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Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

marginalrevolution.com

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Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#51

Post by snowpid »

cardanome wrote: post #42
budududuroiu wrote: post #14

TIL detention without trial is a thing in Singapore [^1], ministers love to brag about increasing the severity of detention without trial [^2], and that the longest someone was held in detention without trial in Singapore was 23+9 years [^3]. That person was never charged. [^1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Law_(Temporary_Provis... [^2]: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/my-views-on-... [^3] h…

Detention without trial is also a thing in the UK. Legally limited to 6 months but extended in practice if you are Irish or advocate against the genocide in Palestine. Ask the people of Palestine Action UK. With the growing fascism all over the world we will see that kind of thing more often.

[flagged]

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#52

Post by antonymoose »

somenameforme wrote: post #28

There's an extremely low fertility rate paired with a rapidly aging population. When I visited there were endless advertisements for geriatric type care / end-of-life type planning / etc, and a notably older population working quite low wage jobs in a place where everything was crazy expensive, especially relative to its northern neighbor. It felt depressing. It seems like one of those places that is probably quite n…

Your commentary has me reflecting on my own hometown. I grew up in a wealthy resort and retirement island, the kind of place that is now so expensive I could not afford real estate anywhere on or even near to.

Very aged population relative to the rest of the nation and so during the Great Recession a wave of retirees found themselves owning a home but otherwise impoverished and working service jobs out of desperation. Always was a sad interaction, and working alongside them was often worse. You would never hear the end of their misery, understandable bitterness, and regret.

Nowadays, thanks to the same demographic shifts, those jobs are back in the hands of the youth. Except now it’s all folks who grew up on the island that seemingly will live at home with their parents for the rest of their lives working those jobs. They otherwise would not be able to live anywhere close.

I have to ponder what the next shift in staffing there will look like.

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#53

Post by marssaxman »

What a strange premise. Aside from the brief period of infamy around the Michael Fay case (mid-90s, a teenager caned for acts of petty vandalism), when were Americans ever paying attention to Singapore?

The author keeps referring to "right-wing" this and that, so presumably he is buried too deep in some weird political subculture to realize that his question makes little sense to the rest of us.

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#54

Post by snowpid »

yanhangyhy wrote: post #36
Supermancho wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is "we"? While the ugliness of Taiwanese justice (or lack thereof) makes it unappealing to me, from the other issues mentioned in these threads and the recent 3 year sentence for killing a little girl - https://jakartaglobe.id/news/sixyearold-indonesian-girl-kill... , I'm not sure it rises to the most troubling qualities of NK. eg The population doesn't starve en masse, no familial dynasty, and there is no altern…

> Who is "we"? many chinese people, it's kind of joke but still..also true on many levels. > I'm not sure it rises to the most troubling qualities of NK its run by a dictator from the begining, with many strange laws to tell the people not to do this and not to do that. the major difference is that Singapore is pro-west (and pretend to be neutral) so no trash talk from the western media and its portrayed as a 'democr…

" so no trash talk from the western media and its portrayed as a 'democracy' "

Please provide sources

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#55

Post by notpushkin »

marcosdumay wrote: post #11
snowpid wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UAE still murders gay men just for beeing gay. Besides the lack of morality this affects 7 % of all men worldwide. Im not sure if UAE really be an exciting place and thus would someone migrate to it if you care about culture and stuff.

Yes, Singapore will execute people for different reasons, not for being gay.

Yes, mostly for drug trafficking and murder. You could in theory argue that drug trafficking is kinda comparable to being gay [1], but the capital punishment is only for huge amounts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Singapor...

[1]: I mean, in my book consensual trade between two grown up people is closer to consensual sex between two grown up people than it is to murder. That said, there is still some difference.

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#56

Post by yanhangyhy »

snowpid wrote: post #54
yanhangyhy wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who is "we"? many chinese people, it's kind of joke but still..also true on many levels. > I'm not sure it rises to the most troubling qualities of NK its run by a dictator from the begining, with many strange laws to tell the people not to do this and not to do that. the major difference is that Singapore is pro-west (and pretend to be neutral) so no trash talk from the western media and its portrayed as a 'democr…

" so no trash talk from the western media and its portrayed as a 'democracy' " Please provide sources

please give me a link said singpore is not democary and its run by a dictator

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#57

Post by notahacker »

GCA10 wrote: post #17

OP's critique feels like a celebrity economist's variant of those travel magazine pieces that tell us why Zermatt, Phuket or Nantucket is no longer a "cool" vacation spot. On some sort of momentary buzz meter, sure. But the factors that help Singapore be an Asian or often global hub in so many respects are still running strong, no? Worrying about whether a couple dozen X/Twitter legends are hyping you today feels sil…

Think it's more looking at the trend for Very Serious Political/Economic Commentators to suggest it as a model to emulate in long form articles than the Twitterati, but yeah, it's explicitly asking about opinions rather than whether there's anything about it that's actually broken down. Which is, relatively speaking, a nice place to be as a country.

Cowen is focused mostly on the US commenteriat, but the trend is similar in the UK, where "we should totally be like Singapore" peaked around Brexit, under the delusion idea that all we needed to do to emulated the success of the city state that founded ASEAN two years after declaring independence was leave the EU.

Meanwhile HN generally forms its opinion from a decades-old William Gibson article lamenting that it wasn't cool enough to write cyberpunk about :)

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#58

Post by jpadkins »

marssaxman wrote: post #53

What a strange premise. Aside from the brief period of infamy around the Michael Fay case (mid-90s, a teenager caned for acts of petty vandalism), when were Americans ever paying attention to Singapore? The author keeps referring to "right-wing" this and that, so presumably he is buried too deep in some weird political subculture to realize that his question makes little sense to the rest of us.

Tyler Cowen used to blog about Singapore monthly, and now he does not. He reflected on why he doesn't. He admitted that he doesn't because its not cool to people in power. I find that a funny admission because I long suspected that academia's basic function is to suck up to power and justify whatever decisions the elite make.

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#59

Post by notahacker »

yanhangyhy wrote: post #36
Supermancho wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is "we"? While the ugliness of Taiwanese justice (or lack thereof) makes it unappealing to me, from the other issues mentioned in these threads and the recent 3 year sentence for killing a little girl - https://jakartaglobe.id/news/sixyearold-indonesian-girl-kill... , I'm not sure it rises to the most troubling qualities of NK. eg The population doesn't starve en masse, no familial dynasty, and there is no altern…

> Who is "we"? many chinese people, it's kind of joke but still..also true on many levels. > I'm not sure it rises to the most troubling qualities of NK its run by a dictator from the begining, with many strange laws to tell the people not to do this and not to do that. the major difference is that Singapore is pro-west (and pretend to be neutral) so no trash talk from the western media and its portrayed as a 'democr…

This is the "dictator" that you're allowed to run for election against and the "no chewing gum" bylaws Singaporeans sell T-shirts joking about the system to foreigners, right?

Try doing that in mainland China...

Re: Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?

#60

Post by m0llusk »

jmclnx wrote: post #8

I think it is due to China. I remember Singapore was a large financial center for Asia, but China's rapid growth overshadowed Singapore. I also think Hong Kong is going through the same thing, plus I believe China is trying to make Shanghai into its main Finance Center, letting Hong Kong's center fade away.

Hong Kong has been in a different spot since 2023 when the Chinese government targeted some of the biggest due diligence companies and shut them down, substantially disrupting all contract driven commerce at that time. Avoiding random corruption driven crackdowns like that is one of the main reasons companies prefer alternatives like Singapore.
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