> It's a great example of the trade-off between personal freedoms and economic security.

Umm, no this isn't a trade-off you need to make. Look at Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. In Sweden, we have complete economic security and personal freedoms. I don't know why you'd think authoritarianism is a necessary trade off for even less economic security than here.

Parent can also look at Japan, Korea and Taiwan. People who make it a western democracies vs Singapore's ideal authoritarianism conveniently forget about those three asian countries.

You're comparing three mono-ethnic countries to Singapore's multi-ethnic, multi-religious society.

South Korea and Taiwan were military dictatorships for much of their economic rise.

It's a trade-off voters believe. It's not my own opinion. Singapore would function perfectly well without the authoritarianism I'm sure.