Singapore and democracy

[jjeblv]

there are 82 parliamentary seats in singapore.

anyone winning 39.5% of the votes should get some 30 seats.

why was the opposition denied the extra 20 seats during the last ge2011?

what went wrong?

what brand of politics or democracy is this?

[akompsupport]

police state.

[xterminator069]

dictatorial democracy is the perfect form of civilization. government should micromanage every aspect of people's life. for exampple oral sex is unproductive and should be banned.

[trollwarlord3]

Zakaria, who is frustrated?? dun put words in our young educated singaporeans's mouth. :O

[chrish767]

@trollwarlord3

Most young ppl in every country r naive. This is why churchill said “If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”Many young ppl like to rebel at the notion of authority. However, there is one problem. Most of em dont vote. Those who do, throw their votes away to small minority parties. As they grow up and find jobs, responsibility comes and they take their votes more seriously. Same goes for Singapore.

[LAGG3R]

@chrish767 does that mean we should move the legal voting age to 30+?

[chrish767]

@LAGG3R

No but we sure as hell dont bring it down.

[yawnzzzzzz]

Hadn't the government been doing their job, singapore wouldn't have propered. Unlike the US which had the unemployment rate hitting nearly 10% and gun-related crmes were heard every other day. Democracy that made bills inefficienty delivered which often end up in a long debate before passing the bill. If bills were passed down in time, don't you think many jobs could have been saved? Just my 2 cents worth.

[yawnzzzzzz]

If people were to choose between stability among races which promotes undistupable low crime rate and harmony compared to the so-called democracy. Many would have chosen the stability. This kind of limited democracy is none of the kind like stalin or hitler but it benefits people in singapore in another perspective. News were not distorted but many racial criticism are censored. It booms the economy and it attracts foreign investors.

[yawnzzzzzz]

I strongly agree what bigfatdick5000 had said.

'Singapore's national platform is at least clean, safe, secure, and a stable economy.

America is free but freedom has been abused and distorted. America's freedom is a model without direction'

Singapore don't really have to follow other countries fomula of success to be successful. Democracy would eventually turn the races against each other. Singapore has multiple races living in that tiny red dot.

[acp6s]

do you have the full program? The tegenlicht website's video fails after 13:00min, so I would like to see this on youtube. Thanks. Andrew

[rambo12352]

@gshygs - seeing too many historical revolution videos? WAKE UP, dont day dream, the whole whole collapse , singapoe is still standing up, dear! Well, go and day dream as you have many more dreams to dream, sweet dream, I am flying off on vacation lor!

[renez100]

I totally and Mentor Lee scored right in all issues.Singapore just handles matters differently from other countries. We're a unique city and can't allow rabble-rousers destroy the stability n calm present in Singapore.

The Washington-based 2010 Gallup Poll conducted a global survey in 148 countries to discover that Singapore remains No 1 immigration hot spot for the 2nd successive yr w an increase of 219 % if everyone wants to move there!

How they know about us? This is a global world.

[thinktok]

Mr Lee Kuan Yew is too smart for you. Singapore has democracy. I can do what I want, travel where I want and no one can slander me. I travel the region, and, what I saw convince me that LKY knows what is to be done and How it is to be done. That is our luck. Singaporeans are lucky or else our daughters will be working overseas.

Young people today, well they have to say whatever they are saying. Their parents brought them to this world and they have to educate them.

[malosalele]

Shut up Fareed Zakaria

[gshygs]

I believe revolution will come when Lee dies. Riots will take place, and the whole fucking Singapore will be in chaos. D:

[kanzie88]

@gshygs We still have lee kuan yew's son lee hsien loong and lee hsien loong's son and his son's son and his son's son's son so we wun go down

[MichaelWithstand]

Lee Kuan Yew doesn't have democracy in his mind he has built a fascist one party state regime in Singapore. He abuses the law frequently to 'fix' critics, oppositions and dissidents

This man has built a regime of fraud and false facade.

[ReveringVengeance]

Lol.

[eriblood]

There is not democracy in America!!!!

Watch the documentairy Freedom to Fascism" by Aaron Russo

[Jasonho134]

Just like the situation in China. If China does not start democratizing it will be in trouble.

[doomthus3]

All of u are fools,cant u all see that the reason tat they wan to keep singapore safe and sound is becos if we are alive and kicking,we can help earn money for the government and it benefits them...

[solidysnake1]

What will happen to Singapore when Lee dies?

Will the political system guarantee civil rights and prosperity for the Singapore people?

[ComeLetHaveSexHoney]

Lee Kuan Yew is the man. Without him, we will be living in the dark world.

[Erishield]

Lee Kuan Yew, under rated but brilliant leader !!

[antithesis02]

cool video :(

[goodjmate]

In my earlier years as a twenty-something. I used to 'hate' Singapore for being overly conservative but after 10 years.... i've come to realise something about my views that i had before were really without basis.

If i have to meet LKY one day. I'd like to thank him personally for taking care of us and the work he and his party has done. I've lived overseas and nuthing feels like home...or Singapore rather...safe & secure.

I have my complains still... but i share the same vision as LKY.

[bigfatdick5000]

I am not Singaporean but I agree with you.

I've lived in several countries and I see Singapore as having rightfully guided, now I don't know if there are corruptions, but I don't think Lee's like a totalitarian government like Kim Jung Ill, or Stalin.

Singapore's national platform is at least clean, safe, secure, and a stable economy.

America is free but freedom has been abused and distorted. America's freedom is a model without direction

[xerosisonek]

The opposition IS muzzled. The people have no forum in the mass media. Rather than being cowards, it is clear the Democrats have been bought. It seems they held out for more money than the Republicans. Reps screw the poor. Dems screw the rich. Everybody will be screwed by 2012. Bush/Obama tag team. NWO is on the move.

2 bad they won't leave the Merlion alone either. IMF & company is keeping S'pore from implementing its plans for desalination. The PAP stole a page from the US w/ worse schools.

[xerosisonek]

"Called 2 party rule," but actually only 1. The Obama administration is the continuation of the Bush/Cheney regime. Though Obama has seemingly different goals, the actual goal is the same: the collapse of the US private economy and gov't.

The US was founded as a republic, not a democracy. The trick was to teach the citizens to spout "democratic" ideals w/o realizing this would be used against them. The Constitution has been and is being ignored, and a silent coup has taken place.

[mattlim76]

Its a 2 party rule not 1. However, the democrats r cowards. Obama is continuing many of the Bush/Cheney policies. Tax cuts for BIG corporations, wild spending, not drawing down troops in iraq, missile shield in russia, breaking down the military complex, sanctions on n.korea and cuba, and increasing the war in afghanistan. We are in agreement. Obama is no liberal and the democrats have become the new republicans. Big business and big spending. Democrats r right wing. Republicans r facist.

[mattlim76]

Yes, the US was founded as a republic. A democratic republic i might add. The Constitution was founded on the basis of preventing tyranny of the majority. Something that is happening now. Obama is NOT producing the same change he campaigned for. The health care reform bill still allows big insurance companies to control it. There is no public option. I hate to say this but Obama needs to be like LKY or Russia's Putin. Muzzle the opposition and drive ur agenda thru. I agree with u 100%.

[xerosisonek]

I can see why S'poreans want more say in gov't. But it's not going 2 happen. Yanks, Brits, & Aussies think we are free, but we aren't, & it's becoming more & more apparent to us. My daughters are half-S'porean, & I'm thankful that the dictatorship is relatively benevolent. In the US the chattel aren't treated nearly so well.

Why have 1 party pretending to be 2? At least PAP isn't playing that game. The 2nd generation of dictators is when you usually have hiccups. LKY earned his. BG Lee didn't.

[mattlim76]

Elections, at the end of the day, r used to make the electorate feel like they have power at the end of the day. They dont. In countries with westminister systems, the bureaucrats and ministers hold the power. Thats not to say I like a sg system. Sg's parliamentary and electoral system suxs but it fits the country. Sure, there needs reform like more opposition mps and more say in govt. But these would be gradual and wouldnt be westernize. 1 party rule is not necessarily dictatorship.

[xerosisonek]

A minor distinction: 1 party rule is dictatorship, but is not necessarily tyranny. The UK has 1 party rule called Conservative & Labor. The US calls theirs Democrat & Republican.

LKY is the only leader I can think of since George Washington that didn't allow his ego to trump his wisdom. There's no doubt the S'pore system has worked better than any, but the man made the system. Immoral men ruin any system, just as uneducated men are duped out of their liberty like in the West. We agree, friend.

[mattlim76]

Dictatorship is when all power belongs to one man. It can happen in a democracy too. An example is Bush/Cheney in their 8 yrs of power.The Communist Party of China is certainly NOT a dictatorship regardless of what the conservative western media says.  The UK and US is called a 2 party rule, not 1. Unlike asia, we are a multiparty democracy. At certain periods, the party in govt loses power and steps aside while another assumes the role. That for us westerners is a healthy democracy.

[cygnetomega]

NO STYLE AT ALL, MINISTER MENTOR !

A S$0.88 token salary for face would have been the cherry on the icing after your so called retirement, but you chose MILLIONS in salaries instead ! The world spits on this sort of bandit minded mentality. Little Emperor? Hardly. " Little Bandit Tyrant " is a better title.

[kentkaizen]

take a look at darfur where bloodshed happened

because of political instability and hunger

i would pay him billion dollars for doing such a good job on the country. he keep the politic stable, excellent economy plus

have u seen orchard road?

[cygnetomega]

Running dogs only bark, so I don't hear anything intelligible.

[kentkaizen]

sure, what have u done to your country lately? beside complaining? that idiom suit u best

[mattlim76]

comparing darfur and sg isnt exactly fair. 1 is almost 1st world status and another is at 4th world state.

[kentkaizen]

certainly,

but didn't sg come from 3rd world country

my point is: without this man

it will be close to darfur economy state

[mattlim76]

Darfur is a failed state. Prior to LKY's reign, Singapore is a fragile state. Big difference is also geography. The country of Sudan is surrounded by numerous failed and fragile states while sg is not. Mostly stable or fragile. Another difference is also genocide committed by the war criminal Bashir via the janjaweed. I'm not discrediting LKY but im just saying be careful in comparing singapore and darfur. They r both very different.

[hbburgar]

Spore do not have Human Right Group..so dont talk democratic..pls

[iHat3MyLife]

Kind of a late reply to hbburgar =/ But anw:

If you refer to capital punishment, execution, caning for drug traffickers, certain murderers, people who possess firearms as breaching human rights, then I must tell you that the majority of Singapore approves. It has kept our crime rates low, you can't deny that.

[hbburgar]

Most Singaporeans knew that they had made

a big mistake and they migrate...knowing that

the government do not care for them anymore.

The foreigners were appreciated.

[cheowyonglee]

most of the profit goes to the yes man pocket!

[jednip84]

By the way, really smart (not just academically educated) ppl, rarely oppose a 'seemingly' stable and almost corruption-free government when they r the ones benefiting the most. only ppl who think they deserve alot more than they r having, and the government is the reason for their lack of achievements would openly and defiantly oppose a govenment who takes care of the populace's basic needs of survival and comfort. Just an honest opinion, to be taken with a pinch of salt. :)

[ntuman]

Well said. couldn't have said it any better. but for some people they'll just keep blaming their misfortunes on the government. i'll say to those people. if you hate it so much why dont you just leave? go europe or HK or somewhere else?

[cygnetomega]

If you actually spent time in the SG system you would know what it was like. Stop spouting nonsense favoring PAP here.

[jednip84]

Being singaporeans, it's up to us to keep our government in check, through feedbacks and civilised debate/argument and volunteered contribution & participation in our own politics. But how many of us are willing to give up the ocean for a beautiful pond? Yet when shit happens, others r to blame? I cant criticise the government policies, though i do complain abt smoking restrictions. :) But smoking is a vice, intention understandable.

[cygnetomega]

Singapore leaders are out of control and those Bandits keep increasing their salaries. If anything goes seriously wrong with Singapore, they will be on the first private jet to their NWO masters in WASP countries.

Malaysia instead will be the one who saves Singapore. As one can see, the populace is just a joke to them already. NEWater when they can afford Desalination? The citizens there are truly chattel of the system even by comparison to the apartheid problem in Malaysia.

[jednip84]

Is 100% democracy really fantastic? No offense, 100% democracy also implies getting shot randomly on the streets! Being a singaporean, I'm grateful for Meritocracy. It's the reason why the main bulk of our population are at mid-level income. He aint a saint, or posseses Superpowers, but no one can say he didnt try his best to help the majority of us right? The rest, is up to us.

[jednip84]

Whatever comments any singaporean has to make about Mr Lee, at least thank him for providing us with food, clothes on our back, a roof over our head and world-class education before even criticising him.

Our destiny is in our hands, not his to dictate or control. Thus we have to take responsibility in whatever state we eventually land in. Only losers blame their fate on everyone but themselves. Swiss living standard is quite fantastic, @ the price of 40% taxes! Can u handle that?

[OneSoldierForAll]

Perfect. Singapore is the greatest example of democracy. Authoritarian democracy will triumph over the liberal democracy of the West.

[ntuman]

what if the wrong kind of people are ruling? just like what the indian guy says. it'll be terrible.

[iljc82]

The "Indian guy" is Fareed Zakaria, excuse me.

[Kamikazeesouled]

Power corrupts, no matter who's at helm. If you have too much power, you'd abuse it.

[ntuman]

he gave us a high standard of living and quality of life.

[vipersonickenneth]

We are getting frustrated with the political system! How do you know that another person cannot lead Singapore if YOU don't give them a chance??? And yes, you WILL face problems as we are more well educated than you think. Give Us DEMOCRACY!!!

[KLguy133]

Tricblade tells the truth:like the grafitti says it like it is - JOBS FOR FTS , HS FOR SINGAPOREANS , especially if you are a CHinese male.

[TaffyAlpha]

2/3rds of Americans don't vote during the elections. I think of the majority of Americans would rather live in singapore rather than africa.

It kinda pisses me off when people who don't vote, talk shit about the policies our government undertakes. It's like, if you don't vote, it's your fault that you did nothing to prevent IT.

[ntuman]

well.. i guess elections is a popularity contest. you really dont know the candidates true self. so no body really cares.

[1XMarksSpot]

@TaffyAlpha Where's the logic in that?

If you vote for someone who is corrupt and power hungry and becomes leader (i.e. Prime Minister), how come people who didn't vote have no right to complain when the people who didn't vote didn't bring the corrupt and power hungry leader to power? If anything, the people who didn't vote have MORE right to complain, perhaps the only right. The people who voted would be at fault and would need to stfu.

[Tricblade]

Ok. Well.. you comparing Singapore to a second world country. If you wanna compare Singapore, compare it to Japan or some European countries like Holland or Germany. If you wanna compare Philippines and Singapore. Why not compare Philippines and Africa? Then you can consider your relatives lucky too right? You're only 18... far too young to understand anything.

[Tricblade]

Either way... when the price of oil goes down. Doesn't the running cost of this generators go down too? So whatever it is. If everything is based on oil prices. Then things should become cheaper when oil goes down. Not remain and allow the Govt to continue eating into our pockets. Everything in Singapore is own by them. Now Bukit Batok is own by them. So no by-election due to the death of the MP. If it was an opposition. They will decide on a by-election. How bias can it get? So open your eyes!

[Tricblade]

As for oil. Oil goes down but things remain at the same price. so what are you talking about blaming it on oil.

[chaingang90]

everything requires the black gold..... you need to import and export food, thus you nedd planes and ships, you need electricity, and the way singapore electricity is made requires lots of fuel since we don't have dams and stuff,,,, list goes on

[Tricblade]

to chaingang90... You ask us to be fucking grateful? Open your damn eyes. Look deeper into the govt before you comment on such matters. Yes we have a roof over our heads. How big is your house in philli? Try getting a house with that much land space in singapore and see how much it will cause. Your people are free. We are not.

[chaingang90]

i'd rather be living well than free

[Tricblade]

Then I guess you are materialistic. Most probably living in a nice big house. Firstly are you even Singaporean? You say better future and hope. You dun even know the system they came up with in the pass. If everyone is having a better future. Why streaming for primary schools. Not enough space in a academic class for normal technical students with straight A's to get promoted? So don't come and comment if you dun know anything young lady. He may have build a country. But for himself only.

[chaingang90]

um.... yeah.... i'm 18, singaporean born and bred but with some filipino blood. studying in ite, living in a regular 4 room flat NS coming in 2 years, so don't start thinking i'm some sort of elite

[Tricblade]

We are suppose to have a Swiss living standard by 1999 according to LKY. But what do we have? Old man collecting card boxes for money. Who is earning all the money? 3.7mil a year? Mr LKY of cause. And tax free too. Ministers without a port folio earning close to 2mil or more a year. So you tell me.. is it a fair govt?

[1XMarksSpot]

@Tricblade Singaporeans could unite and do something about it. But no, Singaporeans just whine. How pathetic.

[foecunditatis]

cattle live well :)

[geodome83]

"Gradually by detaining all the dangerous people, detaining without trial, we were able to reassure the people that things were getting better" - Lee Kuan Yew

[1000why]

What do u know about governance & democatic?

I dun care how Lee Kuan Yew ..do it but he done it...

Could you done it better? That's the Question

Who cares about Democratic--

Probably his way is the best way which the world should model after.

I personally think LeeKuanYewcratic isn't a bad name afterall.

[joos0202]

Until, I still did not know true democracy exists in Singapore. And, I have travelled to Europe, US, China, almost of SE Asia, nobody in these places have a definite answers. You tel me.

[joos0202]

I wallow in bitterness a couple of months but decided to shallow my pride to apply for a govt student. I cited an amount that would cover the increment but was 3 times that much. The loan is interest free, I needn't pay back until I graduated. I found a job in a Govt agency 3months before graduation and the pay was considerably higher than private sector.

[joos0202]

My experience told me that be grateful and things are not always what it seemed. PLease tell me if this is democracy.

[joos0202]

Around 1991, while I was in my 2-3 yrs NUS studies, the PAP Govt announced a 30% increase in university fee. We, as a student body petitioned against the fee increase but nothing came out of it.

[1XMarksSpot]

@joos0202 LOL Petitioning? No wonder nothing came out of it. If you want results, you and other protest loudly. If that doesn't work, you and others riot. THAT'S how you get the attention and results from any government.

[charmhoneybfly]

to those who think Singapore isn't good enough, go live somewhere else for 6 months.

[charmhoneybfly]

I am proud to be a Singaporean.

[chaingang90]

I have a message to all the young teenagers who are hating LKY (i'm 18 BTW). I find that many ppl hate him, don't like how singapore is.... I have one thing to say to you. BE FUCKING GRATEFUL YOU HAVE A FUCKING ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD IN A PROPER HDB FLAT, AND A FUCKING EDUCATION FOR A HOPE FOR A FUTURE. I'm half filipino and it's so pitiful when i visit my relatives there and see all the poverty and shit. I don't blame the rising cost of living on the PAP, I blame it on the people who sell oil!!!!!

[Htay9000]

"I'm half filipino and it's so pitiful when i visit my relatives there and see all the poverty and shit."

I'm half burmese, living outside washington DC and agree with your comment. singapore has atrocious politics, but at least they aren't behind in terms of economics and development. I can't say the same when I'm in Burma, lots of poverty and carelessness by the oppressive government. they go way beyond atrocious than singapore alone. the response to the cyclone i.e. selfish and reluctant.

[arcturus28]

In addition, small bit about the CPF money scheme. Didn't LKY hint that the avg. return on gov't investment was 18%? Yet, presently the CPF interest rate is somewhere around 2.5%! Where in the world did the money go? Since 1990, the gov't has collected a total surplus of $52 billion. Are these monies managed by the GIC (aka by Temasek)? How are they managed? What are their guidelines? Are they making gains or losses? (all plundered and controlled by the "family")

[arcturus28]

S'pore may or may not be improving. But from what ive heard corruption is still present. Why is it that singapore ministers are so overpaid ("minister without portfolio"?)

There are 7 main points that i find unfair to the ppl of spore that made LKY succesfull:

1) Total control of the press

2) Biased amendment of the constitution

3) Control of Election Department

4)Secret redrawing of boundaries

5)Reduction of rally period

6)Imposition of hefty election deposits

7) Concoction of GRC's

[btan1994]

@arcturus28 where else is our money gonna go :P we have so much

[360du]

Without democracy and checks, can we be sure we will have jobs?

[1XMarksSpot]

@360du Yes. No jobs = poverty = unrest = revolution.

[sklanger]

Fareed Zakaria is spot on. And it is telling that he includes China in the enlightened despot equation - their eventual democratization will follow a similar path as Singapore's. This is a good thing, to be encouraged, rather than discouraged with pointless hostility. Any dipshit Westerner who thinks otherwise (that's you, Nancy Pelosi) needs a fucking hole in the skull.

[artonice]

here we go again...a good comment rendered useless by some teenage nonsense ending statement. Dialogue is the key to mutual understanding, I believe. Why not try and explain to those "dipshit" westerners, what they seem to be missing in there analysis...or just tell use some of those ideas you think are wrong.

[sklanger]

Zakaria has already explained what is missing in their analysis. It does not need to be repeated. Your attitude seems to be, if a person says something offensive, his entire comment is "useless". That's nonsense, of course: since the truth or falsity of an assertion doesn't turn on its offensiveness. If Einstein wrote 'fuck you' at the end of his treatise on Brownian motion, it doesn't make it "useless". Similarly, my "ending statement" doesn't invalidate what I said.

[artonice]

Theres a difference in a well grounded theory and a web comment. I didn't mean his comment was useless, thats why I says it wasn't..I just think one does not have to be unnecessarily insulting (and it happens a lot here)...and yes i think in whatever context "dipshit westerners" is insulting. Falsification of a theory is based on trial and error..this is what I meant with dialogue...bringing up the point about china was I think good to bring the discussion.

[bollyking2000]

LKY - Greatest leader of the 20th century...Majulah Singapura!

[asamfish2002]

Seeing Singapore 1s believing. No city-state survives on planet earth today after Venice. We are the envy of the world. One of the greatest leaders in the 20th and 21th centuries!

[chrisfam7788]

Singapore has it? read here

tinyurl . com / 3dyg77

[chrisfam7788]

Singapore has democracy?

[artonice]

I think the answer is in the video...

[rambo12352]

@chrisfam7788 - definately yes , 100% yes , can't you feel it , then you are dead!

[arifdesign]

salam... peace

uumm.. i wonder why is it that the positive point of view for LKY goverment been put down so much.? i would very much like to know.

[qert079]

bollyking2000

i second that.

isn't it contradicting, eh? those people who wants to put down singapore like the way they want it to be, at the same time, they are going against terrorism.

tell us, what's the different eh? same same but different? if the country is prospering, why do you motherphuckers wanna pull it down? on what ground do you have to say, you can do better? or to provide the nation a better future?

stop bitchin' like paris hilton's little tinky bitch.

[artonice]

I don't understand why a straightforward comment as your making here should be accompanied with this teen swearing crap. You make a good point, don't waste it.

[bollyking2000]

God bless LKY...he saved the country. All you fools talking about democracy, I doubt you could ever provide us with a decent form of living. We'd just be sharing misery together.. Go piss off to another country if you just want to sit and bitch.

[artonice]

it's a discussion...as long as people express their thoughts and ideas in a normal fashion I believe this is a good thing, their is no one truth. This use of non-functional strong language does not contribute to the discussion nor to your own remarks.

[gcChwee]

Who is that male commentator? How come he gets to air so much of his views even though he is so obviously ignorant of our true political history?

Despots are fine so long as you do not suffer under their hands.

[videosurfer]

Give credit to Lee Kuan Yew where credit is due. Singapore needs a lot more time to become a real and mature democracy. The USA and UK democracies were not built up in a day. They had to go through long civil wars to get to where they are today. Maybe it is better to limit civil liberties than to have a civil war. Remember, Singapore as an independent nation is only 40 + years old. Give it another 20 - 50 years or so.

[videosurfer]

Lee Kuan Yew promised that we would be like Switzerland. We are far from it and they no longer say that any more because it is unachievable in the near future with them in charge.

[btan1994]

@videosurfer how are we not?

[Ezechieltey]

How come praising Lee Kuan Yew can kena poor comment 1?

Singapore so advance thx to Lee Kuan Yew man. U guys can come to Malaysia and check out how the Malay ultras fk the Chinese and Indian up nicely. And mass up the country.

[artonice]

I'm not sure why, I think being for or against the way Lee Kuan Yew has build up Singapore should have no effect on commentratings. I like to hear both sides of the story and would only rate a comment bad if it was not related or insulting. I could probably find a lot of pros and cons to the way Singapore is governed as I would in any country but the topic of this video is democracy and displays some of the fantasies that exist about democracy versus more authoritarian types of governance.

[Ezechieltey]

I have to say, as for Singapore. I dun think democracy is the way to work it out.

Imagine, even a small bombard explosion of the local university. Or the SARS epidermic desease can led to economy ressession in this country. This country needs a stable governemnt consist of Elites to run the country for long term instead of a real democracy. Isn't it right?

[artonice]

I just think it's not a question of democracy but what works best in whats stage of a countries development. I posted this video just to show that there's no simple answer and democracy is not the ultimate solution to the problem, its good governance i think. Don't know about elites though...

[gymangos]

I would have to say that throughout "time" not just in democracy, but elites have been ruling or running the countries.

[videosurfer]

We are not comparing to Malaysia to make us feel good about our achievements (no offence to Malaysia). We are comparing to countries like Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia and other 1st World Countries. This is a more worthwhile comparison. The guy in this video compares to some African nations... Why not ask, would you rather live in Singapore of Canada?

[artonice]

It's not about comparing, it's about proving a point about the fallacy of democracy. Africa is a good example of this. It's the comparing to 1st world countries which made the discourse blurry in the first place.

[sianghan]

Considering the fact that Singapore and Malaysia both started off at the same level of development at independence, of course its reasonable to compare Singapore's development with Malaysia. Singapore owes everything it has achieved today to LKY and the team he assembled. Give credit where it's due.

[Kin94285]

Singapore and Malaysia did not start on even grounds, Malaysia is rich in natural resources. Singapore is not, Singapore does not have any land for agriculture, nor does it really have a means of sustaining itself, it's water has to be bought from Malaysia, even it's flight space is limited.

LKY did the impossible and laid the stones for the Lion city.

[gymangos]

yeah ... I hope that I can perhaps be his understudy someday ... but perhaps its almost impossible :(

[moviedude111]

Brilliant leader, one of the best ever produced in human history.

[gymangos]

Claps for LKY again!

[gymangos]

Claps for LKY

[fordcoolcarr]

I'm not even a Singaporean. But once I started reading his opinions, I too would like to see this man one time in my life.

[gymangos]

yeah man, I really want to have a good chat with him before he departs from this world...

[gymangos]

why bad me? I love LKY alot! is that a bad thing?

[bombay1duck]

Becos of Lee Kuan Yew and his team, Singapore

is what it is today.He put order into a world

of chaos and progress into an island filled

with people and no other resources.

I am not a PAP member, i am just an ordinary

citizen.Thank You Lee Kuan Yew.