Oppression?

I was having a chat with my Australian colleague and she asked me, "Isn't Singapore oppressive?". Now I was taken aback by that question because she has never been to Singapore before. So I wondered where she got her information from. It seems that the reports by the paper and even the net doesn't place Singapore in a good light. Her impression was formed by what she has been reading over the years. And she wasn’t the only one, my German colleague also echoed the sentiments.

I wouldn't say much about what I said to them but I did tell them that Singapore wasn't as oppressive as what they think and that it wasn't a "police state" (in fact we get away with quite a lot :P). Even though Singapore doesn't have the ‘freedom of responsible speech’ as Australia, German or even Korea, things have changed in the past 10 years and Singaporeans have started to voice their opinions about policies and even started questioning the gahmen. Not only did the gahmen not clamp down on these people, the actually encouraged it but there are still limits... for now. I told her that things would change and in time to come Singapore would have Australia's responsible speech too.

They were very satisfied with my answer but it did get me thinking. The gahmen wants Singapore to become a city like New York and London but with impressions like this about Singapore hanging around, it cannot. What makes a city cosmopolitan like New York and London is not the gahmen but the people, locals and foreigners. People flock to these cities because they have been know to be open minded, non-discriminatory and accepting of all people (including the dreaded GLBT community). People go there knowing that they are safe and whatever they do or say wouldn’t get them thrown into prison or deported from the country. This isn’t the impression foreigners have about Singapore. I’m talking about the citizens of these countries, the ones that make a city cosmopolitan not the gahmens. If we don’t change our image as a “oppressive” and “police state”, becoming like London or New York will not be possible.

I sometimes wonder if the Singapore gahmen knows this.