I have a similar take. I lived in SG for ~5 years, many years ago (90s). There's a lot I would
like to criticize on abstract principles about the politics, the surveillance state, the lack of freedoms, some very draconian laws and social norms. However, that instinct is always tempered by the fact that, in practice, Singapore's society seems to work phenomenally better than most other countries for most of its citizens, even for the working class and poor, which is quite an achievement in such a high-income/standard-of-living country.
It's a unique place in every sense: social and cultural issues, economy, geography, history, leadership, etc. It's a very interesting country to study, but the most important thing in any analysis of Singapore is that lessons from Singapore almost certainly don't extrapolate well to anywhere else; don't draw conclusions about how some other country should be run based on what works there.
It's a unique place in every sense: social and cultural issues, economy, geography, history, leadership, etc. It's a very interesting country to study, but the most important thing in any analysis of Singapore is that lessons from Singapore almost certainly don't extrapolate well to anywhere else; don't draw conclusions about how some other country should be run based on what works there.