Sorry- clumsy fingers. Here's the full post.
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Wow!
So many responses in less than a 12 hours, many disagreements to
a few personal attacks. Geez, you guys really have alot of
resentment.
Let's try to tackle the responses one at a time.
Joke or
mistaken post?
My previous post is not a joke nor am I making a mistake- I am
serious and clear headed when I say I am proud of Singapore.
Government's
popularity
Not too sure of the government's popularity currently, but if
votes are anything to go by, the majority of Singaporeans are at
the very least confident that the current administration can
deliver a better Singapore.
Confucius and
Politics
When I say Confucian, I refer generally more to the culture
values that the majority of Chinese Singaporeans (which make up
almost 76% of the local population) hold to. As you will know,
though there are more and more western minded people in Singapore,
the majority of heartlanders do still adhere more to Confucian
values like community mindedness, respect for elders etc.
That said, just being an Asian who has Confucian values does not
mean I cannot live in a democracy. Tell that to the millions of
Chinese living in US, UK and Australia.
Is Singapore a democracy? Hmm... It would be hard for me to
define that since I may not truly understand the true definition of
a democracy, I'll do some research. Does Singapore have a
constitution? Yes. Do its people vote? Yes. Do its people have
opportunities to vote out its current government if they feels
that government is corrupt and not doing a good job? Yes. Its seems
to me there is a basic structure of a democracy.
What I am concern with is not wheter Singapore's poltical system
is like the US or other western countries. What I as a Singporean
am concern with is if the current system works. I believe it does.
Is it perfect? No. Is there room for more openess and transparency?
Yes. But I still think we should balance our resentment and
unhappiness towards the government with apprecitation for what it
has achieved. So lets not always get caught up on what is the
perfect democracy for Singapore and focus on what political system
works in Singapore.
Who am I?
Probably should intro myself abit furhter. I'm not working for
the government nor am I am monitoring the forum for them, trust me,
they have smarter people than me analysing the forums and are aware
of the anti-establisment sentiments here.
I am from the middle class of Singapore. My residence is in a
HDB flat. I am a degree holder and I have been blessed to
have been able to live and study in Australia, I mention this
because I have observed their politics over there and therefore I
can say that a westernized democracy is not always the best. I've
lived and worked in Beijing where even though there is political
restrictions unheard of in Singapore, one gets a sense the
communist government is essentially trying to ensure growth and
well being of its country.
I am aware of the plights of many Singaporeans, I have done much
voluntary work locally and abroad. I also see that there are many
government backed NGOs and initiatives that support the
less fortunate. However, one also has to understand that personal
decisions can also lead to one living a very hard life, no matter
how much support you give them. With show like Life Transformers-
what you dont always see is the decisions that the families have
made throughout their life time that get them to where they are at.
Yes I sympathise with the less fortunate, but at times it is up to
themselves to pull themselves out of the their current
circumstances, and help is avaliable.
Singapore=Hitler
regime? And Singapore sucks?
Are you serious? I hope not. You should have another (and much
closer) look at the political conditions that the people of
Germany lived in that time. Your viewpoint is rather extreme.
As mentioned is Singapore perfect? No. Does it suck? Hmmm...
Well, it has one of the highest income per capita in the world. One
of the least corrupted governments in the world. 96% home
ownership- another highest in the world. Seems to me its not too
bad a place to live in. Try living overseas for a while and maybe
you'll appreciate S'pore abit more.
