Every time you plan a trip to Singapore, rapid-fire parting shots from the been-there-done-that types are inevitable. “Don’t you dare carry chewing gum, man!” (As if you are the only polyisobutylene-addict left on this planet!) “And, for heaven’s sake, don’t forget to flush out your poo in the washroom.” (As though you are the prime suspect for all the leftovers found inside public lavatories back home!) Friendly suggestions fly thick and fast but each advice, howsoever well-intentioned, tends to caution against flouting rules on the island-nation. It almost instils fear in your subconscious, of being slapped with a hefty fine for a minor goof-up, and being mortified by embarrassment on a public Singaporean street. It also makes you wonder if an invisible eye would start snooping on you the moment you set out from Changi airport, tracking all your movements surreptitiously, right up to the loo, to espy if you are that elusive potty-pooper who had come with a hidden agenda to deface their beloved nation.
Many Singaporeans consider impressions like these as part of a sinister propaganda of prejudiced Westerners, yet to come to terms with the remarkable metamorphosis of a tiny island that was once a British colony. Nonetheless, most of them take all insinuations about enforcement of a military-like discipline to ensure cleanliness in the country in their stride with wide grins. Several mementos at curio shops proclaim Singapore to be a ‘fine’ country. The pun, of course, is intentional, in all probability, to rib the nitpickers from outside.
