From: nebusj-@-rpi-.edu   
      
           Actually, chewing gum isn't illegal in Singapore.  *Selling*   
   it (except for sugar-free gums sold as dental care) is illegal, but   
   individuals are perfectly free to bring in reasonable amounts for   
   their own consumption.  And it's quite easy to take a bus, train, or   
   taxi into Malaysia or a ferry into Indonesia and buy what you like   
   as far as chewing gum is concerned.   
      
      
           Also, that guy who was caned for graffiti managed to   
   vandalize the chief justice of the Singaporean Supreme Court's car.   
   You're not going to get away with a light sentence when you pull a   
   stunt *that* boneheaded.   
      
      
           And for the record, Singapore has got a formally respectable   
   Westminster-style parliament with pentennial elections.  It's just got   
   a ruling party so dominant --- it received 82 of the 84 seats in the   
   last two elections, and didn't do much worse before that --- that the   
   government's actually instituted 'non-constituency' MPs, chosen to be   
   *not* from the overwhelmingly ruling party so there's some room for   
   different viewpoints.  That's not to say they have a really functional   
   opposition party (or parties), but the ruling party is going in with   
   60 years of pretty steady economic growth, stability, responsiveness,   
   efficient and expanding social services, and notably honest government,   
   so it's hard to say what the opposition could do better.   
      
           Still, the opposition parties are hoping to actually run   
   candidates in all the voting districts for the upcoming elections,   
   which is better than they did the last two times.   
      
   --   
                                                                   Joseph Nebus   
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)