Out of all the criticisms of Singapore, the most mentioned is the lack of free speech&#x2F;media.
But if you have lived in Singapore for a while you will probably find that this is not the case.
It does not even affect most people&#x27;s life in a tiny bit (unless you are into politics). And certainly Singapore is not 1984 stuff. People are really happy here.<p>Based on my reading of some books from Lee Kuan Yew, the reason he did not allow total free media and speech was that he was very much concerned about the stability of the nation, and as such a small country, Singapore really can&#x27;t afford any civil conflicts (it had suffered one before <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;1969_race_riots_of_Singapore" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;1969_race_riots_of_Singapore</a>
and recently <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;2013_Little_India_riot" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;2013_Little_India_riot</a>)<p>Besides that, some of the &quot;free speech&quot; online are actually either falsified or in very explicit languages specifically targeted at raising culture hatred, and hatred towards foreign immigrants. They are not targeted at solving problems<p>Somehow, the reason that keeps people leaving Singapore is not the lack of free speech, but something else. Most of my foreign friends from University had left Singapore, either to US or China. For them, the biggest problem seems to be high living cost, no space for personal development and no job satisfaction. How to retain these talents may be a bigger issue here