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87 lines
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87 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
At What Price Peace
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An Editorial by Robert Hoffman, Editor
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The Bear Valley Voice
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Big Bear Lake, CA USA
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February 23, 1994
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(c) 1994 - Posted with Permission
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On Singapore TV last night, the Muppets sang a song urging
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toleration among the various types of monsters, a lesson in
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which kids here don't need much instruction. This tiny
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island, floating in the South China Sea and blown by hot,
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wet winds off the Straights of Jahore, is home to 2.5
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million natives and another 3 million foreign workers.
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There are Malays, Tamils, Chinese, Indians, Europeans and
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a few other ethnic groups here who live in peace (mostly)
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under the watchful eye of a paternalistic government.
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Toleration --- of religious, cultural and linguistic
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differences --- is not merely a consumation devoutly to
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be wished. It is a necessity of life.
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One is struck by this, and by the almost total lack of
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violent crime. And one is tempted to wish that America
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could be run this well. Until, of course, a deeper look
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reveals the cost of peace and relative safety.
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It is illegal in Singapore to chew gum, smoke indoors, spit
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anywhere and to fail to flush the toilet. Infractions can
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cost you a hefty fine, although we have yet to see any police
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patrolling the men's rooms. The penalty for trafficking in
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drugs is the ultimate one --- the gallows. Two years ago, a
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couple of Australians found out the government was not
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kidding about this.
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Those unwise enough to commit crimes are subjected to another
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punishment that most Americans would also find cruel and
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unusual --- caning. A man who killed a prostitute, rather
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inadvertently, got five years --- and 12 strokes.
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If a newspaper publishes something the government takes
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exception to, the authorities simply ban it from the stands.
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And the system works. There is no gum on the sidewalk, no
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foul smell of smoke in the restaurants, and so far all the
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toilets appear to be duly flushed. There are not homeless
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beggars squatting on the sidewalks, and if drug addiction
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exists, it does so behind tightly closed doors. Newspapers
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tow the line.
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The price? An almost tangible lack of jay -- not content-
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ment or security, but happiness. These folks are somber
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and businesslike. They are dutiful, responsible, frugal,
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obedient, compliant, polite --- and humorless. And even
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in this sultry tropical setting, the people of Singapore are
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as buttoned up and as frightfully modern as a businessman
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from Phoenix or a computer nerd from Silicon Valley.
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This may have come from Singapore's history as a Crown
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colony --- 150 years under rule from London. The Japanese
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arrived one morning on bicycles and rousted the British
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garrison (which was, unaccountably, waiting for the invasion
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on the wrong sde of the island), and the Singaporeans were
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visited with one of the most brutal occupations in history.
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In the early '60s, they became their own masters --- flirting
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with communism, dallying with Malaysia and Indonesia, and
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finally striking out on their own under the heavy-handed but
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avuncular leadership of Oxford-educated former prime minister
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Lee Kwan Yew.
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The result is a country steeped in Western ways (English is
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the dominant language and will be probably forever) with an
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Asian soul. Individual freedom is not an Oriental virtue,
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and the average Singaporean is amused that Americans are
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aghast at the control the government has over the people's
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lives. They point to their low crime rate and their clean
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streets and wonder how we can put personal freedoms over such
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blessings.
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We don't bother to explain.
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Dennis R. Hilton <drhilton@kaiwan.com>
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