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>>>"cases like Singapore where the government is free of corruption but low on civic participation"

What is 'civic participation' in this context ?

Basically this paragraph from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Singapore:

"Singapore has consistently been rated as the least-corrupt country in Asia and amongst the top ten cleanest in the world by Transparency International. The World Bank's governance indicators have also rated Singapore highly on rule of law, control of corruption and government effectiveness. However, it is widely perceived that some aspects of the political process, civil liberties, and political, labour and human rights are lacking. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Singapore a "flawed democracy" in 2024. Freedom House deemed Singapore "partly free" in 2025, at 48/100 — 19/40 for political rights, 29/60 for civil liberties."

Fewer than expected number of protests and demonstrations.

Surely the expected number of protests and demonstrations in a country where you get whipped for doing so is zero?

No caning is not a punishment for protests and demonstrations; that would be ridiculous as they would lose even the perception of free speech as a fundamental liberty. But generally, such protests and demonstrations have a lot of restrictions in place: they need to take place in a specific location (Hong Lim Park), they need to be pre-arranged, they cannot be religiously sensitive, they cannot be about the political issues of a foreign country, and speeches against politicians are often met with libel lawsuits. The only large-scale protests that happened in recent memory are all about same-sex marriage and LGBT rights.

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