The amount of surveillance and regulations in Singapore is one of the factors that has driven some Singaporeans considering to leave, or left their homeland for good, as they claimed that the government has “too much power” and the people cannot do much about it, a Reddit thread recently revealed.

The Reddit thread was posted on Tuesday (10 Aug), discussing why “ex-Singaporeans” wanted to leave aside from family or work purposes, which has since garnered a number of responses from Singaporeans living abroad and those who are considering to leave the Republic.

While many cited work-life balance and the high cost of living in Singapore as their main reasons for leaving, some Reddit users said they take into account the country’s overrated surveillance and regulations when making such a decision.

One Reddit user commented that while the low crime rate is one of the pros of living in Singapore, the government has “too much power” and there is not much the citizens can do to prevent abuse of power.

“You have the freedom to leave your belongings unattended without it being stolen within seconds or carrying/holding something valuable without being robbed.

“But I am considering leaving because the government grant itself way too much power without giving us the ability to seek recourse or prevent abuse of power,” said the Reddit user.

Another Reddit user replied to the comment, noting that “politics doesn’t matter as long as the government has the best interest for their people and is capable enough to create policies that make that happen”.

The user recalled experience working in Britain throughout the Brexit, which refers to the withdrawal process of the United Kingdom from the European Union last year, noting that the “whole deal” did not work out to the advantage of the people there.

“There were tons of lies during the campaign and lots of people bought into lies that came backbiting their own arse in the end, for things like fishing rights. Many people regretted their decisions but damage was already done,” said the Reddit user.

One netizen mentioned the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) and the laws that allow safe distancing enforcement officers to enter homes without warrants may be implemented by the government out of good intentions.

POFMA, which came into effect on 2 October 2019, enables authorities to tackle the spread of fake news or false information online.

The latter laws mentioned by the netizen is regarding safe distancing enforcement officers being empowered to enter, inspect, and search various premises, including residences, without a warrant to check that COVID-19 regulations are being complied with.

“The issue is that all these assume that we have a government that has our best interests at heart, which isn’t always going to be true. If it doesn’t affect us today, it might affect the next generation years into the future. It’s not a guarantee that it’ll ever be used for bad purposes, but we never know what’s going to happen,” said the netizen.

Meanwhile, one Reddit user commented that the Singapore government is treating the people “like children who don’t know any better”, given the amount of surveillance and regulations imposed in the country.

“Living abroad during this pandemic really opened my eyes to the level of paternalism and government control in SG. The amount of surveillance and regulation around what people can say, do and even think is unheard of here,” the Reddit user asserted.

 

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