A French teenager faces the prospect of spending two years in a Singaporean jail for licking a straw from a juice vending machine and placing it back in the dispenser. The 18-year-old business school student has been charged with public nuisance and mischief. Singapore’s strict public order laws have been both appreciated and ridiculed in equal measure. One of the most discussed among them is the ban on the import and sale of chewing gum. When a reporter suggested to Lee Kuan Yew that such rules could stifle creativity, the city-state’s first prime minister famously responded, “If you can’t think because you can’t chew, try a banana.” Before ratcheting up punishments, India’s drive for public hygiene and order must start in schools, where children should be taught to clean up after themselves.
