SGdiaries

One often hears two different reactions to the mention of Singapore: “Oh, that cool futuristic city state.” or “It’s that place where you can’t chew gum”. Foreigners have long wondered what exactly are the rules in Singapore regarding chewing gum and why they are put in place. Is it to control the people? Or for public wellbeing? By the end of this article, I hope that you will be informed to make your own opinion around this peculiar and uniquely Singaporean topic.

What are the details of this prohibition?

In 1992, Singapore passed a then controversial law to ban the sale and advertisement of chewing gum, both natural and synthetic. An offence to this law would entail a fine up to 2000$ while importing it constitutes a fine of up to 10,000$. Contrary to popular belief, the act of chewing gum is not mentioned within the law. Therefore permitting mastication of gum not bought in Singapore. The law however specifies that all gum brought into the country must be declared at customs. 

For what reason did the Singaporean government enact this law?

In the years leading up to the law’s proclamation, Singapore had just opened its brand new Mass Rapid Transit, more commonly known as the MRT system, found itself with an unforeseen problem: chewing gum was carelessly placed on the ground, but more importantly, on the doors of the metro cars. This led to them not closing properly and resulted in a series of delays which is unfathomable with today’s timings. This is not the only reason for the banning of chewing gum. The improper disposal of gum creates numerous hygiene problems in public spaces such as theatres and residential areas. The cleaning of old gum is extremely costly as it not only is sticky, it is also soft and is able to enter various grooves of surfaces. It takes detergents, scrubbing, heat and manual labor in order to clear streets within concrete jungles. This law therefore aimed to keep the city cleaner for its people.

What is the local perception of the law?

When this law was announced, the city was extremely divided. On one hand, they had a very noticeable improvement in the quality of the environment. Just a year after the ban, Strait Times announced that there were only 2 cases of gum littering in the MRT compared to 523 the previous year.

Various town councils also note the improvements in their respective areas as gum littering dropped. Both Bedok and City Center remarked at the irrelevance of frequent pressure washing to remove used gum, saving them money which could benefit the community in other ways.

On the other hand, protestors of the ban highlight the medical and social benefits of chewing gum. Better helping digestion and improving breath and teeth health are only some of them. They reason that if children and teens move away from chewing gum they may engage in more harmful activities such as smoking cigarettes. On the topics of cigarettes, in an article by the Strait Times, these pro-gum groups emphasize on the fact that cigarette burns are even more difficult to remove than gum, leading us to question why ban gum but not smoking.

Nowadays, local communities tend to have embraced this law and have learned to accept its improvements to society rather than seeing the negatives.

What do foreigners think of this?

As mentioned in the introduction, many people outside of Singapore associate the country with this peculiar law. Many misconceptions stem from this relatively simple law. Due to a widely public canning of an American teen for vandalism (unrelated to chewing gum) a couple years later, Singapore’s comparatively harsh punishments and interesting laws came to be known on the international stage. One can only imagine that the myth of not being allowed to chew gum stems from this as Singapore became perceived as a more authoritarian government to the outside world. Today, renowned for its cleanliness, Singapore attracts tourists from all over. Thus, banning gum reduced access to it and therefore led to cleaner streets.

What if I want to chew in Singapore?

The expat community constitutes almost 30% of Singapore’s population, all of which are from gum chewing countries. Members of this community often bring some along from their international travels and dispose of it through general trash. In 2004, the Singaporean government updated the law to allow the purchase of nicotine and dental gum on prescription in pharmacies, allowing some people something to chew on. The rest of Singapore has two main options: not to chew gum at all, or to find digestible alternatives. Chewy candy such as Hi-chew, Fruit Plus and Mentos fill up the checkout aisle where gum usually is in other countries.

Chewing gum has brought much controversy and international awareness to Singapore and ultimately has become part of its culture. Where you see dark gum stains in the metro of New York City, you see clean streets in Singapore. It is all a tradeoff in this city. Giving up a simple pleasure for your community’s wellbeing or being subjected to the government’s will. It is up to you, the reader to decide: Should all cities ban chewing gum?

• Maxton Shenoy