You entirely miss the point. He's holding up Singapore as a shining example of the end-state of affairs that the government of Turkey is trying to emulate. Since we don't have a word for it yet, or we haven't learned it, we're saying "Singaporification" as a placeholder. People might have said "Nazification" before the word "fascism" was well defined.
Sure, but he's also making spurious generalizations which appear to owe more to a 1993 William Gibson article than any understanding of the motivations or actions behind Singaporean paternalism or Turkish modern Islamism, which are not at all alike. Throwing in Franco's Spain - certainly the Western European country whose economic policy priorities least resembled Singapore's - doesn't help matters.
Other than a not-uncommon desire to stay in power and grow the economy, Erdogan really doesn't seem to share the same endgame as Singapore's de facto founder. One is a traditional Muslim accused by his critics of undermining the secularist underpinnings of the modern Turkish state; the other an ardent multiculturalist who ended up apologising for a comment suggesting Muslims ought to be less strict in their observances. Erdogan recommends Turkish women need to rear at least three children to "keep the population young" and helped provoke the riots by trying to tighten regulation on abortion. Lee Kuan Yew introduced the "Stop at Two" family planning advocacy campaign and legalised abortion.
Ironically it's values that Singapore's uber-strict legal system has rigidly defended - anti-corruption, state secularism and individual religious freedom - that the Turkish rioters claim motivate their opposition to the Erdogan's government. They've managed to leave more trees intact than central Istanbul too. :)
> They've managed to leave more trees intact than central Istanbul too. :)
Last time I was in Turkey, they had a huge greenery programme going on in Anatolia (i.e. I saw it in Ankara and surroundings). Interesting, that Istanbul had its tree cover reduced.
> He's holding up Singapore as a shining example of the end-state of affairs that the government of Turkey is trying to emulate.
> I find Singapore to be the scariest dystopia in the world today.
What?
Anyway, Singapore is the greenest city on earth. It'll be more likely to see people here protesting the demolition of a shopping mall to build a park than vice versa. It's ridiculous to compare this to what is happening in Turkey now.
You really have no clue what's going on, do you? I'm honestly not trying to be rude. It's just that you come across as entirely missing the guy in the gorilla suit in the middle of the basketball game.
The quintissential idea of a dystopia is that it's a safe place to live, the streets are clean, you have jobs and food and security. As long as you stay in the lines put in place by the State you're fine.
But women can only wear skirts 2 inches below the knee. Lipstick must be color 22 or 46. Men cannot have beards. Or you must have a beard. You must wear a tie to work, even if you collect garbage. The news going to report what it's told to report, not necessarily whats happening in front of everyone. Photos can and will be edited to reflect the proper history that should exist. God help you if your faith is the minority and says you must not cut your hair. When you leave your shiny office with your coworkers for lunch, remember not to leave in groups larger than 4 because its against the law.
So I am not saying my specific examples happen in Singapore. But you don't seem to get that we aren't really talking about Singapore.
We're talking about dystopian ways of living that exist on earth, right now. We're talking about people with lots of money actively trying to make stuff like what I just said part of your life, right now. It never happens over night. It's one day at a time. One accident, one criminal act. One new camera on a street, one new law passed.
So slowly, so you feel safer, until one day you see something happening around you that you don't like and decide to speak up. No one sees you at work tomorrow or the next day. You and your wife and kids just disappeared one night. No one saw anything, even if they did. In a week, a new family moves into your nice modern apartment. Someone else gets your cushy job. No one talks about you. They feel safe, too.
