A riot broke out in Little India. Being blamed on Bangladeshi labourers: http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/busloads-riot-police-respond-rioting-mob-the-heart-little-india-201312
I predict canings.
I’m impressed how three busloads of riot police suddenly turned up on an island not known for riots.
I predict strict controls on laborers being allowed to roam around Geylang on Sundays (their day off) looking for short-times.
LKY is not in the best of health. Once the Minister Mentor and former PM is gone,it will be interesting to see if the science experiment of Singapore survives in its current form. I see the economic prosperity continuing but the reigns loosening considerably.
I’m sure Singapore will continue to be successful, peaceful, and safe. Singapore’s democracy is more a firm jelly than the soft, gooey substance we see in other countries, lah.
I’m sure Singapore will continue to be successful, peaceful, and safe. Singapore’s democracy is more a firm jelly than the soft, gooey substance we see in other countries, lah.[/quote]
I admire Singapore, its economic development accomplishments, its cleanliness and its infrastructure, and its merit based culture (other than the PM position). I’ve also lived there and remember seeing its opposition member, the late Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, peddling newspapers at Cold Storage to pay his legal bills as the state tried to bankrupt him again and again.
Am hoping the post LKY Singapore can be a little more open, have a little less nepotism in top leadership—i.e PM position, and value human rights and decent behaviour just a little more. 
Human rights activists during the Martial Law era in Taiwan and overseas complained about Shih Mingde, but what about Chia Thye Poh during the same in Singapore? I despise Commies more than most but over 30 years in jail? 
:no-no: LKY may have admired English manners, but he didn’t act like an English gentleman. That’s for sure. I can understand the ISA after the breakup with Malaysia and Konfrontasi infiltration from Indonesia in the early 60s. Just as I can understand Pinochet’s actions in the 70s in Chile.
But still having the ISA on the books in 2014?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chia_Thye_Poh
[quote]
Singapore’s democracy is more a firm jelly than the soft, gooey substance we see in other countries, lah [/quote]
People ranging from taxi drivers to Raffles School graduates hold different opinions. They see that when the old man is gone, things may rapidly change.
When I moved to Singapore in 1993 I heard locals talking about the relaxing of various restrictions…and they were still talking about them when I left in 2002. Seems is more relaxed now. What a great place if you want to observe government planning on steroids…whoops…maybe not steroids but caffeine.
Singapore is changing and becoming a lot more open. Singapore and HK are in great positions as city-states in a growing region where they can reap the benefits of huge amounts of white collar work, without the burden of having to fund the countryside. Sure they will need to pay a pretty penny for water in the future, but they can dump most of that fee on the rich citizenry.
Regarding the riots, as long as The Chinese diaspora (HK, TW and SG) insist on keeping brown Asians (sorry for the crassness, it is just simpler this way) as indentured servants we will continue to see tempers flare when things go afoul.
[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]Singapore is changing and becoming a lot more open. Singapore and HK are in great positions as city-states in a growing region where they can reap the benefits of huge amounts of white collar work, without the burden of having to fund the countryside. Sure they will need to pay a pretty penny for water in the future, but they can dump most of that fee on the rich citizenry.
Regarding the riots, as long as The Chinese diaspora (HK, TW and SG) insist on keeping brown Asians (sorry for the crassness, it is just simpler this way) as indentured servants we will continue to see tempers flare when things go afoul.[/quote]
Well, it must be nice for those indentured servants to earn much more than they do at home, and to be assured that they do actually get a day off, and that the building they are working in won’t collapse on them due to the excessive government planning and regulations that exist in Singapore, as opposed to back home in Bangladesh where almost everything is permissible for the rich, and almost nothing positive happens because 99.99% of the population live in absolute poverty due to a lack of competent government.
[quote=“Charlie Phillips”][quote=“Deuce Dropper”]Singapore is changing and becoming a lot more open. Singapore and HK are in great positions as city-states in a growing region where they can reap the benefits of huge amounts of white collar work, without the burden of having to fund the countryside. Sure they will need to pay a pretty penny for water in the future, but they can dump most of that fee on the rich citizenry.
Regarding the riots, as long as The Chinese diaspora (HK, TW and SG) insist on keeping brown Asians (sorry for the crassness, it is just simpler this way) as indentured servants we will continue to see tempers flare when things go afoul.[/quote]
Well, it must be nice for those indentured servants to earn much more than they do at home, and to be assured that they do actually get a day off, and that the building they are working in won’t collapse on them due to the excessive government planning and regulations that exist in Singapore, as opposed to back home in Bangladesh where almost everything is permissible for the rich, and almost nothing positive happens because 99.99% of the population live in absolute poverty due to a lack of competent government.[/quote]
All true, but they should quickly be aware they are third class citizens (even though that is what they signed up for) and that might sting a wee bit. Human first, national second.
[quote=“Deuce Dropper”][quote=“Charlie Phillips”][quote=“Deuce Dropper”]Singapore is changing and becoming a lot more open. Singapore and HK are in great positions as city-states in a growing region where they can reap the benefits of huge amounts of white collar work, without the burden of having to fund the countryside. Sure they will need to pay a pretty penny for water in the future, but they can dump most of that fee on the rich citizenry.
Regarding the riots, as long as The Chinese diaspora (HK, TW and SG) insist on keeping brown Asians (sorry for the crassness, it is just simpler this way) as indentured servants we will continue to see tempers flare when things go afoul.[/quote]
Well, it must be nice for those indentured servants to earn much more than they do at home, and to be assured that they do actually get a day off, and that the building they are working in won’t collapse on them due to the excessive government planning and regulations that exist in Singapore, as opposed to back home in Bangladesh where almost everything is permissible for the rich, and almost nothing positive happens because 99.99% of the population live in absolute poverty due to a lack of competent government.[/quote]
All true, but they should quickly be aware they are third class citizens (even though that is what they signed up for) and that might sting a wee bit. Human first, national second.[/quote]
Well, we all have that bug to bear. Like a mosquito bite for some, a bee sting for others; but hardly a crushing blow, except to their drinking privaliges.
In my personal view, it wasn’t octogenarian former dictator racists who caused the “riot”. It was a pressing crush of drunken dudes who got totally out of hand reacting to an unfortunate and tragic traffic accident. Anyone who had spent a Sunday afternoon grabbing a delicious lunch or dinner in Little India any time in the past four years would have seen this coming. I was there 2 Sundays ahead of this (and parenthetically had yet another fantastic meal on Race Course Rd). Just too many people, all taking the same day off and most drinking beer to a (for them) heavy extent. Yes, they were almost all Southeast Asians including Bangladeshi construction workers. But blaming it somehow on Harry Lee or Peranakan / Chinese fascism is silly – the boys were all piss drunk and got caught up in a friendly act of group violence.
If it’s true that Singapore had to call in their military strike force because the cops were afraid / didn’t know what to do, then you can blame that on LKY. Because LKY set it up so that the Singaporeans need somebody to tell them what to do. And Hsien Long and Ho Ching clearly don’t fit the bill – so yes, Singapore faces an interesting few years ahead as the Old Gentleman passes from the scene. But don’t expect revolution, just higher taxes and a move toward social payouts for the aging population. Singapore will be okay.