The Singapore Airport Was Just Named The 'World's Greatest Airport' For The Seventh Year In A Row

[at140]

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/singapore-airport-just-named-world-162000585.html

I passed through that airport a couple of years ago, and I absolutely believe it is the world's best.
The airport had great facilities, including 100+ computers with internet for use by passengers free of charge.

The underground highway system in Singapore is fabulous, and very fast to drive through. My cab made really good time from the cruise terminal to the airport. Very clean city, very low crime (there are large signs everywhere announcing drug peddlers get automatic death sentence), but the best part is food! Chinese, Indian and Arabic restaurants are wonderful. Unemployment rate is near zero. Only people without jobs are those are in between jobs. There is no unemployment checks which encourages everyone to work I am guessing. And everyone speaks English! This is a visibly prosperous city. Our tour guide said every 6th Singapore citizen is a millionaire. 1/3 of work force is foreigners on temporary work visa's. The Buddhists, Hindu's & Muslims get along without any skirmishes or terrorism.

[pangaia]

1. There is a dark underside to all of that.

If you spit on the sidewalk you 'may have your tongue cut out,' things like that..
Keeps the population in line, dontcha know..


I will agree, however, the food is out of this world !!!!

Which is the best reason to visit...

[at140]

2. I was very careful to avoid spitting chewing gum out on streets

but I have not heard of any tongue's being cut out. The punishment is usually public flogging.
On the positive side, I could walk the streets in late evenings without fear of getting mugged.

[pangaia]

7. You can walk the streets in Kyoto just as safely. :)))))

Slightly different vibe however...

[OnDoutside]

3. I spent 2 months working in Singapore, and if I had picked up an ex-pat contract I would have

stayed longer. I loved it.

Re the Chewing Gum

Lee Kuan Yew
In his memoirs,[3] Lee Kuan Yew said that in 1983, when he was Prime Minister of Singapore, a proposal for the ban was brought to him by the then Minister for National Development. Chewing gum was causing maintenance problems in high-rise public-housing apartments, with vandals disposing of spent gum in mailboxes, inside keyholes, and on lift buttons. Chewing gum left on the ground, stairways, and pavements in public areas increased the cost of cleaning and damaged cleaning equipment. Gum stuck on the seats of public buses was also considered a problem. However, Lee thought that a ban would be "too drastic".

Mass rapid transport and implementation
In 1987, the $5 billion local railway system, the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), started running. It was then the largest public project ever implemented in Singapore.

It was reported that vandals had begun sticking chewing gum on the door sensors of MRT trains, preventing doors from functioning properly and causing disruption to train services. Such incidents were rare but costly and culprits were difficult to apprehend. In January 1992, Goh Chok Tong, who had just taken over as Prime Minister, decided on a ban. The restriction on the distribution of chewing gum was enacted in Singapore Statute Chapter 57, the Control of Manufacture Act, which also governs the restriction of certain alcohol and tobacco products.[4]

Results
After the ban was announced, the import of chewing gum was immediately halted. After a transition period allowing shops to clear existing stock, the sale of chewing gum was completely banned.

When first introduced, the ban caused much controversy and some open defiance. Some people took the trouble of travelling to neighbouring Johor Bahru, Malaysia, to purchase chewing gum. Offenders were publicly "named and shamed" by the government, to serve as a deterrent to other would-be smugglers. No black market for chewing gum in Singapore ever emerged, though some Singaporeans occasionally still manage to smuggle some chewing gum from Johor Bahru for their own consumption. The ban has been partially lifted, as some types of gum are allowable, such as gum chewed for dental health. However, the government refuses to completely lift the ban due to the risk of gum littering again.

[at140]

4. Thank you for the background on chewing gum ban

I did not know how it all started.

[OnDoutside]

6. No problem....there were a number of other stories like that, and the background was based in common

sense, but was dressed up as almost totalitarian.

[msongs]

5. a gumless world sounds fine to me. loved singapore the 9 days I was there nt