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Comment by forgingahead | Hacker News Reader

From the article:

I am opposed to many of these features of Singaporean society. I am unconvinced that these human rights violations were ever important building blocks for Singapore's social cohesion, and it at least seems clear that the city-state has now reached a level of stability where the government can safely loosen its iron grip on social life.

This is a common refrain from foreigners cursorily involved in Singapore (whether a passing tourist or expat living there). Lee Kuan Yew had the following retort (starting at 50 minute mark):

https://youtu.be/3ofjSBGmOcY?t=2999

The whole speech is worth watching, and also the other speeches available on either Youtube or the archives: https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/NationalDayRally/

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Not much of a retort. It starts of with an insult at the journalist asking the question why they need to be so strict and then goes on with the usual fear mongering about heroin use being so rampant it destroys society.

Fact is LKY and the government he founded is exceptionally brutal and petty (to this day foreign journalists who dare criticize the PAP government will find themselves sued for libel) but there is very little to suggest that specific aspect of theirs actually does Singapore any good.

A much more likely explanation for their success is that they’re famously incorruptible. Unlike other SE Asian strongmen LKY never diverted his CIA bribe money to a Swiss bank account but instead spent it on beautifying his fief.

(Of course government officials do pay themselves exorbitant salaries so you could argue it’s just corruption by another name, but at least that happens out in the open and comes with a veneer of respectability)

The point is that blind commentary is prevalent everywhere, and it is foolish for the commentator to presume that the decisions that were made were done without proper foresight and thinking, especially when the results seem to have worked. Chesterton's fences and all that.

Journalists should be sued for libel if they are libelous - wrapping oneself in the cloak of "journalism" is not free license to slander and spread untruths. Much of the American / western media has this sickness, which is why there is so much anguish over "fake news".

I don't know why you think it's fear-mongering about heroin - you think heroin/drug abuse in a society has no detrimental effects?

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