There is plenty of criticism that goes on against the government both online and in real life. The only people who are charged with libel suits are those who have either - a) put forth blatantly false statements and have achieved a certain level of fame b) made statements against certain races and religions.
Obviously this isn't the same level of freedom of speech that is found in America but it is nowhere near as draconian as the western media would like to portray.
The number of people who fall into the categories above are a handful. For the millions of people who are only superficially engaged politically this simply does not matter to them, and the quality of living they enjoy far outweighs whatever prohibitions on free speech is imposed.
People are much less likely to be politically engaged in Singapore because of the overall concern about how speaking out could affect them negatively. In private, you often hear strong opinions from taxi drivers, for example, who think they are anonymous to you, but rarely will they speak up in public. That is what happens in a society without free speech and when people can be publicly prosecuted for what they say.
Teenager jailed for insulting Lee Kuan Yew http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37505951
Same event, one of the charges is "wounding religious feeling" http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/29/asia/singapore-amos-yee-teen-b...
he is currently a professor at the lee kuan yew school of public policy.
he has not been thrown in jail.
Are you saying that one example proves that they don't do these types of things?
Who is this? I cannot find anything online about a person who was charged for doing so.
You do realize they throw people in jail for criticizing the government on facebook right?