1st World conditions in a 3rd World Region

• weiqimun

  17 Sep 06, 22:56

  SG is able to offer`1st World conditions in a 3rd World Region', according to our minister menthol.
  
  smack of arrogance, u think?
  
  
• Rock^Star

  17 Sep 06, 22:57

  Well, it's true, isn't it?
• fudgester

  17 Sep 06, 23:00

  First World conditions.
  
  Third World mindset.
  
• borgkilla

  17 Sep 06, 23:04

  sorta true eh ?
  
• weiqimun

  17 Sep 06, 23:39

  firstly, i really dun think the term first world, 3rd world, whatever, applies in the today's context, nor is it diplomatically an acceptable term.
  
  2ndly, `3rd world region', not sure if mr menthol is implying Asia Pacific, or even SEA, cannot be correctly be substantiated becos even 3rd world countries like china, india, thailand,malaysia, etc. clearly have caught up with sg in any of the infrastructure advantage, pool of skilled workers, etc. i mean, case in point, 10 years ago, u go to shanghai and u can deduce that it's decidedly `3rd world', but today? no way. similarly, sg `looked down' on malaysia in the late 20th century (circa 80s/90s) as having the 2nd best in every thing. today? whilst sg is still ahead in certain areas, i argue tt malaysia is on par with sg on many other areas, or even surpass sg in certain areas like road infrastructure. the gap is certainly narrowed.
  
  political instability? i dun see any crippling dissent that is turning any ctry upside down. for all the reports we read about the spat in MY via Dr M, the political upheavel in TH, etc., i was in those places recently and life goes on for the majority of the people. i wld argue that is will actually help in the process of `maturing' the society in those countries in the long run.
  
  
• JZ21

  18 Sep 06, 01:53

  Due to globalisation, the terms 1st world n 3rd world has lost its meaning.
  These terms are coined during the cold war era.
  1st world refers to USA n allies
  2nd world is Russia ( cant confirm )
  3rd world is the rest.
  
  Now the terms developed n developing are used. Even so, the boundaries of these 2 terms have blurred. Thanks to advances in technology acceptance n growth of the Internet n globalisation.
• highway69

  18 Sep 06, 02:57

  He got it right leh.Everything is world class here but its people are third class.(Gahmen first, foreigners second, third its people).