> Singapore is clever enough to keep the democratic process

Mainly it appears to be a democracy. Speak to any of the cab drivers there who feel somewhat liberated to talk safely with a foreigner who is on the way to the airport, and they will tell you something about Singapore's democracy.

Not sure if that's a fair judgement - It seems particularly endemic that it's almost a meme/stereotype in itself in Singapore; that all cab drivers are discontent with the government

Singapore is not a democracy. They have sham elections where the opposition party is only allowed to have media coverage by the single state run media channel for three weeks before the election. If your neighborhood votes for the opposition party you lose funding for things like public transportation. Lee Kuan Yew lives in a giant, gated, guarded compound in the middle of the most valuable real estate in the city.

Also criticizing the government is a crime and saying the wrong thing on facebook can land you in prison.

As always, the truth is somewhere in between what you say and what the government portrays. 38 Oxley Road was owned by the Lees since the 1940s, well before any of them came into power, and well before property prices in Singapore exploded to the level they have now. It is also a stretch to call it "giant" or the "most valuable" piece of real estate, when there are hundreds of bigger houses in the nation. The number of "guards" is also comparable to the state leaders of any other European country, and certainly pales in comparison to the US or some dictatorial nations.

There is some bias in state media coverage, but that is fast becoming irrelevant when the main source of news for people nowadays is social media. Criticizing the government is not a crime, and people regularly do it - one only has to go to the Facebook comments section of the state newspaper to take a look. Making a factually false statement and then gaining significant fame could get a lawsuit filed against you - so tread lightly when making big claims that you have no proof for.

> There is some bias in state media coverage

Specifically the opposition candidates get limited time three weeks out from an election. Saying that people are getting more news from the internet is not 'the truth being somewhere in the middle'. Temasek Holdings controls the news paper (which also has a web site) the single local TV channel, the telecoms and the banks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temasek_Holdings

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161228/22505536362/youtu...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/21/opinion/fake-news-law-sin...

yeah... I used to walk in front of that house when I went to school every day. There's like two dudes with guns, and there is a tiny booth of a guard post. My workplace has more security than that.

The playing field is nowhere close to being level.

https://thediplomat.com/2015/02/soft-repression-the-struggle...

For more info: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/dispute-pm-lee-hsien-loong-not-mer...

No privacy either: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-singapore-crime-li/singapo...

> If your neighborhood votes for the opposition party you lose funding for things like public transportation.

Not for public transportation, but yes, it's not a secret that opposition-held constituencies get substantially less public funding: https://www.ourclassnotes.com/post/cipc-funds-which-town-cou...

> Also criticizing the government is a crime and saying the wrong thing on facebook can land you in prison.

Would you mind linking the specific law(s) you talk about here?

>> Lee Kuan Yew lives in a giant, gated, guarded compound in the middle of the most valuable real estate in the city

Didn't he die the better part of a decade ago?

I wonder if they meant his son, Lee Hsien Loong, the current prime minister.

Its also super disingenuous

LKY lived in a rather small house.

The current president tried to continue living in her HDB (public housing) after taking office but gave up on advice of security and complaints from neighbours about said security.

Not that different than the Republicans passing a tax bill in 2017 specifically designed to increase taxes on Democratic constituencies.

Eh, as they said in the article: "Part of the mythos of Lee Kuan Yew is that he succeeded as an authoritarian where so many others have failed." Singapore is the exception; authoritarian governments are almost always bad for the people otherwise.

Benevolent dictatorship is not just a sarcastic phrase, it is sometimes true for some distributions of benevolence in history. The more interesting question is what happens after he passes away, or cannot continue to make decisions.

Many Singaporeans will tell you that their experience is quite repressive

True -- after all, it is still authoritarian, the only difference is that this authoritarian government seems to care for the wealth of its citizens (although not much else.)

It’s just like any company, which are usually little dictatorships.

If the controls and discipline aren’t present, you get a failed state with everyone’s crony wasting and damaging the whole.

Don't think that the democratic process guarantees a good hand off... it's still a crap shoot and a lucky draw. See current President Camacho of the United States.

Unlike a dictator, the aggregate will of the people never serves the self interest of a single individual. The issue with majority rule is that the aggregate intelligence/judgement of the people is likely not matched with what is required to select a good leader.

Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.

The current situation reflects how law and society has lagged behind technolgy and social media. We moved away from moderated information delivery to a torrent of self-published nonsense.

For every HN post, there are a dozen lunatics.

Did you watch the whole movie? President Camacho was a good leader.

Love the idiocracy reference there