Do people who chew gum annoy you?Ever thought about your country putting a ban on Chewing gum?
Singapore’s founding Father Lee Kuan Yew, who died at the age of 91,was buried on Sunday at a very emotional ceremony in the country which has come to be known as one of the Asian Tigers, was very strict about the habit of chewing gum.
Lee was famous for turning around the economy of a one time very corrupt small port to one of Asia’s big economies. Lee is also said to have been very particular about people behaving well.
The ban on the sale and import of chewing gum was enacted in 1992, after Mr Lee’s government decided that there were too many vandals disrupting the public transit system by sticking their used gum on the doors of the trains.
However there was confusion on weather it was illegal to chew gum or weather its importation and sell were the only two things that were illegal.
Nonetheless after the law on the sell and importation of gum was passed, that changed everything about people’s habits about chewing gum consumption.
People that are caught leaving chewing gum remains in the public space can be charged with monetary fine, community work, or often – public beating with the bamboo stick.
The lack of criminal entrepreneurs in the country meant that no black market for chewing gum ever emerged, and gum virtually dissapeared from the streets overnight.
Desperate gum addicts had to cross the border to Malaysia to smuggle gum home for their personal consumption. However the government allowed chewing gum if it was only for therapeutic reasons.
The ban remains one of the best-known aspects of life in Singapore. It is also illegal to litter, graffiti, spitting, expelling “mucous from the nose” and urinating anywhere but in a toilet. This strictness in relation to cleanliness made Singapore famous for its clean streets.
Before very long, Singapore was outstripping other developed countries in terms of its cleanliness, clipped lawns, and efficient transport system.
In 2004, international pressure from United States brought the change in the Singaporean law that reinstated the legal use of some small amounts of therapeutic dental chewing gums.
Their use is heavily regulated and has to be purchased directly from dentist or doctor.
Tourists that visit Singapore are allowed to bring chewing gum with them, but only maximum of two packs per person. Any more than that then they risk being charged with “gum smuggling” which carries the penalty of one year in jail and $5,500 fine.
Black market for “chewing gums” does not exist in the Singapore, and majority of population that want to enjoy them often go to neighboring countries where they are legal.
