by Eric Feigenbaum at 3 Quarks Daily: For a strange five minutes in 1994, Americans were talking about caning. An American teenager named Michael Fay drew Singapore into the international spotlight when it sentenced him to six strokes of the rattan cane for vandalism and graffiti. Our nation was shocked to even learn what caning was, let alone that a 15-year-old would receive government-sanctioned, permanently scarring corporal punishment. For the first time ever, Singapore was part of the news cycle in the United States with a focus on what was perceived as the tiny Southeast Asian country’s harshness and authoritarian bent.
Bill Clinton’s intervention got Singapore to reduce the number of strokes of the cane, but not to back down from its judgment or punishment. What wasn’t covered as well at the time was that Fay was part of a group of teens who vandalized 67 cars and stole 16 items.
Thirty years later, Singapore’s economic success and role in international business have become its brand, though for many the Michael Fay incident still colors their perception of Singapore. As a result, most Western countries ignore or dismiss Singapore’s many successes because they perceive it doling out harsh punishments and constraining free speech.
That’s unfortunately throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Singapore overwhelmingly shares most of the goals of its Western friends and moreover has found innovative solutions that create higher levels of welfare and satisfaction among its citizens than most European countries, let alone North American ones.
If anything, because Western nations are probably confused about what Singapore is, they choose to look at what it isn’t. Singapore doesn’t follow their political and social templates. Instead, it has borrowed ideas and systems and infused the values of its unique mix of cultures – deciding that there is a viable and perhaps desirable space between absolute liberties and authoritarian control.
It would be easy to visit Singapore, look around, see an ultra-modern, spotlessly city with some stringent rules and take it at face value. The quick summation of Singapore might go something like this: it’s a highly successful, first world city-state in Southeast Asia with great banking and tech sectors and some questionable approaches to human rights and civil liberties.
I would guess this is the story 90 percent of the world – and maybe the same percentage of Singapore’s visitors know.
The architects of the Republic of Singapore – most of whom have died the past 15 years – were happy to share with people who wanted to know more. They were very proud of their work. Aside from the human rights part – this short summation – or let’s call it the National Story is what they wanted you to know. If someone visits Singapore and thinks this, the country’s founders would have considered it a job well done.
My first visit to Singapore left me dumbfounded. After living in Thailand, Taiwan and having traveled Asia extensively, I was shocked how a place as clean, successful, developed and multi-cultural as Singapore existed and I could know so little about it. I was compelled to begin reading and learning. At the time I recruited foreign nurses for US hospitals, and it became clear Singapore was an excellent untapped recruiting ground. From 2004 to 2006 I became based in Singapore. What I learned about it changed my entire experience of Singapore.
