I’ve always been curious about this anyone know whats the word on the ground in Singapore? Is there an overall sentiment of support for CCP?
It might be generational. The wife of the current prime minister certainly is very pro-CCP.
I dunno if it would be support. I think it would be more like…indifference?
That’s the kinda vibes I get.
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Towards the end of the 90s, Lee Kuan Yew and his close inner circle were basically acting as China’s cheer leaders. They were all for the rise of China, and the benevolent totalitarian model that China claimed it was practicing.
Since Singapore isn’t exactly the freest country in the world, that ideology was propagated in a top down manner. The ruling elites gained plenty of benefits by being close to the CCP. For example, Lee Hsien Loong’s wife Ho Ching runs Temasek Holdings Private Limited, which has a lot of interests tied to China. As a result, Ho Ching has consistently voiced support for the CCP, including praising Hong Kong’s police brutality, and mocking Taiwan’s early COVID-19 prevention efforts.
As I understand it, most younger Singaporeans couldn’t give a rats ass about local and international politics. The rare few that do care more about shopping and taking photos of food tend to be on the opposite side of the indoctrination from the late 90s.
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Many seem to be. Not sure why. But my sample size of Singaporeans isn’t big. The idea of having a strong China after being embarrassed seems to be big for them.
When or what were they embarrassed by? And why do many Singaporeans equate being Ethnically Chinese the same as supporting the CCP? I mean Taiwan has Chinese, Malaysia has ethnic Chinese, Philippines has ethnic Chinese, Thailand has ethnic Chinese
Malaysian Chinese are the biggest CCP shills in the world! Go on any FB page about China.
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I didn’t know that, even worse than Singaporeans? How do Indonesians feel about CCP? How come Malaysians and Singaporean Chinese chose not to identify/ally more with Taiwan instead??
Much worse.
Malaysian Chinese admire China because Malays don’t make them feel at home. They feel persecuted.
Singaporean Chinese are the privileged majority so they don’t romanticize about China as much.
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Lee Juan Yew on one hand thought greatly of China’s potential, on the other did not trust communists.
I highly recommend From Third World to First.
It seems even more generational in Malaysia and Indonesia than in Singapore. I think it might have something to do with not being in dominant ethnic group in the country, and wanting someone to back you up.
Exactly.
Although I don’t see Chinese Indonesians going around carrying China’s water as much, probably because their English and Mandarin aptitudes are pretty low so they don’t go commenting on Nikkei Asian Review or other FB pages.
To keep it simple: Hong Kong and Taiwan (people) are what Singaporeans will never be and do things Singaporeans will never do.
And that’s why they cannot stand them.
Can you explain this more?
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In Singapore they are generally speaking “lemmings”.
What the government says, they do.
As long as they have an home and a bit of money to show off on Instagram, that’s ok.
If tomorrow the government will decide that sport is forbidden forever, or another whack thing (I am inventing, out of the blue) like that a working week has to be of 7 days instead of 5 for whatever job, or what else: they will just say “Ok”.
They do not understand what is going on with Taiwan, they do not understand what is going on with Hong Kong (irregardless which side they decide to take), they do not understand basic concepts such as how a functional parliament should work, personal freedom, etc…
They live a life completely repressed, and when they see people fighting for a change (whether good or bad) they cannot stand it and they get angry and rage-full.
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Youre from Singapore originally right? Wow thats an eye opener perspective… I didn’t know it was that bad
I don’t know if BBC has an English version of this article
It seems like there are well established groups that supports the CCP in any country, usually much older, business representatives. Even in places like the Philippines and Thailand, there people are much better organized compared to those who are against CCP brutality.
The article also points out that most South East Asian news would simply quote China’s official press releases, and as a result those who only receive news through traditional media would only learn about the CCP’s official position.
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I currently live here. I am a Gold Card holder so I will probably move out in 5-6 months (initially wanted to move now for studying mandarin, but the time does not allow that and probably it is not the right period).
However I am originally from Europe, my family comes from a small city between Portugal and Spain.
Namewee has a video about this, he says Malaysian Chinese feel that China needs to be strong and Chinese culture strong for them as Chinese to have 面子。
Sounds pretty childish
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Do Singaporeans mostly keep to themselves and don’t hang out/make friends with Foreigners?
Portugal is nice, been to the Algarve and Lisbon…seems like a nice place to retire, friendly locals