Singapore is seen by many Asian leaders as their ideal society – economically prosperous, first world health care, orderly and in the firm control of an upper class elite which can bend the rules when it suits them.
The material benefits that ordinary Singaporeans enjoy from such a system come at a price: an authoritarian government, widespread censorship, intolerance of dissent or criticism – it is the proverbial gilded cage.
From China’s former leader, Deng Xiaoping to Vietnam’s current rulers Singapore’s wealth and social control are a model to aspire to but is it one that has a long term future?
Malaysian lawyer and democracy activist, R Kengadharan, who has enjoyed a lengthy stay in his country’s jail under in the Internal Security Act for his pursuit of human rights argues in Free Malaysia Today that an open society with a free flow of information and a vigorous oposition is necessary for Singapore like any country to survive.