Rules Rules Rules

Singapore is famous for it's rules and censorship (which was the subject of many conversations while we were there). A few examples:

- no chewing gum in large quantities

- no durian (a local fruit with a strong odor) on public transport

- no littering (hefty fines for this)

- no urinating in elevators

- no riding your bike in underground walkways

- no spitting

- no drugs (death penalty for possession of about the equivalent size to 2 Canadian quarters)

You get the idea. In it's defense, the city/country is incredibly clean, efficient and well organized. (Case in point. It is the ONLY country in the world where we have gone through immigration and security in the airport only to then be pulled aside to complete a survey on how we felt the service was. Did they smile at us? Did it meet your expectations? Oh and did we mention the candies in a nice bowl on the immigration counter?) On the other hand many rules have a paternalistic air to them, as if the citizens are children that need to be taught about basic decent conduct. Does someone really need to tell you not to urinate in the elevator?!?

Here is a short film about censorship in Singapore courtesy of Josh K.

Click To Play

Short film Royston Tan made in 2004 after "15" got 27 cuts from the Singaporean censors