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> And I would tell you Singapore is very well integrated with western values [..] > I've not known a self-declared Left that could stand staying in Singapore f

by bkor 7y ago

> And I would tell you Singapore is very well integrated with western values [..] > I've not known a self-declared Left that could stand staying in Singapore for more than a week Weird combination of statements. It gives the impression (though you probably mean something different that anyone not liking it is 1) "left" 2) not part of Western values Left vs right is pretty useless distinction anyway. Someone who is considered "left" in US is IMO very much "right" in Netherlands. Plus some parties on the right or left differ greatly on how they see things. E.g. not every "left" party will align with what someone agrees with; else there wouldn't be multiple parties. Those parties differ more greatly than "a little bit left" vs "a lot left" (with some exceptions). Further, I reject the notion that someone who is left wouldn't be able to stand staying in Singapore for more than a week. Though biggest problem is that after a week there's not much to do (for anyone reading along, all the Singaporean colleagues completely agree with me on this!) :-P

archibaldJ 7y ago
Yeah I guess I had mistakenly used left vs right as a synonym for the more liberal-ish vs the more conservative-ish and that is indeed probably an oversimplification. Anyway I was talking more about the "liveable" aspects of Singapore. Maybe not a week as a tourist but say living longer than a month there. The night life is pretty boring, the underground scene had dissipated in the 2000s and the art scene is not at all vibrant (though things are gradually improving). I would say it doesn't enjoy lots of things liberal-ish cities (like Berlin, NY, etc) enjoy. But there is stability and comfort. It's just that people that is more liberal-ish would ultimately leave the country and live overseas, or if circumstances allow they would start an NGO or something and try to improve things to have more freedom of expressions, more social acceptance for LGBT, etc. But ultimately it is a very conservative place with things like homophobia and an embedded racism. And that's the point I'm trying to make.
jtms 7y ago
+1 to the “nothing to do after a week” - it does get quite dull very fast. At least the food is amazing. Changi airport was my favorite part of Singapore for the weekend getaways

by bkor 7y ago

archibaldJ 7y ago

Yeah I guess I had mistakenly used left vs right as a synonym for the more liberal-ish vs the more conservative-ish and that is indeed probably an oversimplification. Anyway I was talking more about the "liveable" aspects of Singapore. Maybe not a week as a tourist but say living longer than a month there. The night life is pretty boring, the underground scene had dissipated in the 2000s and the art scene is not at all vibrant (though things are gradually improving). I would say it doesn't enjoy lots of things liberal-ish cities (like Berlin, NY, etc) enjoy. But there is stability and comfort. It's just that people that is more liberal-ish would ultimately leave the country and live overseas, or if circumstances allow they would start an NGO or something and try to improve things to have more freedom of expressions, more social acceptance for LGBT, etc. But ultimately it is a very conservative place with things like homophobia and an embedded racism. And that's the point I'm trying to make.

jtms 7y ago

+1 to the “nothing to do after a week” - it does get quite dull very fast. At least the food is amazing. Changi airport was my favorite part of Singapore for the weekend getaways