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Comment by digianarchist | Hacker News Reader

Singaporeans have chosen economic security and social authoritarianism over the freedoms we enjoy in the West. That's their choice.

A powerful passport doesn't mean they can move anywhere to live permanently and if they choose to become a citizen of the country they do move to then they will lose their Singaporean citizenship.

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My point is they see themselves as having more freedoms than the west does in places that matter to their daily life: freedom from poverty, violent crime, the devastating effects of drugs on families, social chaos, and corruption. To Singaporeans, these are real freedoms. They’d much rather have that quality of life than live in homeless-infested cities with drugs where they can at least criticize the government.

It’s not one or the other. There are plenty of societies that meet the bar you describe without the restrictions Singapore has in place.

Most western European countries are as restrictive on speech as Singapore but are just dishonest.

American freedom of expression is a singular achievement.

I don’t agree with that assessment at all. I’m free to criticise my government in the UK in any way I wish to. I would have no such freedom in Singapore.

As long as you are not criticizing the UK.gov's stance on Palestine.

The proscribing of Palestine Action as a 'terrorist group" is an absolute farce but that doesn't prevent you criticising the governments position on Palestine.

> I’m free to criticise my government in the UK in any way I wish to.

As someone who moved from Singapore to the UK, this assessment is really quite funny. The Online Safety Act says hello.

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