Singapore, a byword for Big Brother authoritarianism, is to shake off its repressed image by adopting new measures to free up the lives of its citizens.
The city state has accepted 60 of the 74 steps that a special committee recommended last year to open up the tightly controlled society and broaden people's horizons, local media reported on Friday.
But many of the "Remaking Singapore" measures will result in government agencies still dominating people's lives and some are little more than cosmetic, particularly with regard to the arts and freedom of expression.
Schools and colleges will have more flexibility in the students they accept, and rules for the registration of new societies and associations will be relaxed.
Buskers will no longer have to give their proceeds to charity, although they will still have to audition, and academics will be encouraged to participate in public policy debates.
But proposals to loosen public entertainment licensing regulations and establish a "free arts zone" where rules can be relaxed to facilitate free expression were rejected.
The minister for national development and head of the Remaking Singapore committee, Vivian Balakrishnan, was quoted in the Straits Times newspaper as saying the changes and shifts were "significant" but "at a pace [at] which we can carry the vast majority of Singaporeans."
The government's move comes amid continued recession and the luring away of companies by other countries in the region.
"In the future, the government will try to confine itself to specifying a negative list of undesirable, anti-social or illegal activities," Balakrishnan said. "Everything else will be fair game."
Some tangible changes have been introduced. Homosexuals are now welcome in the civil service; bar patrons can dance on table tops; nightclubs in certain areas can open 24 hours; the Rocky Horror Picture Show has had its first showing and the hit TV show Sex and the City and Cosmopolitan magazine will soon be available.
New economic pillars beyond the traditional high-tech manufacturing and financial services are being built in the biotech, education and healthcare sectors. This is being done partly by attracting world-famous names to the island republic through larger investment budgets than are available elsewhere.
One of the foreign stars is Alan Colman, the Scottish scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep and is now undertaking stem-cell research in an attempt to cure diabetes. He turned down offers in Britain and the US in favor of Singapore.
"What I'm benefiting from is an experiment to see if they can change the mind-set of the intelligentsia, the people coming through the universities, to make them more innovative," he said. "Whether it's in my area or others, they're just trying to change people because they recognize it is for their future success."
Sinapan Samydorai of the Think Centre, a mainly Internet-based political forum, says the government is still micromanaging, despite what it says.
"They need to differentiate between national issues and local issues," he said. "Imagine if the president of the United States was pronouncing on how to flush the toilet."
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was