breytonhartge,
1) Take your time to think over it. 
2) The West does have a creative-arts aspect though, and a much
more active one than a mere reading culture. With the Singapore
though, you are penalised if you choose to do things differently;
seriously, read the letters sent to the press. The Penalization
comes from society, and our type of society was built by our govt.
It is easy to make an individual the target of blame of failure;
it's not so easy so blame a mass of individuals for a common
failure, especially in something that does not require cooperation
of any sort.
3) Scandinavia is not a country; it is a group of countries, a
region if you want to use that term. Scandinavia comprises Iceland,
Finland, Denmark, Norway. You are most correct in stating that
reports can say anything and that fiscal facts and figures can be
fudged, but let me ask you, why don't you apply that to Singapore
as zealously as you apply it to foreign countries and reputable
international organizations e.g. the UN? Is that not hypocrisy?
What makes Singapore so much better than Western countries? As the
Chinese say, the fly before its own eye is bigger than the elephant
in the next field. 
And if you choose to treat Australia as the fly, take heed: Flies
never visit an egg that has no crack. (another Chinese proverb)
FMI, why are you quoting an English proverb if you dislike the West
so much?
4) Please, making a country more humane does not deprive its people
of their roots, or unique culture in any way. In fact, it could
remind us of ancient values lost in this consumerism-ridden world,
values that also happened to be shared by the West. As truth,
ponder: He who governs by his moral excellence may be compared to
the Pole star which abides in its place while all other stars bow
towards it. Since this is a Chinese proverb, I guess it is related
to our roots. part of them, at least. Asia, after all, is not
homogeneous. The Indian is as similar to the Chinese as the White
man is to the African.
5) Hmmm...
6) As the Chinese say, Men in the game are blind to what men
looking on see clearly.
7) USA is presented to us as a country, but in reality it is merely
a microcosm of the UN. And anyway, USA isn't the whole of the
West.
8 ) The "Rest of the world"? Perhaps the press in M'sia and China
and perhaps Iran and NK, but certainly not the entire world. I
would vouch that BBC would present a more optimistic view. And
certainly, AI's demeanour would change quite a bit. The Australian
press would certainly show Ngyuen's parents thanking not only their
own government, but our government as well. The Aussie government
for its part would certainly publish a formal letter of thanks. We
are not living in the colonial era where the White Man reigned
supreme.
9) I do recall the recent case of the journalist convicted of
espionage in China...
Anw, did you read my last post? They have been complaining; it's
just that Singapore has not been listening.
10) The Malays say, "Hendak Seribu daya, tak Hentak seribu dalih."
: "If you want something, you'll do a thousand things to obtain
it.But if you don't want something, you'll give a thousand excuses
to refrain from it". IMHO, Australia is not invading us or
anything. I fail to see the connection national security has to
this issue. Don't use the term too loosely.
the pikamaster
