SINGAPORE, 12 October 2003 — In a country where Cosmopolitan magazine was banned as too racy, a trio of comely young ladies, thong bikinis peeking above their hip-huggers, climbed onto a bar top one recent weeknight and began to shimmy and shake as the deejay spun. A young man, lured to the varnished bar top by the waitress-dancers, whipped off his shirt and joined the fun.
Singapore is loosening up. A little.
In this notoriously strait-laced country, a lusciously green, crime-free and litter-free island where spitting chewing gum on the sidewalk can draw a $500 fine, bar-top dancing became legal in August. Last month, censorship rules were relaxed, and now Cosmo can be sold and the American television show “Sex and the City’’ can play on cable TV. Beginning this week, bars in some neighborhoods will be able to stay open 24 hours.
The moves were announced by the police and by the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts.
But Playboy is still banned, strip clubs are illegal and the government, wary of social discord among the population of 3.2 million ethnic Chinese, Malays and Indians, continues to censor movies, plays and public commentary addressing issues of race, religion and politics.
In the 38 years since it became an independent republic, Singapore leapfrogged from Third World poverty to great prosperity. But former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who led the city-state for most of its history, also tried to shape social behavior with strict laws and a series of social campaigns.
The result, say many Singaporeans, has been a limiting of free expression.
“If you ask me whether this is the kind of Singapore that Lee Kuan Yew and the first generation envisioned, the answer is no,’’ said Kevin Tan, a constitutional law expert. “What they clearly wanted is a less rambunctious society, ordered and controlled, but I don’t think they wanted one that was totally bereft of imagination, gumption and flair.’’
As Singapore struggles to emerge from the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s, the government is trying to foster an image of a more relaxed place, with a climate conducive to attracting creative minds.
“Even as we strive to become a more creative and entrepreneurial society, we still have to safeguard core community values,’’ said Lee Boon Yang, minister for information, communication and the arts, at a news conference last month when announcing the easing of censorship rules. “We have to work out a balance for ourselves based on the fact that we are a multiracial, multireligious and multicultural society.’’
The ministry made changes — the first in a decade — after a 17-month study by a censorship review committee. For example, it now allows people who are at least 18 to see some movies previously restricted to those 21 and over. But it dashed other proposals, including one from an artists’ group to designate areas where plays and movies could be shown regardless of content.
Artists say the government is handicapping society. “Singapore won’t advance as fast as we should in an intellectual and cultural sense,’’ said Low Kee Hong, associate artistic director at TheaterWorks, a stage company. “In the last five or six years, there’s been a lot of talk about a Singapore renaissance. But it’s very difficult for Singapore to go through this radical change because people are still very conservative.’’
The government says that Singaporeans are not ready for more freedom. The censorship review panel conducted a survey that found that 70 percent of respondents were satisfied with current censorship standards. “We are moving in tandem with what society wants,’’ said one government official.
