I didn’t make up the “Disneyland with a death penalty” line. It’s a direct quote from a local resident.
Check out the crazy high fines imposed for things Americans wouldn’t think twice about doing on a subway: $500 for eating or drinking, $1000 for smoking, and $5000 for having flammable goods. (I know that last item on the sign looks like it prohibits hand grenades, but it actually bans a kind of local fruit.)
What? No fines for masturbating or stabbing someone with a knife? What kind of subway system are they running here?
Fact is, there is virtually no crime in Singapore. Want to know why? Because there are only four punishments meted out here: Steep fines, long prison terms, caning, or the death penalty. At least that’s what one local resident told me.
Remember Michael Fay? He was the 17-year old American kid who was found guilty of vandalism and theft in Singapore ten or so years ago. Soft-hearted Americans complained that he shouldn’t be caned, but the Singapore government basically said, “Our country, our rules” and caned the living bejesus out of the kid.
Jamie and I have always abided by that theory when we travel. Last thing I wanted to do was end up in a Russian gulag or Chinese labor camp or on the sharp end of a cane in Singapore.
Or even worse, paying $500 for eating a Snickers on the subway. You know what a cheapskate I am.
Now we know why Singapore is also one of the cleanest cities in the world. Except, of course, the air.