A response to "Singaporeans should be thankful to what they have"

Secondly, just how accessibly are Singaporeans to their own resources? Buying a tiny flat costs a six-digit sum, enough to put most people earning low wages in perpetual debt. Because of this, families absolutely must be dual income with both husband and wife earning for the household. With lower wages and longer working hours, who will look after the children? Are you wilingl to send them to childcare which will cost you S$1000++ a month? In Cambodia, people may not have many developments that we have here, but they can build their own house and get by through other means like fishing or farming, and they may not have money, but they have these natural resources to live off. Eventually, these natural resources form the bulk of their economy, because rice and other staple foods are in demand in other parts of the world, and Cambodia, along with Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand are rich in these, so they can go ahead and export them. I'd like to see a Singaporean go build his own atap house on government-owned land and survive off fish at the reservoir without eventually being chased away by authorities or altogether failing to thrive because there's no fish to catch or fertile ground to plant food. We don't have the option of farming, so we have to make do with other ways to sustain our economy.

In the past, the Singaporean government did a wonderful job developing our nation into what it is today. There is a reason why the government didn't want free speech back then: because there were communists around at that time, and even though the methods used to suppress the communist opposition was crude, it was effective nonetheless. Not only did "telling people to shut up and work hard under my authority" get rid of communist grip on politics, it also fostered a cohesive nation that was united under one flag to work for a better tomorrow, and this I am thankful for because it has given us so much progress. Yet, today, the opposition no longer holds communist ideologies, and there are so many issues in our nation today that require free speech to be addressed if we want to progress even further, and these issues will not leave if communication between government and people is one-directional. 

Granted, Singaporeans complain a lot and that's one of our flaws, and we have somehow made it part of our culture to complain over any trivial thing. But that doesn't mean complaining is wrong. Complaining about soaring property prices sounds pretty valid to me, after all, having shelter is a basic human right. At the same time, free speech is a basic human right sanctioned by the UN, of which our government either does not adhere to, or pretends to adhere to. The conditions required for democracy to thrive normally includes having a well-rounded education system that breeds well-informed people as well as a governing system that encourages opinions to be shared. So far, these two things don't appear to be around. 

I'd like to hear your opinion on what I've written in this response, and at the same time, I welcome everyone to share their opinions too, provided that they are constructive. Democracy is about being able to talk things out with everyone else in order to solve problems, not childish bickering and telling one another to shut up and do as you say.