This insistence on Singaporean exceptionalism is as tiresome as it is problematic. Our Ministers just can’t help but be facetious about the way our economic and social systems are built

We insist, that we are pro-LGBT, despite the absence of numerous laws that enshrine their safety and legal status in Singapore

We say we are pro-worker, despite the absence of an effective minimum wage, anti-labour unions, making it illegal to organise.

We boast about our efficient healthcare system, even though we moved from a single-payer model into a bloated, privatised system that has drastically increased costs over the past decade

We consistently underspend on education for an OECD, insisting on large class sizes, and for teachers to take on multiple roles, burning them and students out in a merciless, winner-take-all acedemic system.

The foundations of Singapore over the past 3 decades are built on a model of free movement of labour and capital. We are unabashedly pro-capitalist.

The dissonance of the Singapore way doesn’t stem from a problem with communication, it stems from disaffected Singaporeans who are unable to recognise the social-democratic traditions of the early PAP that we preach but don’t hold up to.

No amount of conviction from the current 4G will change this cognitive dissonance between rhetoric and lived experiences