Singaporeans 'restless, disenchanted'
From CNN Correspondent Aneesh Raman
SINGAPORE (CNN) -- It's quietly called the nanny state, among other things, by Singapore's disenchanted.
"It's like a school teacher. Most of the students would listen and look up to the school teacher," says independent film director Eric Khoo.
The schoolteacher is Singapore's government and Khoo argues that the students -- the Singaporean people -- are restless.
"A lot of Singaporeans like to complain," he says, and there might be a reason for that.
Unlike almost every other country in the world born of a political idea, Singapore emerged from an economic idea by middle-class businessmen just 45 years ago.
The result is one of Asia's few first-world countries and it is soon to become the continent's second fastest growing economy.
But behind the success story lies an authoritarian state.
There is only one political party heading a government that levies harsh fines for almost any infraction and it is a government that also went as far as to push the educated to have children, and the less-educated to not.
However the people of Singapore -- by and large -- don't seem to mind as long as their economy remains prosperous.
"If you have a comfortable life then you're going to become a nice sort of couch potato, and just take it in and be brain dead," Khoo says.
That could all change soon.
The youth of this country is testing the limits, pushing beyond the monetary advantages of being a citizen of Singapore towards more individual liberties.
They are doing so in small ways, with the clothes they wear, the music they listen to, subtly changing a passive past.
"Now I see a better breed of young Singaporeans who are more vocal and will make certain changes to the country," says Khoo.
For the government, the challenge is bringing individual liberty up to par with the economy.
"The society's roots aren't deep, the society and the democracy isn't in that sense first world yet," explains Simon Tay, from Singapore's Institute of International Affairs.
Analysts will also be watching what, if any, changes come under the new leadership of Lee Hsien Loong.
The streets of Singapore are pristine, but many say democracy can be messy.
So in the end the question is how much would you give up in order to live well.
