Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Chewing gum returns to Singapore after 12 years
Gillian Wonga (Associated Press) Singapore, May 25
Ultra-tidy Singapore is lifting its ban on chewing gum after 12 long years, but only for registered users. Gum dealers face jail if they break the rules. Before Singaporeans think about unwrapping a pack of the Wrigley's Orbit gum that's just started selling in the city, only in pharmacies, they have to submit their names and ID card numbers. If they don't, pharmacists who sell them gum could be jailed up to two years and fined 5,000 Singapore dollars (US$2,940).
This Southeast Asian city-state, known for its immaculate streets and tight social controls, outlawed the manufacture, import and sale of chewing gum in 1992 after the country's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, complained that it was fouling streets, buildings, buses and subway trains.
Lee, 80, stepped down as prime minister in 1990 but still wields considerable influence under the title "senior minister." Gum became a sticking point months ago in Singapore's free trade talks with Washington, when Representative Philip Crane of the US state of Illinois, home of chewing gum giant Wrigley, pressed the issue.
Singapore compromised, agreeing to allow only the sale of "therapeutic" gum in pharmacies. The free trade pact took effect from January 1.
The Health Sciences Authority, responding to questions from The Associated Press, said it's allowed the sale of 19 "medicinal" and "dental" gum products.
Wrigleys' Orbit, which the company claims is good for teeth, hit pharmacy shelves just days ago. Pfizer's Nicorette, a nicotine gum meant to help smokers kick their addiction, has been available since March.
Nicorette costs 19 Singapore dollars (US$11) for a pack of 30 pieces. A pack of Orbit goes for S$1.60 (US$0.94). Singaporeans, many of whom have long derided the chewing gum ban, seemed unimpressed by the change.
"It's ridiculous that it's easier for 16-year-olds to visit prostitutes than it is to get chewing gum here," said 22-year old college student Fayen Wong. Prostitution is legal in parts of Singapore and no registration is required. "Why would I go through the trouble of getting nicotine gum if I can buy a pack of cigarettes without giving my name?" said Wong. "I don't think the new rules will help smokers to quit."
The Straits Times newspaper, which has close government ties, said on Sunday that street cleaners have already been complaining about the return of spent wads of chewing gum to their once pristine pavements.
Singapore has been at pains in recent years to shed its "nanny state" image and promote itself as a hip, cosmopolitan hub for media and the arts in Asia.
But this has proven a difficult task in a country where films and television shows are often censored, home satellite TV antennae are banned and various books, magazines and even popular songs are outlawed. Fines are levied for spitting or failing to flush public toilets.
Critics of restrictions have often cited the chewing gum ban as an example of the government's excesses.
But the partial legalization of gum is "really a non-event," said Koh Beng Liang, 25, a research engineer who said he hasn't yet bothered having a legal chew.
"Singaporeans will quickly realize it if the so-called loosening up is for foreign image, and not real change," Koh said.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.