And by lifestyle choices I mean being gay, smoking weed, or being Malay.
I would quite literally live in any Chinese city before chosing Singapore. At least China would be cheaper.
No you won't. However bad you imagine Singapore's police state to be, China's is several order of magnitudes worse. Singapore doesn't block most Western social network, media and file sharing sites. Singapore doesn't ban memes from social networks because they make their leader look bad. Singapore doesn't demand foreign internet companies to host content locally so that the government can crackdown on said content if it doesn't agree with them. Singapore doesn't kidnap dissidents from neighbouring countries, or put entire minority races into concentration camps.
And major Chinese cities aren't cheaper either. Surprise - if you want Western standard of living, then you have to pay Western prices.
But, I didn't go to Harbin for a squeaky clean experience. I went there for its grime and cheapness, and I felt the surveillance was tolerable for the price.
Singapore is like a Chinese Miami. For the price, I'd just go to Miami or Brisbane.
Compared to other countries, in the region, but even in the west, very little.
>and lifestyle choices are severely punished by jail, death, loss of career and loss of residency.
Well, the US used to send you to prison for some marijuana just a few years ago. Some states still do. It's also quite punishable still in countries like Sweden. And all the others used to be problems not that long ago (maybe not being Malay, but "walking while black" still is). So it's not like Singapore is this nightmare outlier place.
My ex is Singaporean and I (white American) was denied work permit, so I researched it intently. We were considering marriage until we saw the thousands of Malays who were unsuccessful despite marriage.
Really hidden and heartbreaking. And that's just one example of Han Chinese racism
The US isn't the most awesome country in the world but marrying a foreigner at least conveys them basic rights like residency and work permit. I mean, residency! What is a marriage without residency?
When I think of what the USA does in terms of preventing migration, I say to myself, "wow, it probably can't be much worse than this". But then I think of Singapore, and realize I'm wrong-- wow, it can be worse than this!
At least in the USA and indeed many countries all over the world, marriage = right to reside. But not in Singapore.
If you are Malay, then the government sees you as a threat to the "delicate harmonious balance of races" in Singapore, and they will do a lot to prevent you from permanently residing and working.
EDIT: upon consulting Wikipedia, it would appear that Hakka is a subset of Han, and that Singaporeans are considered Han despite ancestral migrations. It's a lot like ethnic Irish living in Ireland vs ethnic Irish living in America
Of course it does. 0% crime rate is impossible. The point is that Singapore is measurably far safer than most other places in the world.
>And by lifestyle choices I mean being gay, smoking weed, or being Malay.
There’s plenty of reasons to criticise Singapore, but you don’t seem to be familiar with them. If you want to have a lifestyle where you smoke weed, then Singapore is certainly not the right place to live. But being gay or Malay is not a threat to your freedom, life, career or residency.
Also, if you’re looking for cheap living, then Singapore’s a terrible place to start. It’s very expensive to live there, but I don’t see how that has anything to do with their laws or how they enforce them.
I would quite literally live in any Asian country before choosing any Western country.
But hey, each to their own right?
Alcohol and tobacco are banned in Singapore?!
There is too much “whataboutism” going on here. Criticism of Singapore’s pseudo-police-state doesn’t mean that the US doesn’t have a crippling racism problem, or that the UK’s surveillance state is okay.
Or we could recognize people's personal freedoms and understand that sacrificing them to achieve a dystopic police state is not worth it.
I vehemently disagree with people like you that public order and compliance is such an important end that all means to get there are justified.
Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Singapore was a link I thought to be at least tangentially related.
My position has always been and will always be against anyone that wants almost total control over what other people can do. Authoritarianism is never worth it.
You also said in the reply that you'd prefer to live in any Asian country before any Western country.
I think my interpretation was fair given the context.
It wasn't about the legality of drugs, though the draconian criminal justice system surrounding it was more of my point.
Edit: Removed sentence fragment I forgot to delete.
I’m against drugs outright. Weed included. The laws are strict in Asia. Not just singapore. However singapore has stated that if the overwhelming scientific conclusion is that weed is ok. Then they are open for allowing it in Singapore for Medical purposes. However since there is still a lot of conflicting science (despite there being positive benefits to weed) singapore wants it to remain banned. Alcohol consumption is only a real issue with foreigners in Singapore. It’s taxed so high here no one drinks other than foreigners.
(About to board a plane so have to stop)
You'd choose North Korea over Sweden?