Quora Answer: Can Singaporeans Protest What Hong Kong People are Doing?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Can Singaporeans protest what the Hong Kong people are doing?”

What exactly are we going to protest about?  To support the rioters?  Or, to support the government there?  Whatever is happening in Hong Kong is an internal matter.  It has no bearing on Singapore, and we have no real relationship with them beyond business.

In fact, the unrest in Hong Kong is a business opportunity, and Singapore has benefited tremendously from the capital flight, the shift in business, and the movement of high net worth individual to Singapore.  Why would we overly concerned about events all the way there?

Assuming Singaporeans were inclined to protest, they would need to apply for a permit, which will almost certainly not be approved.  Protesters will be rounded up, and charged with an offence.  Unlike in Hong Kong, rioting will not be tolerated.  The Gurkha Contingent, and the SOC will be deployed, and the rioters contained before being rounded up.  They will be identified through surveillance, and picked up at their homes.  Singapore learned lessons from the Little India riots in 2013.