“Dear Mr Wong, the single greatest security threat to Singapore came from the escape of Mas Selamat, not Myanmar dissidents or opposition activists.. [Protesters] are, at most, idealistic people who create temporary inconvenience.. Terrorists work in stealth and don’t gather in public places to wave banners and shout slogans - you don’t need new civil disobedience laws to tackle them.”
groundnotes

“[Charles Chong's] words encapsulate the meaning of Singapore: your worth as a citizen as measured by your economic utility. Your value as a human being as determined by your wealth.”
Cavalierio

“Besides short term measures to help low income households, something ought to be done to ensure that Singapore moves away from being a “playground for the rich” and a “goldmine for foreign workers”, into a “Singapore made by Singaporeans, for Singaporeans”.”
mrbiao

“Have we deliberately pursued for years a policy of domestic disinvestment, in our vain effort to be a high-flyer?”
Yawning Bread

“We observe from written history that cities necessarily mean the accumulation of wealth, the specialisation of labour, the creation of class and caste, and hence social and economic inequality and stratification. And we merely speculate that urbanisation and what it entails can sometimes be too unbearable, the compromises too cutting and unliveable, and upon realising it, the people just simply walk away.”
akikonomu

“As we brought in more and more people, many from India and China, not just at the top level of talent, but also at various levels including unskilled workers, we depressed wages of Singaporeans.. our costs continued to go up. So we caused a double whammy for Singaporeans who had no choice but to live with the high cost of living while having to accept lower wages”
Inderjit Singh

“The mantra that Singapore is too small for us to rock the boat should be changed. Singapore is too small for people not to row their own boats.”
Philip Jeyaretnam

“..the freedom of a people to choose its leaders is the root of liberty.. those who doubt the supremacy of the ballot over the bullet can never diminish the power engendered by nonviolent struggles for justice and equality.. Our work is not yet finished, but future generations will mark this morning as the turning point for real and necessary change in our nation.”
Dianne Feinstein

“this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
Barak Obama

This week’s roundup and recommended reads after the break.
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