The Singapore Law

When in Rome do as the Romans do. Or something to that effect! So when in Singapore do as the Singaporeans do or else suffer a severe caning, three months in prison or be forced to clean streets whilst wearing a bright yellow jacket marked "I stepped outside of the law".

Typical Sign in an MRT Station
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

Singapore is a Democratic Society or so they say! Singaporean Democracy tends to go like this; "if you speak out to vocally, look out the wrong way, listen too hard, write under the table and if you don't do what we tell you to do then you will be going on a long holiday". In the dictionary of the outside world this means the opposite of democracy but here in Singapore, well, the government insists that it was duly elected, that it controls no media output and that citizens are some of the happiest in the world.

Whether life in Singapore is free or not is unimportant to the average worker, tourist, visitor, businessman, etc. What is important is the ability of those entering Singapore to appreciate fully the values and laws that they will encounter once they pass through customs and not to step on toes during their visit. It is important to have a little history of Singapore before listing do's and cant's, so listen hard.

In Singapore, the courts, the legal system, the law, the police and justice system were brought into being by the British Colonial Authority: when they used to run the place. Today after 40yrs of self rule with highly respected lawyers, a complex and well instituted legal profession and a strict and harsh penal code, there is a very clean and law abiding society that is the backbone of Singapore daily life. After forty years of forging it alone Singapore has one attitude to Criminality and that is harshness and severity for those who abuse the system, all at the expense of a flagging human rights record. Yes, Singapore is often rebuked for its practice of Caning for small offenses, it's hanging for medium and high offenses and it's high fines and prison sentences for doing something that is not illegal anywhere else in the world.

The current Criminal Law Act is a rather shocking piece of legislation for the uninitiated, a holdover from the British to cope with communist activities in the 1950's. This Act gives the Minister of Home Affairs the right to detain indefinitely any person "associated with activities of a criminal nature" if he or she is satisfied that the detention is necessary for "public safety, peace and good order". It could be said that there seems to be nothing wrong with this but it contradicts one of the most fundamental of human rights in the criminal process, the right to a fair trial. The role of the Judiciary in this case is not minimized or reduced it is ignored all together.

So Singaporeans live in a harsh society surrounded by Police and spies watching from every corner? Singaporeans live in fear? Nay, get a life.

Life in Singapore is great! It is one of the cleanest cities in the world, it is about the only city that can be seen at night without fear of getting mugged, stabbed in the back for the camera around the neck or simply abused for the plane fun of it. Taxi drivers will not rip you off, passers by will not scream abuse, everywhere is clean (including public toilets), and crime is very low. People are happy and there is so much to do and see.

How can anybody complain about feeling safe, secure and clean?

In a chat room in some unknown corner of the Internet recently, some armchair tourists where talking about 'life in Singapore' and how bad it is. They were talking about the law enacted by Singapore Parliament, namely that the sale, possession and importation of Chewing Gum is banned.

Yes, it is true however hard it may be to believe it! One girl in this chat room was saying how terrible it was and that she would never go to Singapore because of this. The other girl started ranting and raving about free rights and human rights and stuff like that. She then said that Singapore citizens were poor and so they should all go and live in other countries were they could chew chewing gum freely. What a load of rubbish, not only about rights to chew chewing gum but also about Singaporeans being poor. Singapore is an extremely wealthy State and the average citizen is far better off than their counterparts in other cities around the world.

Anyway, this is sidelining. The matter of the Chewing Gum though is interesting and more to the point why did the Government introduce such draconian law over a little bit of exercise of the jaw? Sounds bad but is it? Choose any street in the world and look at it carefully and is it not covered in a mass of dirty grayish stains! In Beijing recently the Government in an attempt to spruce up the city spent US$120,000 dollars on cleaning up discarded chewing gum from the 4,000,000 square meter Tianamen Square. It looked so disgusting that they cleaned it all up at great expense and then slapped a fine on anybody caught spitting the stuff out. Got it nice and clean but the fines did not deter new wads from being spat out and in a matter of days the square returned to normal - covered in dirty grayish stains.

Why do chewing gum chewers have to spit their stuff out? It is extremely bad when one sits on a chair that has chewing gum on it, the dress or trousers that come in contact with the stuff then becoming scrap material. Chewers who leave there produce under table tops, under the arm rests of chairs, in public ash trays, under bar tops, in between bricks in a wall and around door frames are in short, disgusting. The rules that Singapore introduced would never have come into being if the above chewing gum had been carefully disposed of rather than being disgustingly ejected from a persons mouth or revoltingly left were another may accidentally touch it. And apart from all of the above wrongly disposed chewing gum was stopping the Singapore Mass Rapid System Train doors from closing, thus disrupting the whole MRT system.

It is without doubt: a rule of law that should be implemented the world-over. The stuff is not nice: and apart is extremely bad for the health. Why people complain about this rule and why they assume that because of this Singapore is a cruel and harsh place to live is extremely unfounded and naive.

Singapore definitely differs in its attitude to crime prevention than most other countries in the world. They use the threat of harsh punishment to impose rule and the idea of "we are watching" to control criminal activity and to provoke orderliness in the state. This manner of crime prevention undoubtedly works and Singaporeans place absolute faith in their government to control them and to make laws as they see fit. Whilst the rest of the world suffers from high crime rates, where in most other cities one cannot step outside of their house after dark and where a door left open means an emptied house upon return - Singapore is free. Singapore is free of what the rest of the world suffers from so for others to condemn this life for its harsh rule and criminal Justice System is without proper thought or appreciation of the end result.

Should visitors take some simple steps towards understanding the basis behind "the Law" and should they approach the society found in an open manner then realization will dawn quickly. That life in Singapore is one of the easiest and nicest in the world and that because of the laws imposed life is of high quality. It is a result of these harsh Laws that Singapore has become the haven that it is. For example the Chewing Gum Law: it is disgusting to see a nice street covered in horrible grayish stains and non-more so when a fresh glob sticks to the soul of a shoe. There is nothing worse than sitting in bar and finding your fingers have encountered somebody else's waste and nothing worse than the cost it invokes to clean the streets of world.

As found in Beijing a costly cleaning program and the implementation of fines on offenders had no serious impact and so the idea of extreme harsh laws and subsequent punishment is the only way forward.

Singapore, by trading in Human rights for better crime control has stepped away and outside of the rest of the world. By instituting harsh punishment as a preventative means and to force the people to abide by the rules Singapore has become an example of good living. Often called "sterile" due to it's cleanliness one must only look at their own city or town to realize that theirs is dirty and that Singapore is just an example of how it should be!

On a sad note: The Chewing Gum ban has been a sticking point during two years of intense negotiations between Singapore and the US to seal a landmark Free Trade Agreement. With a sour taste in their mouths the US manufacturers of Chewing Gum pushed for the ban to be lifted and so as a gesture of goodwill and concession (that will help Singapore Exporters by an estimated US$300 million) the ban has been partially lifted. Singapore has been forced to reduce their standards to meet those of the outside world. Although the ban has not been fully lifted (only chewing gum prescribed over a counter can be sold) it has chinked the system and rule that has formed Singaporean Society for so long.

Another Sign in another MRT Station
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

Visitors, tourists, businessmen/women should enter Singapore with an open mind, follow the rules and abide by them and thus join for a little while a society that is a standard for what we should all expect in life. Oh, and if using a Public Toilet remember to flush it before leaving otherwise a fine of $500 Singapore dollars will be imposed. This fine is for first time offenders: go by the rules and don't even go were second time offenders would be taken.