this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2026
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Mildly Interesting
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I have a close Singaporean friend and his sister explained to me once that the world gets it wrong about the hand chopping and other extreme punishments people think they heard about. No, Singapore is kept in line through FEES! Chew gum? Fee. Litter? Fee. And boy do they enforce it, haha.
People always told me to never go to Singapore. "Did you know that you get a fee from spitting?" "You can go to jail for spitting out your gum"
Wow now that you put it like that, i really wanna go, that place sounds amazing.
They do have caning.
But yea it's surveillance and fees mostly.
I've been told that Singapore is a rather fine city.
You can only chop off so many hands before your economy collapses. Fines, though? That shit increases your budget.
Still one of only four developed countries that still executes people.
The one thing I dislike is the chewing gum part.
Sure, if you litter with it, get punishment. But just for chewing gum, or using a vape (not like in a crowded area but separate from people where you don't annoy others)?
On the other hand, enforcing social norms this way does make the city more liveable. In the western world, social norms have collapsed these past few years to the point where everyone selfishly can do whatever they want, as acceptable behaviours haven't been codified.
It isn't illegal to possess and consume chewing gum. However littering, sales and distribution of chewing gum is against the law.
It's also illegal to import IIRC - friends who went there had their gum confiscated on arrival at the airport.
That's more or less correct yeah. It's mostly very difficult to enforce at a personal level, similar to anything that happens behind closed doors (that isn't digital, anyway).