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It’s the Law: No Gum Chewing AllowedWhat it’s like to live in a country where the government controls every aspect of your life – even where you can eat.By Phil SudeFor 10 days in the fall of 1993, a group of youths had been spray-painting, throwing eggs, and switching license plates on cars. To Americans, it might have seemed like typical teenage mischief. But this was Singapore.A tiny nation in Southeast Asia, Singapore takes a far different approach to governing than the U.S. In fact, its leaders believe that their system of government is superior to America’s. So when authorities accused 18-year-old Michael Fay, and American living in Singapore, of participating in the vandalism, they decided to teach him – and the U.S. – a lesson in justice, Singapore-style.Fay was sentenced to three months in prison, plus caning – hard lashes on the backside with a rattan cane. U.S. officials protested, calling caning a form of torture; the blows are so severe they can send a person into shock and leave scars. But Singapore stood firm and Fay was flogged.“We don’t deal with criminal behavior the way Americans do,” said Lee Kunn Yew, Singapore’s longtime former prime minister. “We believe [in] strong measures to make sure people understand that other people’s lives and property have to be respected.”At a time when many Americans want government to be less involved in their private lives and to show more respect for individual rights. Singapore questions the very concept of such rights. There, the interests of the group are more important than individual freedoms. Singapore’s approach has sparked an international debate: Does every individual possess basic human rights no matter who they are or where they live? Or are individual rights merely a Western value that may not be important to other cultures?Mixing free-market capitalism with strict limits on free speech and political dissent, Singapore’s system has produced astonishing results. Thirty years ago, when it won independence from Great Britain, the nation faced disease, poverty, and illiteracy. Since then, it has developed into one of the world’s wealthiest, healthiest, and more educated countries.Eighty percent of the people own homes, there is nearly full employment, and the average individual income of $16,500 is second in Asia only to Japan. “Compare us with other countries and see how well we have done,” says Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. “If you are a taxi driver, compare yourself with taxi drivers in Thailand, Taiwan, London, or anywhere else. How many of them own their homes?”The architect of Singapore’s rise is Lee Kuan Yew, who ruled the country for 31 years and continues to wield enormous influence. Lee believes it is government’s role to manage every aspect of an individual’s life according to what he calls “Asian values”: sacrifice, self-discipline, and strong support of the family. With 2.9 million people packed into 240 square miles, the country is small enough to make those values stick.To enforce public cleanliness, for example, the government banned the sale of chewing gum. If fined people $250 for failing to flush a public toilet and $500 for eating or drinking on a bus. To deter drug use, convicted drug dealers were put to death.Concerned with overpopulation, the government offered women cash awards, if they agreed to be sterilized after having two children. And to encourage more college-educated women to marry, the government created a state-run matchmaking service, complete with a “love boat” for romantic cruises. “I say without the slightest remorse,” says Lee, “that we would not have made economic progress if we had not intervened on very personal matters – who your neighbor is, how you live, the noise you make, how or where you spit, or what language you use.”The Cost: FreedomBut for the average Singaporean, the cost has been individual freedom. “When you first get here, what you notice is how clean everything is,” says Tony Nguyeh, 16, a Californian who now lives in Singapore with his mother. “But after a while, if feels kind of creepy. You always feel someone watching you. And people seem normal until you try to talk about Lee Kuan Yew, then they get real quiet.”Criticizing Lee on anything else about the system can result in harsh punishment, say human rights observers. To stifle opposition, for example, the state has banned political activity by any non-government group. The Jury system has been abolished, as have labor unions. Foreign newspapers and magazines that run critical stories are frequently banned. And the police often arrest people without charge.Human Rights ViolationsTo many Americans, such actions violate basic human rights. But Singapore officials see it differently. “In the U.S., individual rights are placed ahead of law and order,” says Kishore Mahhubani, an officer of Singapore’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs. “Here, law and order have priority over human rights. These are simply alternative value systems. None is superior over the other.”Not all Singaporeans agree, “There has been a suffocation of all dissent,” says David Marshall, form Singaporean Ambassador to France. “That is a very terrifying thing, and something we ought to wake up to.”Singaporeans may be happy with their economic success, but it has come at cost of individual freedom, says Phillip Heyaretnam, a leading Singapore writer. Singaporeans constantly live “in fear,” Jeyaretnam says. “In fear of being thought different, of their neighbors, of those in power, the accumulation of goods is both a bribe for political conformity and the only approved outlet for personal expression.”But Singapore’s leaders stand resolutely against Western-style individualism. They see a direct link between it and America’s social problems. “As a total-system, I find parts of the U.S. totally unacceptable,” says Lee. “Guns, drugs, violent crime – in sum, the breakdown of civil society…[The idea that] everybody would be better off if they were allowed to do their own thing and flourish…has not worn out, and I doubt if it will.“Maybe we are old-fashioned,” Lee says. “Maybe we are reactionary, Singapore works.” ................
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