Weeny warlords and draconian policies

Singapore is seen by the world as an authoritarian state rightly or wrongly. We have many 'draconian' laws ranging from banning of chewing gums, caning and the death penalty. From a Singaporean point of view, especially from the angle of law abiding citizens, such laws don't really affect them as they are targetted at the irresponsible and criminals. In fact such laws are seen as good by many, including foreigners who came from their land of disorder and near anarchy. This culture of handing down tough laws and policies have over time seeped into the veins of many weeny little warlords who have no qualms in dishing them out to the masses. One favourite item is to make things compulsory, even to the extent of impounding the people's money under whatever guises. And we even have jail penalty for commuters who cheat the bus company of a few cents. In today's ST, Goh Eng Yeow wrote a long article about the stiff penalty that the Stock Exchange is handing down to small traders for carelessness. The fine is a hefty $1000 for data entry error or a mistake that may be worth a few hundred or a few tens of dollars. Goh Eng Yeow's article explained fully the whole gist of the matter which he described as another form of draconian laws that this island is infamous for. The sad thing is that many poor buggers were punished for a small unintentional mistake. Maybe a $1000 fine is not worth mentioning in the eyes of the little warlords. What is $1000?!!! It is so little, so small, and people should not quibble over it. Well, when one can be fined for a few thousand dollars for chewing gum offence, this $1000 fine is not even close to a peanut. And nobody cares. Everyone of some importance will have more important things to do than to bother about little people being fined for $1000, rightly or wrongly. Small people should count themselves lucky if their heads are not cut off by the warlords within us.