Anarchistic action the wrong tack
Ms Leslie M. Tam is actually a female American university administrator based in the Lion City, not a male Singaporean whose instincts have been dulled by a restrictive intellectual climate, according to his letter. She had worked at the University of Hong Kong, and ought to be well versed with the “freedom of expression” practised there as well as in her home country.
Perhaps “devil-may-care” change agents like Mr Serfaty should spend some time reviewing their blanket formula for “independent” thought. Must rabble-rousing and filibustering anarchism be its sacred cow? Surely life cannot be that simple?
Otherwise, a Singapore that purportedly discourages independent thinking and stifles creative free expression, according to staunch liberals, because it bans street protests and so forth, would not have progressed as a society and an economy, as well as punched way above its weight in international affairs, including in the development of academic curricula for maths and science.
So many baby boomers would not have sold out their anti-establishment youthful ideals to make a living and loads of money as part of an Establishment with a tendency to resist change and protect its vested interests.
