WOW masked goatrider, you may be heartened to learn that the allegation that Singaporean prisoners were used to wash aircraft was completely baseless. Also, since I work at the airport I am fully aware of the security regulations - anyone with a criminal record is basically banned from getting an airport pass. Prisoners in Singapore remain where they should remain - in Changi Prison, not Changi Airport.
Regarding companies in Singapore being less susceptible to political pressure, it's indeed amazing that there is very little offshoring of jobs here, despite the fact that Singaporean wages are far higher than neighbouring nations. SQ shut down all its call centres in the English speaking world and routed the calls to a third party centre in India instead, while calls made from Singapore are still routed to Singaporean agents. All English speaking too. I did hear from people within SQ that they were petrified of handling the unions and govt should they shut down the SIN call centre.