TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent

Even before the news made the headlines around the world, the Straits Times is the first newspaper to publish it in big titles on its online “breaking news” section:

“Spore is 2nd freest economy”

The ranking is based on The Index of Economic Freedom, published by The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation, an conservative American think-tank.

However when Wall Street Journal published an article last week on the negative impact of the relentless influx of foreigners on Singaporeans, the Straits Times is surprisingly silent on it.

Neither did it carry any reports on the latest release of the Quality of Life Index by Ireland-based lifestyle magazine “International Living” which ranked Singapore as the 70th best place to live in the world below the likes of Bulgaria, Namibia and Romania.

As expected, the article was entirely one-sided and devoid of any analysis of the findings.

So what if Singapore is ranked the 2nd freest economy in the world? Does it translate into a better life for ordinary Singaporeans?

Given the pro-business policies of the ruling party which has allowed large numbers of foreigners to flood the labor market at the expense of the locals, it is not surprising that Singapore is the second freest economy in the world after Hong Kong.

The figure should be interpreted in a wider context together with other indices such as the income gap and the quality of life index.

Though Singapore’s economy is relatively free, it has the highest income-gap between the rich and the poor among the thirty most developed nations in the world.

This means that the fruits from the nation’s economic development are not distributed equally among the people with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer resulting in an overall lower standard of living than before.

Unfortunately, the Singapore media, which is used to being a propaganda mouthpiece of the ruling party will not dare to tell Singaporeans the truth by such selective reporting and censorship.

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