Postcards from Singapore

[btarunr]

Bencoolen link. This place is for feet only. You've got two historic places of worship - Kwon im Tong Hood Cho Buddhist Temple, and Srikrishna Hindu Temple. Both are visited by people of all ethnicities and of course tourists. A little later, I offered "Archana" at Srikrishnan temple as curious locals looked on. Bugis Street, Bugis+ and Bugis Junction are 5 minute walks. VR-Zone's office isn't too far, either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4wmG2-ZZXM

Caution: the volume is high.

[btarunr]

Taxi ride to Boat Quay. The cabbies are interesting people, some of them are tasked by various businesses (the government, hotels, and other commercial tourist establishments) to undertake PR. This cabby gave me half a dozen brochures at each traffic stop.

http://youtu.be/_SIxrbJqmSU

Then again, not all cabbies are so, if they're having a slow day. One of them yelled "it's a slow slow day laa" to himself, when I hired him from CBD back to my hotel (which is a $12 drive, not far, but many ERPs en route).

[mtosev]

is it expensive?

[HossHuge]

Originally Posted by btarunr

Gum is prohibited.

And that's why I'll never go there.

They are just as communist as China but yet everybody hates China.
China is following the exact path that Singapore is now.

[btarunr]

Originally Posted by HossHuge

And that's why I'll never go there.

They are just as communist as China but yet everybody hates China.
China is following the exact path that Singapore is now.

Dude, as long as you're oblivious to the local politics, Singapore is as free as any other free country.

• My immigration at Singapore airport was faster than ordering an extra drink at McDonalds,
• There's a strong secular fabric, people go to each others' places of worship. I've seen scores of Han Chinese students offer prayers at the Srikrishna temple. I think they had an exam on that day, but you get the point.
• Cops don't roam the streets like in the US. In fact, I've very rarely seen a cop car, the only cop-like people I've seen are airport security and ICA. Instead, the city has a crap load of cameras, which are neatly tucked away, and don't make the public feel creeped out.
• You're free to enter the perimeter of the parliament and supreme court. Try doing that with their Taiwanese counterparts. Hell I can't do that with my country's parliament/supreme court complexes, even on a weekend.

[entropy13]

Originally Posted by HossHuge

And that's why I'll never go there.

They are just as communist as China but yet everybody hates China.

Nope. Definitely not "communist." But if your point is "totalitarian", still not similar to China actually. The ruling party can ACT as if under a totalitarian government, but they are not totalitarian per se. They didn't win 100% parliament seats for the last 4 or so elections, for example.

Originally Posted by HossHuge

China is following the exact path that Singapore is now.

Wait, what? It's the other way around actually, since China's already like this even when Singapore was still part of Malaysia.

Originally Posted by btarunr

Dude, as long as you're oblivious to the local politics, Singapore is as free as any other free country.

• My immigration at Singapore airport was faster than ordering an extra drink at McDonalds,
• There's a strong secular fabric, people go to each others' places of worship. I've seen scores of Han Chinese students offer prayers at the Srikrishna temple. I think they had an exam on that day, but you get the point.
• Cops don't roam the streets like in the US. In fact, I've very rarely seen a cop car, the only cop-like people I've seen are airport security and ICA. Instead, the city has a crap load of cameras, which are neatly tucked away, and don't make the public feel creeped out.
• You're free to enter the perimeter of the parliament and supreme court. Try doing that with their Taiwanese counterparts. Hell I can't do that with my country's parliament/supreme court complexes, even on a weekend.

LOL yeah, security-wise Singapore is actually "better" than ours even though our security personnel manually check our baggage at every train station, and our police are quite visible.

[HossHuge]

Originally Posted by entropy13

LOL yeah, security-wise Singapore is actually "better" than ours even though our security personnel manually check our baggage at every train station, and our police are quite visible.

LOL!! That's not saying much. From what I saw, any place is better security wise than the Philippines.

Originally Posted by entropy13

Wait, what? It's the other way around actually, since China's already like this even when Singapore was still part of Malaysia.

Wait, what? So you saying that Singapore was the same as China around the same time as the Cultural Revolution?

Chinese people are far from being completely free, but they have more freedoms now then they have ever had.

Info about Singapore.

Each member of the Lee ruling family pays themselves $3.7 million or such other ridiculous sum per year each.

Every single newspaper, every single radio station, every single TV station are all controlled by the government.

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.t...s-corrupt.html

We still have the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows the Government to arbitrarily arrest citizens and detain them without trial. We had many oppositionists, trade union leaders, journalists and activists imprisoned under the ISA for opposing the ruling PAP. The longest-serving prisoner is Mr Chia Thye Poh who was detained for 23 years without ever given a trial.

Mr Lee has been ruling Singapore since 1959 when he first became the prime minister. His dictatorial grip on society remains to this day.

http://www.singapore-window.org/sw03/030916sj.htm

In 2009, the government of Singapore further increased its repressive capacity by amending a Public Order Act to outlaw any individual from conducting any kind of protest.

Singapore's gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, is at about the same level as "Third World” countries like Cambodia, Guyana, and Kenya.

There are no unions, there is no minimum wage, and workers—both local and foreign—are routinely exploited. It is common to see the elderly people in their 70s and 80s cleaning tables and washing public toilets just so that they can feed themselves. The number of homeless sleeping on sidewalks and camped out on parks and beaches are increasing

http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2012...myth-singapore

You can call it whatever the fuck u want, just don't call it free.

[btarunr]

I think you're missing the point/context here. Entropy and I have both been tourists to Singapore very recently, and apart from the "gum problem" (I don't chew anyway), we didn't face any "freedom" issues.