Having now lived in Singapore for seven years, and watched it change reasonably dramatically just in that time, I have to admit I get irritated by media coverage that is stuck with an outdated view of the place. Today was a great example - not only of the misinformed views that infect many foreign media editors, but also of the double standards to which they must be oblivious.
IMO the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) is now often not much better than a local suburban paper, but I read it because its good to stay in touch with what happens at home (and they have pretty good rugby coverage). But their constant depictions of Singapore as an 'authoritarian foreign regime' are unfair.
Over the last few years in particular, Singapore has worked hard to improve its vibrancy and colour, and I think its done a pretty good job. They're relaxing rules, opening up new entertainment spaces and tinkering with more and more public debate.
Yet SMH does its absolute best to depict Singapore as a local menace, where everyone wears grey and the government tracks every word and action of its citizens and residents. The irony is that I've seen and felt more overt displays of power by governments in Australia, the UK and the US than I've ever witnessed in Singapore. I'm sure if you break the law here its unforgiving, but I can't imagine incarceration in any of the above countries is more pleasant!
The really odd thing is to look at the way the SMH depicts the APEC summit: "Fortress Sydney, the lockdown begins". I for one think the Australian government has very good reason to intimidate "evil-doers" despite the enormous disruption to the suffering residents there, but lets get real for a second - this stuff is much more muscular that even what I saw when Singapore hosted the IMF / WB meetings last year.
Now the SMH will never call their own government an authoritarian regime. I also don't think that Australia should be declared an authoritarian regime, but for the same reason I think its time the foreign press took a fresh look at Singapore and abandoned the decades-old stereotypes ... Singapore has worked hard to positively contribute to its region, its more or less a pretty good place to live and I think it needs to be recognised for both.