The city-state has 30,000 public restrooms and is pushing to make 70 percent of them at least "three-star" clean by 2013. But a survey by the Restroom Association (Singapore) (RAS) found that only some 500 of the island's public toilets overall were up to its standards of working facilities, lack of litter and odor, and the provision of basic amenities such as hand soap and toilet paper.

"We are a first world country and we want a gracious society to reflect that," RAS President Tan Puay Hoon told reporters on Thursday. Under the RAS Happy Toilet Program, toilets are rated from three to five stars. A four-star toilet should have a diaper changing station or urinal for children and a five-star should have eco-friendly features such as water-saving taps.

To call attention to its 3-year blueprint on public restroom and a public awareness program urging users to adopt proper restroom etiquette in the Heartlands area, site of many government-built apartment blocks, the RAS launched LOO@Heartlands - the first coffee shop with a five-star toilet.