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Wednesday, April 15, 2015

We’re not perfect, but it’s worse down south

Lee Kuan Yew's legacy endures in the island republic.
COMMENT
real-singapore_600Malaysians tend to admire and deride Singapore in equal measure. The Singaporeans have, essentially, the success that we, a larger nation of abundant resources both natural and human, should enjoy based on our strong geopolitical position and economic ties in the region. However, for some reason, we fell behind after a brief rise following Merdeka.
As a result, some of us eye our neighbours with envy and dream of what would happen should Malaysia be administered in the same way. Doubtlessly, we would be successful. We would be a significant world power that would be respected and not continually looked down in unflattering reports on our corruption and lack of openness, among other things.
Singapore is the promise that we have been denied as a people.
But it is not the utopia that some of us sometimes imagine it to be. Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore is based on order, and order at it’s most rigid. It is inflexible, harsh, and unforgiving, especially when it’s founding father, or his family, is questioned in any form, shape, or manner. It is a lot closer to the dystopias we see in the movies these days than to a working model of democracy.
We saw an example of this when the young Amos Yee was dragged to court for having the audacity to criticise Kuan Yew. Now, two writers working for alternative media site The Real Singapore have been charged with sedition for allegedly displaying the same audacity.
Yes, Singapore too has its Sedition Act, and its government is just as liberal, if not more, as ours in the use of the archaic law to curb dissent and criticism. Lee Kuan Yew himself has left a long history of putting away his political rivals in prison cells to languish there, wasting the best days of their lives when they had much to offer the island nation, and all because Lee did not agree with them or their ideology.
We have to remove the rose-tinted glasses we have when we look at Singapore’s well-ordered society. Yes, Singaporeans have all the material success we dream off, such as incomes that soar through the roof. It’s a city state that can boast having the best of modern architecture, with all the conveniences and benefits that come with it. But all that success comes at a price.
Kuan Yew subjugated an entire nation, and it looks like his successors may be continuing his legacy. He created a nation of worker bees and drones, and no matter how much we laud his achievements, the fact is that we Malaysians cannot imagine living that kind of life.
Yes, things can be better. We can learn from Singapore. But we cannot become it. We cannot accept the totalitarian measures that were inspired by the so-called “democratic” government of China. It will be out of character for us. Our national character of openness and hospitality demands that we live as free men and women. We haven’t got to that ideal condition yet, but one things is for sure – we cannot look south for inspiration.

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