Tiny Singapore News Today

>> anthony: thats your favorite malay dish. whats your favorite chinese dish? >> cab driver: chinese, ho kai min. >> anthony: ho kai min? >> cab driver: ho kai min. sometimes chicken rice. >> anthony: chicken rice of course. >> cab driver: yes. >> anthony: how about favorite indian dish? >> cab driver: definitely biryani. you know that? >> anthony: the biryani. >> cab driver: ya. biryani rice. >> anthony: oh, sungei road right? >> cab driver: yes, yes. >> anthony: oh thats the best -- on sungei ...

Do you think that the singaporean success story is a rebuke to american and western values in some respect? >> donald: no, no. >> anthony: i mean, is free speech overrated? >> donald: i dont think we succeeded because the absence of free speech. >> anthony: its a fact, though. >> donald: the values of free trade, the values of a liberal global order, these are western ideas. i mean, singapore did not invent them. the asian did not. >> anthony: i mean, look, it shouldnt work. it hasnt really work...

♪ ♪ >> anthony: to many, singapore is the land of opportunity. people from all over the world come here to get a good job, to find a better life. >> mike: as an overseas chinese, we have been discriminated in laos, thailand, vietnam, indonesia, malaysia, in america, australia, all over the world. suddenly, you got this guy called lee kuan yew. theres nowhere else in the chinese world have a real leader as big as lee kuan yew. >> anthony: much of singapores success is often credited to its fi...

>> najip: i grew up with that. yeah, exactly. >> anthony: that sounds kind of depressing. >> najip: i know, but thats the past. >> anthony: the muslim quarter --just following afternoon prayers. im here with najip ali, a singaporean malay entertainer and producer. >> najip: yeah, okay. >> anthony: that looks good. >> najip: this is it. >> anthony: so this is a -- >> najip: longton. >> anthony: and this? >> najip: mee siam. >> anthony: we are having longton. rice cake, coconut gravy, vegetables, ...

Things you cant do. >> najip: cant do, yeah. >> anthony: do you think that young creative singaporeans feels those constraints and suffer from them? >> najip: i think some of them who travel knows better. most of them are over educated and under exposed, meaning they have very little experience in what they know. and i think thats what we are lacking. theyre looking for things to do. and the problem with this is were living in a small country and we have nowhere to go and no way to experience th...

Representation? it would make for not only a livelier debate, it would make for a better debate. we may well arrive at the conclusion that the current dispensation of the current order represents the best possible society for singapore. but lets have that debate. >> anthony: i mean, its a horrifying thought, "what if?" >> donald: its possible that the human mind, that the average citizen, cannot deal with that much diversity, that we need these curbs or restrictions on our freedom. >> anthony: w...

You look at all the social problems and ethnic strife, street crime, drugs that singapore has managed to avoid, and you could think, "is this the life we want?" it aint my system. its not the world i want. but damn, it has its appeal. ♪ >> lady wearing purple: hi, this is singapore. hope you like it. >> anthony: jam-packed in between the carefully feng shuid architecture, the skyscrapers and office blocks are rich, deep, very old and deliciously funky remnants of the old world. chinese, indian...

Is in camera. so it is important everyone, we have to follow the rules and regulations, thats the reason singapore is very good. same time, singaporeans are very hard working. as human beings, what we need? food to eat, clothes to wear, a place to sleep, you can get in singapore. so in other words, we have to continue work, you see. if youre working, youll get something, once lazy, youre out. >> anthony: by some measures, singapore is a welfare state, taking care of the less fortunate, but at it...

Together, as well as the favorable economic policies that have allowed it to thrive. michael ma arrived in singapore to take advantage of its business climate, becoming an early pioneer of singapores now famous nightlife. back then, in the beginning, at the very beginning, was it a favorable business climate in the sense that, did they look upon your early efforts generously or kindly? or were they not so sure about this guy? how was it? >> mike: oh, no, singapore is fantastic. >> anthony: and w...

Singaporeans, more than 80% of them to live in these more or less uniform housing estates. but that form of social engineering also has certain benefits. >> anthony: unlike most of the wealthy developed world, there is universal healthcare and little to no homelessness in singapore. the countrys public housing policy provides an astonishing 80% of singapores 5.6 million people with affordable homes, with 90% of the population owning their own home. >> donald: singaporeans would be hard-pressed t...