I went to school in Singapore too.
Yes, there is caning, but only for very serious offences. They no longer cane kids just for being late (which was done to Lee Kuan Yew, though he mentioned in his memoir that "it never did me any harm").
Homosexuality is technically illegal (to be precise, the act of sex between men), but it is rarely enforced and most people don't mind it, especially the younger generation which tend to support LGBT strongly.
Re:Asia Sentinel Blocked in Singapore
by umanwizard on Saturday June 03, 2023 @10:54AM
(#36177170)
Sex between men is not illegal (even technically) in Singapore anymore since Nov. 2022.
Thanks, I'm out of date it seems.
>Until recently it was illegal to be gay in Singapore.
Not that long ago it was in many parts of the west too. Could get you fired from work, There were still gays in both places of course, both closeted and people everybody knew they were gay.
Hell, up until the 60s there was seggregation of blacks and whites.
As for the educational system, university is very expensive. Schools are free and yes they claim to be very good on academic scores. What they don’t tell you is they still do caning in public schools (boys only). Still stuck in the fifties. The educational system largely focuses on academic strength and if you are not academically strong you get put into a second tier system very quickly. Kids as young as 8 have exams and suffer from exam stress early in their life.
So yes, Singapore is an iron fisted, draconian police state, not much better than their Chinese neighbours.
Source: I live here.