Would you be in favor of a Marxist revolution in Singapore?

[Platypus]

Singapore really isn't that bad if you're from a western country. In fact, it's apparently a great place to live, according to a friend of my mother's who was deputy ambassador to Singapore from Australia a few year ago.

Plus Australians in particular, and most westerns, get to vote against the ruling party

[Platypus]

Stop the Singapore-bashing, already...

Mr. Fay, if I remember correctly, was the American teen who got caned back in '94. If you're still outraged about that...then you don't know much about Singaporean culture.

The teen severely vandalized a Mercedes Benz. Serious damage to the car. Now, here, that may not be such a big deal. But in Singapore, due to shipping costs and various taxes, an average car costs over $100k (US)...so a Mercedes has got to cost nearly $200k. A Mercedes, therefore, is a major status symbol in Singapore...you don't cut off a Mercedes in traffic, let alone vandalize it.

So crimes of such a nature are taken quite seriously in Singapore, and he was given the punishment that the law provides. The fact that he's an American makes no difference...this isn't 19th Century China, there's no extraterritoriality here. If you think four whacks of the cane is too draconian a punishment, well that's your opinion. But it's not torture, it's subsequent punishment. And it's certainly not worth a violent Marxist revolution.


Don't get me wrong, there are serious problems with freedoms in Singapore. But the popular impression that it is a police state is quite simply wrong.

As long as he was over 16, I'd hit him with the cane myself, and i'm talking in a totally non-sexual way.

I mean, you're visiting a foreign country, so if something looks bad back home, why will it be any better overseas?, it was a stupid and illegal-in Singapore and the USA-thing to do and he deserved to be punished.

4 whacks of the cane is nothing. My brother got 10 fro drawing on a poster once

[Platypus]

My best friend was born in Singapore, although his family migrated to New Zealand when he was one and onto Autralia when he was 8. He recently went with his family to Brunei, where his father now works, and where his mother and siblings will be living after the end of this year (he'll be staying in Australia for university, which starts next year for us). Because of the compulsory military service, he had to go through Kuala Lumpur on the way and on the way back he had to stay on bopard for the four hour stopover-thanks od it was QANTAS and not Singapore airlines, or he would have had to get off, and be conscripted.

Singapore, if you're Singaporean (even if only by birth), sucks. But for westerners, it's fine. Sure there are a few restrictions on some things, but it isn't a hellhole.

[Platypus]

No I wouldn't, as I'm an Australian, as long as I wasn't with a Singaporean, they'd turn a blind eye. Plus anyway, I've never actually committed sodomy.