Acting Under Orders

Ref warpster#19

[#16
Probably nothing.. As long as she kept out of the media. But if she did, then life would become just a bit more complicated for her.]

Grace also gave out interviews in the US (according to that particular article I chanced upon) about how the repression in Singapore was the cause of her getting into the porn business.

[Singapore is very liberal on sexual matters as long as it doesnt involve politics..]

Really not so. Prostitution is just business and tolerated. Most sex workers are Thai women who come on a visit pass and spend a couple of weeks and return with enough money for a few months of living in Thailand. Singapore has very strict laws against sodomy for instance so there goes your theory about Singapore being liberal.

Ref bbabu #20

[they deal severely with drugs]

They hang Indians and Malays for drug dealing. They expel whites with the threat to hang them if they ever return.

warpster #19

they deal severely with drugs

#16

---

Probably nothing.. As long as she kept out of the media. But if she did, then life would become just a bit more complicated for her. Singapore is very liberal on sexual matters as long as it doesnt involve politics.. the worlds oldest profession thrives there and could be a model for other countries (as the infectious diseases are kept well under check).

little india is a great place with lots of character and good shops and small eateries.

coming back to the main point: singaporean intellectual remains an oxymoron (with the exception of the founder Lee Kuan Yew)

adityapant #17

The Indian section of the city is less clean than the rest of Singapore. Even the Indian section is lot cleaner than a typical Indian town.

Never been to singapore but have been told that the place is squeaky clean except for
what i believe is known as Little India where they still sell masalas in the open (probably adulterated as well!) Three cheers for chaotic democracy!

Ref warpster #15

[Singapore, for those who have lived in it, can be a very dehumanizing place.

Make no mistake. It is great for the tourist, for the businessman, for the shopper. It has developed systems that can be emulated elsewhere. It has good educational institutions.

But it is hell for anyone who wishes to express their opinion freely and without fear.]

They have laws that say they can prosecute for crimes committed outside Singapore even if you were never caught in the country where you committed the crime.

Like, if they prove through analysis of your hair that you had used cocaine 10 months ago while you were in the US, they could and do throw you in jail!

I am just wondering what would happen to Grace Lim or Grace Chang who became a porn actress in the US if she returns to Singapore to visit her family. In one of the useless Google searches I chanced upon the information that she was working in ``the movies`` and is Singaporean by birth. I think she would have the book thrown at her!

Singapore, for those who have lived in it, can be a very dehumanizing place.

Make no mistake. It is great for the tourist, for the businessman, for the shopper. It has developed systems that can be emulated elsewhere. It has good educational institutions.

But it is hell for anyone who wishes to express their opinion freely and without fear.

In their quest for the $, it has become a soulless place

It is a tradeoff.. perhaps one that can work in a city state. China has learnt quite a bit from Singapore on how to make the transition from 1-party communism to 1-party ``democracy``. Both countries lead the world in number of executions (death penalty cases) .

Opinions such as what I have posted above rarely make it to a ``letters to the editor`` of the sole official newspaper (all newspapers and media are govt controlled); debate is strictly regulated to be within certain boundaries so that people dont get the wrong ideas.

---

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/gibson.html


Disneyland with the Death Penalty

We sent William Gibson to Singapore to see whether that clean dystopia represents our techno future.


By William Gibson

``It`s like an entire country run by Jeffrey Katzenberg,`` the producer had said, ``under the motto `Be happy or I`ll kill you.``` We were sitting in an office a block from Rodeo Drive, on large black furniture leased with Japanese venture capital.

Now that I`m actually here, the Disneyland metaphor is proving impossible to shake. For that matter, Rodeo Drive comes frequently to mind, though the local equivalent feels more like 30 or 40 Beverly Centers put end to end.

;-)

Was it Laurie Anderson who said that VR would never look real until they learned how to put some dirt in it? Singapore`s airport, the Changi Airtropolis, seemed to possess no more resolution than some early VPL world. There was no dirt whatsoever; no muss, no furred fractal edge to things. Outside, the organic, florid as ever in the tropics, had been gardened into brilliant green, and all-too-perfect examples of itself. Only the clouds were feathered with chaos - weird columnar structures towering above the Strait of China.

The cab driver warned me about littering. He asked where I was from.

He asked if it was clean there. ``Singapore very clean city.`` One of those annoying Japanese-style mechanical bells cut in as he exceeded the speed limit, just to remind us both that he was doing it. There seemed to be golf courses on either side of the freeway. . . .

``You come for golf?``

``No.``

``Business?``

``Pleasure.``

He sucked his teeth. He had his doubts about that one.

Singapore is a relentlessly G-rated experience, micromanaged by a state that has the look and feel of a very large corporation. If IBM had ever bothered to actually possess a physical country, that country might have had a lot in common with Singapore. There`s a certain white-shirted constraint, an absolute humorlessness in the way Singapore Ltd. operates; conformity here is the prime directive, and the fuzzier brands of creativity are in extremely short supply.

The physical past here has almost entirely vanished.

There is no slack in Singapore. Imagine an Asian version of Zurich operating as an offshore capsule at the foot of Malaysia; an affluent microcosm whose citizens inhabit something that feels like, well, Disneyland. Disneyland with the death penalty.

......... http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/gibson.html has the complete article which runs into many pages

Re: # 8

It is rather intimidating for smooth pale skinned people to see huge hairy men with turbans rushing through their shop entrances.And huge hairy men with turbans do tend to talk with a loud booming tone of voice which is even more intimidating.And, furthermore, huge hairy men with turbans do not wait to be served or prefer to stand in line or gingerly walk through a store searching for what they need.I hope you understand.

I have been to Singapore. The Indian government could learn a lesson or two in terms of operating efficiently. Th people are okay. It is not a perfect society. It is hard to do any better than what they have achieved. All kudos to Lew Kuan Yew !!!

Wade Agnew,

I`ve lived in Singapore most of my life. The red blip that I see is the point of intersection where your and my sentiments relating with governance and life in Singapore is concerned cross paths. -with minor differences.

Singapore`s government understands that the fountainhead of a high standard of living is business. Singapore`s policies are designed to favor mid-sized and large businesses even so-much-so that social life etiquettes are evaluated, calibrated, and manipulated qualitatively to facilitate smooth running of businesses. Most of the 3.4 million people living in Singapore are employed in corporations. Institutionalized education and mass media are centered to dictate people to be quick and efficient. Competition in academia and business is taken seriously, very seriously. Even getting on and off buses, amid others, is a challenge to be the quickest and the first.

I believe that the policies are so stringent that they leave little room to groom creative enterpreneural minds, en masse. But since the government`s policies benefit most Singaporeans with a predictable livelihood, most of the happenings work out to the benefit of most of the people. Singapore`s only natural productive resource are its people. We have to keep in mind that the sightest of political glitches can create huge problems for this tiny country sized 255 square miles in area.

Personally, for me, as a civilian, home close to heaven is in Virginia, USA where I currently am residing.

Peace!

kaura: I dealt with people of various nationalities for 30 years. Looking back, I think you are right only insofar as dealing with established firms is concerned.

When dealing with individuals (e.g. freelance consultants of various nationalities), I did not see any differences based on nationality - there were some very fine indivdiual consultants (or small firm consultants) from every nationality, and some unethical people from every nationality.

9,

Yes Tahmeed you do see a pattern.

Most of my experience dealing with Americans, English etc. have been VERY good.

Now you can infer a deduction from my statements. Or, let me save u a headache.....Asians (most of them are former slaves and of low character) are the worst businessmen - crooks.

That is why they will never catch up or have standard of living as Europeans or Americans - the decline in the standard of living is due migration of these low lives in droves to these countries and they do not give up their old habits of corruption, cutting corners, duping, etc. crooks.

kaura: sometime back you had reported that your business experience with Pakistanis had been bad...now you report that your business experience with orientals has also been bad...

hmmmmm...do i detect a pattern. :-)

All my experiences with oriental businessmen have been bad. When they visit your shop, they expect all the world and then some. They bargain over a piece of gum. ``Haao mach this Haao much this........etc``.

When u visit their shop, they are the rudest basturds and if they think that you don`t have money they will rudely ask you to leave. This happens often in US too. They follow u like shadows - no customer service. I never shop at their business.

And, what I wrote here, I tell them to their face....and then some.

Great article!
Basic human nature is against strict ordering or pigeon-holing.``Orderly``life in a portion of land may look very pleasing or neat and clean on the surface,but it has lot of supressed material underneath which has to explode at some time.This model of learnt helplessness does not succeed indefinitely.

Welcome to chowk as our token anglo-saxon. :-)

Your comparison of today`s Singapore with the Japanese occupation of World War II is clearly way out of line with reality. The Japanese behaved like animals (and personally I think their emperor literally got away with mass murder and suicide bombings carried out in his name). However, not even its worst critics have accused Singapore of any systematic brutality in prisons - the main issue in Singapore is the strictness of some rules for cleanliness and suppression of political dissent.

I have spent only a couple of days in Singapore and so am unfamiliar with their politics, but certainly enjoyed my stay while there. Excellent food, friendly people (of all ethnic backgrounds - chinese, malay, indian), great parks.