital punishment, including executions by hanging
Recognition of merits that SG has, perhaps? Maybe there are some interesting differences about their approach. Does everywhere in the world have to have the same style of government?
Have you actually lived in Singapore? I don't know where you're from. I'm from the USA. And while I don't like everything SG does, having lived there I see trade offs.
In the USA I get freedom of speech (+). In exchange I get mugged on the streets, cars stolen, cars broken into, poverty all over, always having to be on my guard.
Then I go live in Singapore where I hate that the internet is filtered, there's no porn, but in exchange I always feel safe. Safe to walk pretty much anywhere at any time day or night. It's a nice feeling. For many people who experience it for a few years it's hard to go back to a place where you always have to look over your shoulder like SF, LA, NYC.
I live in a murder capital that's in top 10 of violent crime. I rarely deal with a mugging and basic methods let me avoid it. Pre-9/11, I didn't worry about secret police putting the FBI on me for being a dissenter or CIA kidnapping me at an airport then torturing me. That kind of stuff happens here now but very limited. Also happens in Singapore with zero protections, accountability, or even media reporting far as people tell me.
We're over here doing all kinds of unpopular things to try to get us privacy, better healthcare, better this, better that. We have the opportunity with 90+% too apathetic to join. (sighs) Over there, you only have the opportunity to do what their regime of specific ideology allows you to do. If you don't, they will do more than give you outvote you, cite you, or try you in court. You won't stand a chance.
Leads me to believe you must live a very predictable, non-threatening-to-regime lifestyle to be safe over there. Activists I know in Singapore do not feel safe. :)
In Germany I get unfiltered internet, freedom of speech and still always feel safe. It doesn't really have to be a choice between freedom and safety, both together is possible.
According to Wikipedia, in 2010 almost 6 million crimes were committed in Germany. Don't know the equivalent number per capita in Singapore, but I'm guessing it's a lot lower. In fact ( if we exclude homicides ), I believe that's an even worse crime rate than US
The total number of reported crimes means nothing, there might just be a whole lot of minor crimes reported. It's mainly the number of crimes with your personal safety affected which make you feel unsafe.
I wouldn't feel _morally_ safe knowing the state is using such draconian measures to make me feel physically safe—even less so to ensure that my property is safe.
If somebody vandalized my car and got some kind of caning or other torture based sentence I'd pray the court for leniency.
He damaged a replaceable physical object and the state proposes to injure and traumatize him?
I couldn't live in a place that protects my property and buys my physical safety at that cost.
You say that but have you actually experienced it? That's my point. I never thought the USA was an unsafe place. Until spent 7 years in Japan and 6 months in SG. Before I lived in those places I would have had your opinion. Now that I have I can't live in the USA anymore. It feels like a shit hole 3rd world country.
Intellectually knowing the trade offs is different than actually feeling and experiencing them. I'm sure you believe that even after experiencing a life of feeling safe at all times you'd still choose unsafe but freer but I suspect you're discounting the effect it would have on you to actually have the experience. I'm not saying you'd make my choice but I am saying you'd at least see the trade off in a different light.
Being free from certain worries is also a form of freedom. You're free to criticize the government. I'm free to let my 8yr kids explore the city without worrying they'll come to any harm
It's okay if it's not worth it for you, but do you think there could be any significantly sized group of people that it could be worth it for? If so, perhaps there is good reason for Singapore to have this approach. The alternative is trying to force everyone in the world to live the way you want to.
You don't have to want to live in Singapore, but you should accept that other people might want to.
But did they really chose to live that way or did the government institutions just kind of lag behind the economic progress?
Economic progress excuses many sins. You see a similar thing in China. Human rights abuses are frequently minimized as long as there is economic growth.
Many cultures used torture and hanging and all sorts of extreme and cruel punishments. Even the paragons of peaceful resistance did: the Tibetans.
But many cultures chose to outgrow such practices.
I'd argue that:
1) The Singapore people never _chose_ to live this way, that it's an accident of history, and that economic growth keeps most people from complaining about it.
2) given the control of the press and the draconian government they couldn't easily chose to live differently now.
We should be wary of imitating them, because it would be very hard to dismantle a system like that once it has been installed.
You're missing a few big ones. Like, a murder sentence is more lenient in Singapore than a drug trafficking sentence, which is death by hanging. Many murderers go free in Singapore after a few years of prison, while someone caught with a a backpack of pot can be killed legally, and someone with only a couple grams of marijuana can spend 10 years in jail.
As ridiculous as death sentences for drug trafficking are, they're in place and [far more] frequently carried out in all the surrounding South East Asian states too. I'm not sure where you've got the idea Singapore habitually lets murderers free either; judges only got the discretion to impose life imprisonment instead of the death penalty for murder in 2012/
A cursory search reveals that he was charged of "culpable homicide not amounting to murder" on the grounds that he was "suffering from an abnormality of mind ... which substantially impaired his mental responsibility for the commission of the offence", and his appeal against the 20 year sentence failed.
I think you will find in general that drug offenders are typically sentenced more strictly than violent offenders in Singapore. That's my main argument, sorry for the tangent.
If you're going to talk about what is and isn't a first world country, please define the term. There isn't some consensus the world has reached on what it means.
Good point. The terms 'first/second/third world' are rough terms that came from the cold war. There is a rough consensus that first world are countries that aligned with the capitalist western axis, second world refers to former communist-socialist countries, and the third describes developing countries (Africa, Asia and LatAm).
Actually, whenever Singapore is mentioned, you see that from the ignorant plus more thorough responses citing brutal oppression with actual case studies that floats to the top. Just like now. Then you see a bunch of Singapore promoters, sometimes in Singapore, that show up to start talking about minor points, safe streets, and how they have plenty of mindless activities like restaurants and gyms. They will always ignore the worst stuff or act like it doesn't matter.
Whereas I know dissenters in Singapore tip-toeing around trying to improve the status quo. They talk of how people nearly drop dead during the mandatory P.E.. They tell me the propaganda they hear all year about Singapore in school and how seeing other country's strengths contradicts it as adults. Many end up zealots, though, for whatever regime changed everything a long time ago. They mention they have no safety against government and they fear disappearing if they threaten their regime. They usually know plenty instances of corruption but media seems to suppress it. All of them have been in menial jobs working unpaid overtime with deceitful salespeople and such like we see in America. Worst, there seems to be little innovation due to follow the leader mentality outside of a few startup havens.
All in all, sounds like a terrible place to live for people with bright minds, wanting to purse diverse activities that are meaningful, or trying to improve country's future. I never read Gibson but have experienced that kind of thing in U.S.'s most corrupt & high-police areas. Always trying to lock-up minorities or dissenters ("trouble-makers") for "greater good." Funny thing is, I actually live in and around a murder capital here with more safety and control over my life thanks to my few rights than my Singaporean friends have. Security against thugs is so easy I've taught it in hour seminars. Securing your future against corrupt governments with unlimited power, widespread surveillance, and media complicity is impossible.
I wouldn't operate in Singapore unless I cut a protection deal with the government to sort of let me be me without consequences. Not sure of odds of that. So, I stay out of it despite its safety, hardworking people, and cheap labor that corporations love.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_with_the_Death_Pe...