[Blog] Why don’t we do like Singapore?

It is no secret that Singapore is the safest, cleanest place in the world along with a drug-free society, and all these with a population of more than 6 millions inhabitants. Why is our country the antithesis of Singapore in terms of security, cleanliness and drug-trafficking?

Our country relies heavily on foreign visitors for its tourist industry, but the security of these visitors is not guaranteed since they are an easy prey to the many predators roaming around ready to pounce on their victims. Why cleanliness is not part and parcel of the lifestyle of our inhabitants who litter anywhere and everywhere without scruples? Why Singapore is a drug-free society while we are number one in drug-trafficking on the African Continent?

The answer to these questions is that we have a society which is bankrupt of education coupled with a crying absence of an effective deterrent. Why people can move anywhere round the clock in Singapore without having to look over their shoulders to see if they are not stalked by danger, why young girls attend evening courses without the least fear of being molested, why a lady tourist can leave her hotel at any time in the night and come back safe and well while she will not be able to do the same thing in broad daylight in Grand Baie without courting danger? Why our taxi-stands are deserted after six while in Singapore the taxi-men drive their cars round the clock without any assault on them? Why can’t we do the same things in Mauritius?

Here our law and order is too lax. The gallows have been dismantled. Instead, we have «prison 5 zetwals a visaz imen» where a royal treatment along with balanced diets are meted out to prisoners. We are the only country in the world where prisoners are reluctant to go back home after having served their sentence. More than 70 percent of our prisoners after their release relapse deliberately into an offence just to return behind the bars again. They are happier inside than outside.

Why Singapore is a drug-free society with a population of more than six millions people while we, with a population of barely 1.3 millions, are number one on the African Continent in drug-trafficking? Because in Singapore there is a «Dobermann» named Death Penalty for drug-dealers. Anyone who is caught with 15 grams of hard drug is hanged irrespective who he is, whether he is the son of a prime minister or a president. There is no precedent in Singapore. It is uncompromising in the fight against drug-trafficking. This is the underlying reason why Singapore with a population of more than six millions is a drug-trafficking society.

Here, in our Paradise Island, the drug-dealers are shielded by Human Rights along with «Five Stars» prisons coupled with balanced diets. In Singapore, there is no treatment for drug-takers par rapport to our country where government spends millions of tax-payers’ money on drug-therapy to rehabilitate drug-takers. In Singapore the problem is dealt with at root level. When there is no drug circulating in the country, its citizens are screened and the government does not have to spend on drug-rehabilitation.

The Singaporean Formula

If Singapore has a livable society today where its inhabitant’s breathe deeply, it is because of its formula which has worked wonders-Education plus rigid laws along with a Dobermann named Death Penalty. You may say whatever you want about the severity of the laws in Singapore, especially about Death Penalty as a retrograde, backward and archaic country where criminal offenders are hanged, the government of Singapore is simply deaf to all criticism and sends its detractors straight to hell. They know that it is the harshness of their laws which has been at the root of the socio-economic development of their country. It has provided a bulwark against all social evils to screen their citizens and foreigners. On the plus side, all the Singaporeans are hundred percent agreeable to the laws prevailing in the country. There are no adherents of Human Rights to protest against these laws. They are the watchdogs which make their society livable.

Can we copy the Singaporean model? I am afraid No! First, we don’t have the political will to toughen the existing laws and to re-introduce Capital Punishment. Second, we are the obsequious slave of Human Rights. We have been adhering too rigidly to Human Rights which have provided a solid umbrella to the law-breakers.

A livable society must be imperatively endowed with Education which has to be backed up with Rigorous Laws including Death Penalty as in Singapore. In a society where there is a bankruptcy of Education, people simply exist, they don’t live. If we want our inhabitants to live a fuller life, we must provide them with the necessary bulwarks.

Raj Paneken