Enemy of the State

This is my "Culture Shock Number 1" in Singapore if the truth be told.

I couldn't understand why a small MRT station would need 40 cameras monitoring people. What has come up to my head is not just about resouces wasting, but more about censorship, and right of privacy.

We can't deny that Singapore is a very well-organized city/country. It's under a very dymanic and strict management from the government. People obey the rules as everything you don't follow will result in a fine ticket. From my have been told and observing, the city has become lacking strong objections, creativity, and vitality as time goes by. I'm coming from Taiwan, where people can voice out whatever they want, no matter in economics, politics, show buisness, etc. There is no limitation and promising future, so people are more than try everything they can. That might make things messy or chaotic once in a while, however, you defintly can feel the energy and heart-beating from the whole island every single day.

This poster reminds me of my favorite movie "Enemy of the State" by Will Smith. The story is about a successful lawyer finds himself the target of a treacherous NSA(National Security Agency) official and his goons after receiving evidence to a politically motivated murder. In that show, easily you can see that NOTHING can be hided because EVERYONE is being watched / listened by the government for NEEDED SECURITY REASON. If that really is the case, WHO is going to judge under WHAT reason that WHICH person should totally lose their privacy and right to speak? And the enemy of the country is those who hold different reason from the government? or those who are watching what the whole country is doing? If I don't feel safe at all by being monitored for someone else's safety, then whom should be sacrafied? If me, then why? If not me, then who?

Interestingly, the poster is written in 4 languages, Mandarin, Hindi, Malay and English. So at least you can still see "multi-nationality" in this "FINE CITY".