There are many cultures, countries, regions, religions and more that put cleanliness as a priority. For example in Muslim religion, there is a saying that goes ‘cleanliness comes from holiness ‘, and this proverb is quite obvious how in Muslim culture, hygiene is important.

There is  one specific country that is famous for its ‘ policies ‘ on hygiene and cleanliness, that is found extravagant by many. That country is Singapore.

‘’Personal and environmental hygiene has become an even more serious issue in an already cleanliness-conscious Singapore. The country, long-known for its tough penalties on littering, chewing gum and spitting in public, is now getting tougher on public toilet contractors and food stall owners.‘’

Singapore puts drastic measures to people that don’t obey the cleanliness ‘ laws ‘ with high penalties, that includes enormous fees to pay for.

‘’Receptacles around street-stalls, meanwhile, require cleaning every 30 minutes during peak hours. With an estimated 40,000 public toilets in the city, that is a lot of work, and 10,000 cleaners are employed in the city each day.‘’

Cleaning is a major business for Singapore people, with the conductors, cleaners and administrators. And yes, Singapore is clean, but is it clean all around?

A forum post I came up about the topic.

‘’My impression of Singapore, it IS very clean! It's really impressive, I must say, I really like it. But apparently, it's only because they are afraid of the fines. Apparently, when they are outside the reach of Singapore's hand of law (like when they are visiting neighboring countries), Singaporeans would happily litter around. I don't really know, though. I just hear rumors about it  ‘’

Is it really a culture in Singapore to be clean, or is it only fait accomply?

I ll write more about it.

References:

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2005/09/24/singapore039s-cleanliness-obsession.html

http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=196060