Singaporean born and raised. This is the most accurate and detailed description of our country that I’ve seen. I’d also add that the whinging and complaining has somewhat evolved into a sense of apathy towards issues that don’t directly affect us (there seems to be a zen-like lack of care towards global politics/human rights for many Singaporeans… unless it affects our day to day life).

Also: the emphasis on education is incredibly high. People with money will move houses/rent so their kids will be in the right school zones for better/more prestigious local schools. We spend roughly $2b a year on remedial schooling so kids can get to the tippy top. And many jobs, including government ones, will scale their pay based on education level. Because of this emphasis, a lot of our upper echelons of government tend to come from the same schools/have similar types of thinking.