i wouldn't go as far as saying there's a total lack bro .... but
yes, we can certainly improve, though you have to always keep in
mind that we can never ever have the kind of absolute freedom of
speech enjoyed by other liberal democracies, simply because of our
geo-political constraints, I guess we can always expect the OB
markers for race and religion to be there always ... in any case, I
think this total freedom of speech is something of an illusion, for
a lot of liberal democracies, freedom of speech is often tempered
by political correctness and self-censorship, even if people forgot
the LA race riots as distant history, one should perhaps remember
the more recent one in ohio ? ... and I shall not go into the
rightist hate sites you can always google online.
that, i suppose, is something we can all agree on, the challenge
for Singaporeans, is, therefore, to distil the real and legitimate
OB markers, from the ones used as a political tool. Here's a
challenge for everyone to think of: how to maintain a proportionate
representive of minorities in parliament without having to resort
to GRCs ? ... from the ramblings I see during the last presidential
election in Singapore, race is still very much an emotional, and
non-rational issue in Singapore. Solve this problem, and there
won't be any legitimate reasons for the ruling party to redefine
electoral boundaries at whim, and we can move towards a fixed set
of rules, based on population make up, to drawn up electoral
boundaries.
As to the second point, well, do you imagine for a moment that this
is not the case overseas ? ... we would the outsiders, the job
snatchers to others when we leave for greener pastures, no ? this
is just how the world functions today, talents and labour are
fluid, they'll move to where the jobs are. And frankly, while I
can't really say much about the competition in Singapore (not yet,
perhaps), I can assure you, that the competition in the professions
is definitely a lot stiffer overseas, for you are not just fighting
against people mainly from south and east asia, but against people
from all over the world ! (of course, you can choose to be a night
shift janitor, like the ex-Singaporean chap I met in my school, and
still drive a decent Honda to work, but that's each person's life
choice, and I don't know how long such a situation would last in
anycase)... just as MG said, the US is (still) a very attractive
place, and yes, it still attract hoardes of migrants year after
year ... My point; you are not alone in wanting to be there, you
won't be the only one fighting for the same american dream. In this
new era, where borders and talents are fluid, sooner or later,
everyone would have to compete against the whole world, no matter
where you are.
I'm not in the US, but north of the border, and, some cynic would
say, that's the second choice, the plan B, for a lot of people who
can't make it in the US, but even here, the competition frightens
me sometimes. Singapore is a small pond after all, and if you feel
squeezed by the competition and think you can exchange this small
pond for the ocean, I think there may be a few surprises in store
...
