Page 5 - Tiny Singapore News Today

From?" >> anthony: well, thats a good question. where are they going to come from? >> goh: theres a lot of insinuations of an answer, but no true answer. >> anthony: the answer is not from singapore, right? theyre going to have to come in from china. >> goh: for the 15,000, or 20,000 food stalls like this we have in singapore, if its public run like this one, you cant hire foreigners. its meant for singaporeans. >> anthony: but isnt the beginning of all of this was people from china, india. >> g...

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, and a hard-boiled egg. and mee siam, fried rice noodles with chili paste, praw...

>> anthony: what are maids? >> tanya: maids, as in helpers. >> sudhir: helpers. >> tanya: i think youll find that actually, if you look at singapore, a lot of woman are in the workforce. and the reason why that is so is because everyones got a maid looking after their child at home. so maids are kind of like the opiate of the masses. >> anthony: wait, opiate keeps you slothful and laying on the couch. >> tanya: exactly! >> anthony: but if you have a maid, youre saying it frees you up to join the...

>> 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 first prime m...

Engineering that holds singapore 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, singapor...

Point on the planet. singapore has fully embraced globalization. and thats proved in their case very rewarding. >> donald: singapore is an outsized economic port primarily because its so attractive to foreign entrepreneurs primarily in the form of multinational corporations. so right from the start, the economic strategy was always to attract foreign capital. >> anthony: donald low is an economist who spent over ten years researching and writing about singapores unique financial policies. >> don...

And progressives have just gone so far ahead, including myself. because sometimes, we need a reality check about what pace society can move at. so i think thats the tension, its that economic growth has happened so quickly and sometimes, social laws, social customs, might need to take a bit more time. >> anthony: you know, a place where everything works this well and a system so seemingly different than the one we are taught to venerate, thats genuinely confusing. so whats the best thing about s...

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: what if free speech is like bad...

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 its heart, its a cold blooded meritocracy. you f...

>> anthony: a lot of social engineering has been superimposed to hold that together, and i think what a lot of westerners who come to singapore come here skeptical are often reluctantly holding to the inescapable conclusion that it seems to work. >> donald: it seems to work. but of course, the post independence singapore government has been often accused of being extremely keen and extremely competent at social engineering. of course, the most powerful instrument of social engineering is public ...