I&#x27;ve only lived in Singapore for three years, but I do read the Straits times every day (I&#x27;m a paper and digital subscriber), get the daily update in email, and subscribe to their notifications.<p>The straitstimes is fascinating in that it so different from any newspaper that I&#x27;m familiar with in the United States (I subscribe to the NYT, and have the SJ Mercury news, and WSJ in the past).  In many ways, it feels like a government newsletter, with clearly government approved messaging on things like the budgets, healthcare, elections, etc..<p>The &quot;Structure&quot; of the newspaper stories, particular on the front page, is also remarkably consistent over the last few years - usually with a story from one of the following collection - Story about a maid, story about something good in Singapore, Story about something bad in the rest of the world that wouldn&#x27;t happen in singapore, story about someone who did something bad, and got caught, and what their punishment was, story about issues regarding racial&#x2F;religious harmony.   The complete lack of LGBT stories is also fascinating.  And you will almost never, ever see a story regarding the liberalization of drugs.<p>For better or worse, the media is clearly not independent - whether that&#x27;s a good or bad thing is unclear to me.  Singapore is certainly a very safe and clean place to live in, with little visible signs of poverty and&#x2F;or urban blight that is so common in American Cities. I know it&#x27;s the only city I&#x27;ve ever felt comfortable about my mother roaming around anywhere at night.<p>Maybe there&#x27;s something to be said about a bit of totalitarian rule?