THE SAGA OF THE CHEWING GUMThe origin of the chewing gum may be traced since prehistoric times when man first chewed on gristle to the days when people chewed home-made spruce resin and beeswax gum. With the discovery that gum could be made from chicle, the elastic sap of the sapodilla tree, which Mayan Indians had been chewing for centuries, chewing gum quickly became a modern fad. However, there was a downside to this.
The habit of gum chewers of sticking wads of chewed gum on everything leaving a gooey mess in public places became irritating. In Singapore, when gum was found stuck on seats, doors and floors of the Mass Rapid Transit trains on which the state had made heavy investments causing headaches to the managers of public places and cleaners who had to scrape gum off, it was felt that something had to be done. It was compounded by the fact that most ordinary cleansing fluids were just incapable of removing chewing gum and this led to the drastic step of legislation to eliminate the problem.
On 1st December 1995, the Regulation of Imports And Exports (Chewing Gum) Regulations was enacted under the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act Cap. 272A prohibiting the import into Singapore of any chewing gum. Chewing gum is defined under the Regulations to cover any substance usually known as chewing gum, bubble gum, dental chewing gum or any like substance prepared from a gum base of vegetable or synthetic origin and intended for chewing. The penalty for infringement for a first offender is a fine up to $100,000 or to imprisonment up to 2 years or both.
Chewing gum can now only be imported for the purposes of transit to or from Malaysia or for transhipment and the importer for transit to Malaysia has to ensure that any consignment of chewing gum would be escorted to the Woodlands Customs checkpoint under lock and seal. With the recent opening of the second link to Malaysia, the rules for thus securing consignments for transit to Malaysia have since 2nd January 1998 been extended to those passing through the Tuas Customs checkpoint by an amendment to the Regulations.