In reporting the latest news the Straits Times U.S. correspondent made the invidious comparison herself in yesterday's newspaper: Colorado now allows a native of the State above the age of 21 to legally purchase 28g. of cannabis. Contrast the jurisdiction of Singapore, where half that amount in possession presumes trafficking and attracts a maximum jail term of twenty years, fifteen strokes of the cane for good measure. As elsewhere, the minorities over-represented in the prisons here, Malays and Indians.
On the subject of policing and
security, a friend recently described accidentally coming upon the housing
compounds of the Gurkha regiments here not far from Paya Lebar, high-rise towers
on a hill behind razor wire and armed sentry posts. Fifty years we are talking
after the British officially bequeathed independence—harsh critics contend,
installed a pliant group to continue business as usual post-Korean war and in
the face of the menace threatening from the Malaya Emergency, Soekarno's
Konfrontasi, Mao and Vietnam.
The role of the Gurkhas, the security they have provided over these fifty
years since the British era presents a conundrum... During Will and Kate's
visit they were seen patrolling the streets around Raffles Hotel; once the riot
of a couple of weeks ago escalated they were called out of barracks, these
grandsons of the platoons who had protected the British; presumably when George
Schultz—a life-long friend of Mr. LKY—and other foreign dignitaries visit they
are deployed; otherwise one needs to screw on the thinking cap in order to
guess the remainder.... The largest per capita cohort of billionaires on the globe… heavy traffic
in the trade delegations…. a well entrenched political elite….Hmmmm. Perhaps enough
to keep the Nepalese boys busy between polishing their boots and hardware.
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