In a way, it's as if Rudy Giuliani's vision for New York has come to full fruition in Singapore. Malaysian, Indonesian, Filipino, and Indian migrant workers - who a lot of the fines (and canings) are actually aimed it - are kept on a tight leash that is not really going to be felt by Western tourists, who are highly unlikely to engage in the kind of behaviors that would trigger these punishments.
"Nice, normal people" do very well in Singapore, and find it safe, clean, and enjoyable - and not in any way visibly oppressive.
Is its system of rigorous math and science education the best for fostering innovation and entrepreneurship? Hard to say. We often try to compare Singapore to the USA but a lot of our innovators came up in the 70's and 80's under a very different culture than we have today. Today's young American innovators tend to copy and modify apps and think they have saved the world. But Singaporeans are now good at that, too.
Is its political system the best for thoughtful Virginia planters with deep classical educations and a desire to bring the blessings of liberty to the world? Probably not. If someone decides to start a new opposition political party promoting libertarian ideals in Singapore they are going to have a very rough time.
BTW, my wife is Singaporean and very much a believer in government smashing down miscreants who disturb the social order. I have had to patiently explain to her why it is a bad idea to give governments unlimited power to do so - after seeing the Biden Administration in action she is starting to get it. :)
You hear the same thing from Nihonophiles, that Japan is this wonderful country full of wonderful people who are never rude and produce perfectly clean cities, amazing convenience stores, and technology generations ahead of us. The funny thing is, all that is true, but there's an underbelly which is kept well hidden, and that is the continuous xenophobia. As long as non-Japanese are temporary visitors, they are treated like royalty, but as soon as they start wanting to BECOME part of Japan, living becomes increasingly difficult to impossible. And there's the dirty little non-secret, it wasn't all that long ago that the Japanese were horrible, disgusting, genocidal fascists who made the Nazis look like flower children, and it wouldn't take more than a generation and a sufficient world situation to turn them back into the same again. Confucianism doesn't have an answer for any of that; Judaism and Christianity do, which is why they are so rarely practiced in Japan in spite of the plethora of mission work over the last 170 years.