Singapore laws play for keeps tho
1 to 2 years for selling gum. 100 to 500 USD for chewing.
Jaywalking? Fuckin life with no parole.
Not looking both ways before crossing a street? Straight to jail.
Not holding the door for an old lady? Public lashing.
Sounds reasonable.
They’ll chop off your wiener for looking at naked women.
Naah, it’s always women’s fault. Don’t you know that. /s
No, not chewing. POP’n.
He had it com’n. He had it com’n. He only had himself to blame.
I think this is the only comment I’ve ever seen anywhere referencing Chicago. Congratulations! Your prize is the knowledge that my wife and I still occasionally use jazz-hands as code for “that person had it coming.”
Broadway Chicago reference good. Movie Chicago reference… go listen to the Broadway soundtrack and hear how it’s supposed to sound.
Fair enough. I enjoy musical theater, but that one never grabbed me. So the movie’s my only point of reference, and I wasn’t a big fan. Don’t think it deserved to beat out Gosford Park or Fellowship of the Ring for best picture.
Honestly, if the only way you know the music is from the movie, I’m not surprised it didn’t grab you.
Singapore is not the dream. It’s a police state and dictatorship
Do they still publicly flog people and criminalize chewing gum?
Once, there was this kid who
Took a trip to Singapore and brought along his spray paint
And when he finally came back
He had cane marks all over his bottom
He said that it was from when
The warden whacked it soooooo haaaaard
This reads like a Crash Test Dummies song
These are the lyrics to a parody of a Crash Test Dummies song, so I’d hope so.
Well that explains that. Clearly I do not know the parody.
It’s where I got the term “Mr. Happy” from many years ago and still use to this day.
Chewing gum is not illegal, the importation and sale is. You can bring in gum from abroad and chew it. What you do with it afterwards is also important.
Came here to say this. People don’t realize how backwards that place is. Just being gay is illegal as fuck over there. Fuck Singapore.
The law hadn’t been applied decades, male homosexual sex was decriminalised in 2007 and legalised in 2022.
The legal situation before that was inherited from the British Empire, a 1871 law which made all kinds of “sodomy” (oral, anal) illegal for everyone. By now you also have protections against discrimination, hate speech, etc. There’s a gazillion things to criticise about Singapore you don’t need to make shit up. Other things on the list of “don’t criticise about Singapore” include public transit, public housing (though they could ease on the mandatory ethnic mixing a bit), and the food. Oh gods the food.
Dictatorship is also kind of a misnomer… Singapore is one of a kind. Certainly paternalistic as fuck, authoritarian it depends, the PAP is actually listening to people and considers electoral results <70% an issue that must be addressed by fixing shit – and no they don’t mess with the ballot: They mess with media and election timing, as is British tradition.
Two particular things that stand out is the lack of corruption and actual respect for the law, otherwise the whole system would long since have collapsed. That is: All the authoritarianism is actually codified, there’s laws you can read, rights that you have, you’re not going to prison because some big-wig doesn’t like your face or your business idea is interfering with their kleptocracy but because you broke the law, and there’s no easily abused laws like Thailand’s lese-majeste, either. All that is highly untypical for your usual run-off-the-mill dictatorship where favours and loyalty are the only legal currency.
Things to criticise that aren’t caning for littering or insanely hardcore drug laws? Things like the abysmal status of foreign workers. Or, from a more Confucian perspective actually: The failure of the grand daddy PAP to properly see discontent coming, and address them proactively. Lack of connection to younger people who don’t happen to be PAP members.
Thank you! Finally someone speaks out, too. Singapore is a totalitarian capitalist dictatorship and the closest thing we have to a true cyberpunk dystopia. It is a horrible place with clean sidewalks.
Can confirm Singapore is a one-party police state ruled by a political dynasty.
Sure seems like a nice place, and all the welfare people keep it clean
I know it’s almost impossible but I’d be taking the bike out so much more often if I knew I could leave it somewhere and it’d still be there when I got back.
It’s the only reason I don’t own a bike. They get stolen even when locked up in the daytime with a good lock. Bolt cutters are quick.
if you’re not destitute you can pull the dutch gambit: use a shitty rustbucket bike that you give precisely 0 fucks about being stolen
Absolutely this. The only times I take my bike out is when I know I’ll never have to leave it. Which basically excludes using it for transportation purposes, and leaves only cycling just to cycle (which I do still enjoy).
Just too high of a chance for it to get stolen (completely or just parts), or vandalized. It’s not even that great of a bike either.
I have a friend who “solved” this problem by having such a junker of a bike that it didn’t even look like it functioned.
Check if there are any facilities in your area for secure bike storage, my nearby city for example offers free staffed bike parking and a free bus to get around. The inter city train station offers 20/7 keycard access bike parking with changing facilities, but that requires a deposit, proof of address etc.
I usually end up using one of these two facilities when I visit the city because of the rampant bike theft issues there, with the preferred one being the inter city station since it’s open almost all the time
There was even a docked e-bike hire offered by the local govt, which sadly went bankrupt because people were vandalising the e-bikes and destroying the docks ☹️
Same, and mine is not even close to this price range. I heard Japan is like that as well. If you have any semblance of protection, like tying it up with rope, no one will touch it, ever. Must be nice living in civilized world.
Crazy how when you design a society around meeting people’s basic needs, petty theft almost disappears.
I think in big part it’s due to culture.
I wish.
Had several bikes stolen in Norway.
My E-bike gets zero use in the city. Too many thieves.Outside the cities it’s usually not a problem though.
It’s my dream to ever be well enough off to be able to spend 15k on anything, let alone a bike.
People do that all the time in my area. It’s not because it’s “safe”, it’s because they’re stupid. Then they want to join my communities so they can spam it with their stolen bike posts and get help finding them.
Reminds me of my first weeks in Japan…
I took my Kona Private Jake with me (nowhere near that bike, but $2-3k) which I would expect to be gone in an instant in the UK. I kept placed my bike on the balcony of the monthly apartment in Roppongi, which was only on the 2nd floor, and would check it at night as I thought someone would nick it
This shortly progressed to leaving it outside when going to the conbini, etc
I love how you casually slipped in the word “conbini” as if it were English, lol
conbiniens storu
To me, the culture shock would be that there is a bicycle that costs $15K
I’m into mountain biking and it’s fucking criminal what they charge for bike prices these days. A good bike with decent quality components is like $5000-$7000. High end name brand components will bring that up to $9000 easily. Higher end frames and boutique components can bring it into the $11000-$15000 range. It’s fucked lol.
Oh and for an electric bike add $2000-3000 to the price.
Where are you buying this shit? I got a nice KHS like 5 years ago for $700 and it’s not terribly expensive to get a motor, controller, and batteries.
Your notion of “decent” is certainly not the same as 99.99% of the population. Or you live in a very expensive place and have a very specific use of mountain bikes.
Wow I suddenly feel privileged to have had a bicycle growing up.
EDIT oh actually even then it looks like they’re relatively affordable. This was the hot brand for cool kids when I was growing up
Is that a hardwood sidewalk??
I thought the title was an exaggeration but nope
Can do too, Germany, the nicer part of the city here. Left my car with open windows in the summer, with my stuff in it, over night, nothing. Wouldn’t do it in the northern city though. My seats would’ve been gone.
I’ll raise that by the time I left my car window open for 4 days in a semi big German town. After police couldn’t get ahold of me, a neighbour covered it himself with plastic so the inside wouldn’t get wet.
Reminds me of when my friend moved to Las Vegas, the shitty side of town, not the strip. And on the first day he had every wheel stolen off of his car when he stepped in a store for a couple of minutes.
Is your friend Clark W. Griswold?
No lol, did the same thing happen to him
Ah yes, people commenting how much Singapore is a facist/police state. Can’t have nice thing, eh?
When i went to Singapore people told me how bad it is and you’re not even allowed to throw trash on the street and might get to jail for spitting your chewing gum on the street. Sooooo, you’re saying I’m perfectly fine in that nice city then?
If your motivation of traveling is to litter, than it’s best that you fuck off and stay home.
The point is not that they want to litter. The point is that they’re not Singaporean lawyers and they could very well break some random law unintentionally and then be shoved into a prison cell for years.
It’s really quite obvious if you actually think about it.
If they want to make a point, then they better use a better example. If littering law is all they know, then they’re not gonna make a good point.
I think it’s a great example
You really don’t.
I mean your examples are trashy things to do in the first place. If you’re traveling to other countries and your main fear is “am I allowed to litter here” then it’s best you stay home.
Singapore has a lot of intense laws, and they enforce everything fairly strictly. That being said, almost every country has littering laws, just because they’re not enforced doesn’t mean you should litter.
Speaking of not having a nice thing…
Possession or consumption [of cannabis] can result in a maximum of 10 years in prison, with a possible fine of $20,000, as well as caning, under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Trafficking, import or export of more than 500 grams may result in the death penalty.
As we say her in the USA, let the punishment fit the crime. There’s a Star Trek episode where Wesley gets sentenced to death for walking on the grass or something like that… Singapore is basically that.
genuinely curious here: are you saying that we should just ignore that part because people can leave expensive bikes unattended?
What part am I ignoring here, exactly?
that singapore is a police state
This needed a trigger warning, I’m having heart palpitations 😵💫
It might have a tracker.
You have to be very brave to keep your 15k bike with an airtag only
Where you wanna go after stealing it?
In Singapore?
Not in Singapore, but I see a lot of people in my area doing this. I’ve always wondered how the unafraid part works when the bike is obviously over $5k.
Unfortunately wouldn’t deter anyone where I live… addicts will flip that for $20 within an hour, and go get their drug fix, before the owner even has a chance to catch the thief
Even worse are the organized criminals driving around in SUVs looking for high end bicycles, a good few videos of them all over xitter sadly, brazen enough to follow people home and rob them in their driveway
What country is this, so that I never travel there?
The first paragraph is just about every city in Canada right now. Can’t even mow our front lawn with the garage open because they run into your garage and snatch it before you can run after them. Although I haven’t heard of quite the extremes of the second paragraph here yet.
Probably most major western cities
Yet people complain when Singapore has death penalty for drugs 🤔
Death penalty for drugs, chewing gum is illegal, porn is illegal, mandatory national service if you’re a (male) citizen… If you keep looking it looks less and less like a good trade.
Yeah because that’s horrific? What point are you making?
Death penalty for anything is abhorrent
Gee almost like there’s a stage between streets filled with addicts and murdering people.
Y’know like decriminalising and rehabilitation.
But I guess valuing life is hard for some people.
I’m more wondering why someone would spend that much on a damn bike. I bought my car for 15k of course that was in 2010 but I’m still driving it to this day. Toyota Corolla before anyone asks.
Edit: I just realized this was posted under fuck cars and now I feel like a dick comparing it to the price of my car. It wasn’t intentional but still holy shit that’s still a stupid amount of money to spend on a bike. Like how can you even justify that price? It has to be a completely insane amount of markup.
Probably a status symbol to some extent. And some people are so rich they will spend a lot more for very slight, incremental improvements. For them, the difference between $5k and $15k might be more like $5 and $15 for an average person.
Because they can afford it and want to have top end carbon, dura-ace, etc.
Do you need it ? No! Does it feel good to ride? Hell yeah!
He admits he has a car, get him fellas!
now I feel like a dick comparing it to the price of my car
I don’t think its an unfair comparison. There’s simply nothing that you can do to a bicycle that will make it more complex or difficult to manufacture than the most bare bones automobile. So it is a bit crazy that folks can charge $15k for a fancy frame and tire set, when an extra ton of precision engineered material costs the same.
At some level, it just feels like gouging. A good bicycle should be the sort of thing anyone can afford, not a luxury good reserved for wealthy hobbyists.
Almost certainly competition / training. A bike like this is your exercise, leisure, hobby, your source of competitive spirit, your hobby, and of course its your baby who you love and keep tuned up. A 15k car is a great value, a workhorse. Is it your baby? Maybe it is if you’re still driving it.
Definitely not my baby. Just a cheap reliable source or transportation in a city that you have to own a car to get anywhere. Paints chipping off and it has rust but still gets me to work everyday so I don’t care. I’m a tightwad so spending like this will never make any since to me. I’m just not a person that wants many material things.
There’s nothing can legit do to a bike to make it be worth 15. Grand except put a motor on it
These bikes are at the same level as what is being used at professional levels. You can always get a cheaper bike if that’s not what you are into, but it’s like looking at an f1 car and saying it’s overkill for the road, well no shit, it’s made for the extreme end of the sport. Calling these bikes crazy is like conflating the price of an f1 car to the price of a civic.
I once asked a friend of mine why he spends £90 on fancy branded T-shirts and a £1500 watch.
He said it was so he didn’t have to walk down the street and see somebody else wearing one.
So it’s mostly that. It’s not $15k of bike. It’s $15k of wanting to have something nice other bike people will see and think “that’s a nice bike”.
Entry level racing bikes are about $3-5k these days. That’s a top end Pinarello with custom paint. It might be $15k, but it’s probably closer to $10-$12k with those wheels.
I’m the guy who puts my $8k mountain bike on the back of my 20 year old shitbox Honda when I drive to the trails
Not a biker, but it makes complete sense to me. Car = transport, bike = great pleasure.
and also, 15k would be like the cost of a drivers license there.
I don’t know the actual numbers, but it is wicked costly to even get the privilege to drive there, let alone get a car.
Singapore has some of the best mass transit in the world. It rivals Japan and Spain in quality. And in a city as dense as it is, it kinda has to be or the metro area simply couldn’t function. If everyone in Singapore needed to own a car to get around, the city would be in permanent gridlock 24/7.
I think most people forget when you get these bikes it’s like buying an f1 car in motorsports. That 15k bike is probably nearly identical to what the pros are running, like maybe they use a different hand grip or seat but for the most part that’s a completely custom chasis, redesigned from the previous year and up to spec to compete in a professional capacity right off the bat.
It’s one of “the rules” that bikes on top of your car should cost more than the car itself.
Someone who spends 10k+ on a bike is probably fit as fuck, so biking 10s of miles to get somewhere is nothing, plus you can take it on the train. New bottom bracket every couple years, maybe 200 in tyres, maybe 100 in brake parts. Cost of getting around, it only takes a few years to pay for itself even at those prices when you add on the actual costs of running a car, saying all this as someone who drives. If you don’t need to move a bunch of stuff or other people around, in terms of transport cost even an expensive bike is cheap of you use it.
The secret ingredient is surveillance.
That’s why there aren’t any thieves in London. With surveillance you can live the best of lifes, free and save. /s
We have that over here too
