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Singapore Government Tech Stack

developer.tech.gov.sg

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Re: Singapore Government Tech Stack

#61

Post by sagaro »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #55
dontreact wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And history repeatedly shows that even if you get a dictator of the first kind, it’s an unstable equilibrium of a system that eventually leads to a dictator of the second kind.

Which Lee Kuan Yew was well aware of, and set up a constitution that makes it easy to peacefully remove a government. The only reason the PAP is still in power is because Singaporeans don't want to get rid of them.

Gerrymandering is a popular tactics used by PAP in Singapore, to ensure they stay in power. In most democracies the Govt., Supreme Court and the Election Commission are independent of each other. Thereby elections are run fairly. But in Singapore, the election commission and supreme court is run by the govt. in power. This makes it easier for the party in power to sustain it's reign.

Re: Singapore Government Tech Stack

#63

Post by roenxi »

jolux wrote: post #42
noobermin wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The unfortunate reality is a lot of people post comments like GP but do so reflexively to deride non-US governments then play defense for posts critical of the US. Some do it for China, and so on. It would help in general if people are reasonably (emphasis on reasonably) skeptical of all states.

Let’s not pretend that China’s laws and norms are comparable to those of the US here, though. Yes, it’s reasonable to be skeptical of all states, but there’s definitely a difference of degree in state overreach.

They are comparable. China is still worse, but:

1) I fully expect to see the US government make up most of the US economy by spending in my lifetime (I'd argue they are already there, but that involves an argument I don't feel like typing).

2) COVID shows us that the US government also sees their role as deploying an invasive level of social control for The Greater Good. COVID level threats aren't going to be that rare, we'll see another one in our lifetimes.

3) The US government pioneered using phones to support a global surveillance apparatus (probably military too, I expect more than one missile has been targeted on an iPhone).

So to repeat myself, although I'd still rather take the Americans than the Chinese, these are not categorically different things. They see their roles as the same and their methods are converging. Especially on the subject of surveillance and the risks it poses to ordinary people.

Re: Singapore Government Tech Stack

#64

Post by AussieWog93 »

sagaro wrote: post #61
AussieWog93 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which Lee Kuan Yew was well aware of, and set up a constitution that makes it easy to peacefully remove a government. The only reason the PAP is still in power is because Singaporeans don't want to get rid of them.

Gerrymandering is a popular tactics used by PAP in Singapore, to ensure they stay in power. In most democracies the Govt., Supreme Court and the Election Commission are independent of each other. Thereby elections are run fairly. But in Singapore, the election commission and supreme court is run by the govt. in power. This makes it easier for the party in power to sustain it's reign.

I'm not saying they don't give themselves unfair advantages in the election, but that's a very different thing to, say, Mugabe's Zimbabwe or Putin's Russia where power was simply seized and held onto with no accountability to the people.

If the PAP torpedoed the entire economy because of some stupid beliefs of the leader, they would be quickly and quietly removed.

Re: Singapore Government Tech Stack

#65

Post by saghm »

noobermin wrote: post #40
pxeger1 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lgvln wasn't comparing it to the US. quinnjh was the one who brought up the US.

Looked at a wiki article, and it looks like not many states have a "right to privacy" in their constitution but rather have it specified by various other laws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_privacy

My point was that there's disagreement about whether the US has a right to privacy, compared to in Singapore which, at least based on the comments in the thread, it seems like there's consensus that there isn't one.

Re: Singapore Government Tech Stack

#66

Post by dailo10 »

lgvln wrote: post #17

Let’s not forget the whole fiasco with Singapore’s TraceTogether app for contact tracing during the pandemic. The actual implementation of it differs significantly from the white paper they open-sourced. The actual app does not anonymize the data and the government has access to everyone’s location and interaction data. Initially, their privacy policy promised the data would only be used for tracking of the spread of…

TraceTogether is being phased out as the end of the pandemic nears. Haven't had to use it for weeks now.

As for privacy issue - they ended up stating that they would only use it for serious crimes e.g. they used it in a murder investigation. Seems like a reasonable compromise for better public safety.

(I recognize that not everyone will agree on that, but the level of safety and security in Singapore is mind blowing.)

Re: Singapore Government Tech Stack

#68

Post by jolux »

roenxi wrote: post #63
jolux wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s not pretend that China’s laws and norms are comparable to those of the US here, though. Yes, it’s reasonable to be skeptical of all states, but there’s definitely a difference of degree in state overreach.

They are comparable. China is still worse, but: 1) I fully expect to see the US government make up most of the US economy by spending in my lifetime (I'd argue they are already there, but that involves an argument I don't feel like typing). 2) COVID shows us that the US government also sees their role as deploying an invasive level of social control for The Greater Good. COVID level threats aren't going to be that ra…

2) is a weird objection to level given as almost all restrictions have been lifted in the US and China remains a repressive nightmare on this issue as it has been since 2020. The US did not come anywhere near what China did with regards to lockdowns. And it’s a core responsibility of all states to protect their citizens. Overall our response was bad but we developed effective vaccines that have mostly saved us now while China refuses to use them for nationalistic reasons. Very different situations.

Re: Singapore Government Tech Stack

#69

Post by finolex1 »

butterfi wrote: post #11

I’ve worked on a Singapore website sponsored by the major University and a Govt. office and frankly speaking, it’s a poorly managed process dominated by IT protocol more than business/client goals. The admin responsible for running the site was inept and his colleagues were worse. The person who inherited managing the complex web stack was a secretary with no dev skills. I hope it works out for them, but I’m not opti…

There's several different government bodies working on tech in Singapore. GovTech is the more 'elite' group that pays better and generally rolls out decent products.

Re: Singapore Government Tech Stack

#70

Post by atdrummond »

Ferrotin wrote: post #60
srazzaque wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that's precisely why the SG government choose to pay extremely well. They gain candidates with great credentials that otherwise will have gone to the private sector. Also, having well compensated staff makes the ranks less susceptible to corruption and bribery.

They also have hiring standards. The U.S. Government threw that out in the 70’s.

It would be illegal in the US to have the kind of hiring standards that would be effective.
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