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

[Erc]

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.

[Erc]

Well, the public housing bit (and the dating cruises bit) have a much more fascist than communist bent.

Public housing:  put everyone in public housing and make all other housing unaffordable so that everyone becomes dependent on the government (or, more specifically, the PAP).  If your district votes against the government/PAP, the funding for public housing in that district goes bye-bye.

Dating Cruises:  No different than Mussolini's incentives to go forth and multiply.  Get some more young Singaporean blood out there to defend ourselves from Malaysian/Indonesian Aggression (they still have the draft, after all).