Singapore will now permit bungee jumping. Also, people can dance on the bar in saloons allowed to stay open 24 hours. And theater performances can use explicit language. "In fact, so changed is our mind-set that we will even allow reverse bungee," Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said Saturday, in launching a "Remake Singapore" program designed to shake up the dull image of this famously uptight city-state.  Or at least try.
While being catapulted into the sky at the end of a giant rubber band is now allowed, jaywalking at bus stations is forbidden. So Singapore's government remains in strict control, even in its efforts to loosen up and market itself as a media and arts center. Among the committee's more than 100 proposals to remodel society is an "Audience Development Fund" to "educate" citizens about art and encourage flea markets with no government permit. Earlier, the prime minister also said his administration would begin employing openly gay people, a surprising development in Singapore, where homosexuality is thought to violate conservative Asian social norms. "Not every room needs to be furnished to the same taste," Goh said. "Some may like their room to have cool colors, while others may prefer to decorate it with pinups." Permitting bar-top dancing - once a legal offense - also was announced, along with the longer bar hours. "If we want our people to make more decisions for themselves, and if we are to encourage a derring-do society, we must allow some risk taking and a little excitement," Goh said. Singaporeans enjoy one of Asia's highest standards of living under some of the world's strictest laws. The government regularly fines people for spitting and not flushing public toilets and only recently allowed the sale of chewing gum. Critics have long argued that there is not enough room for dissent and that the pace of liberalization in this Southeast Asian island republic of 4 million is glacially slow. The government censors movies and television shows it considers too racy, such as the HBO series "Six Feet Under," deemed too explicit and out of line with Singaporean society. Cosmopolitan magazine and HBO's "Sex and the City " are banned. (Agencies)
| 新加坡近日將允許開放蹦極運動。同時，人們也可以在獲準24小時營業(yè)的酒館吧臺上跳舞。劇院里的演出還允許使用露骨的語言。 "實際上，我們的觀念有很大轉(zhuǎn)變，我們甚至將允許開放彈射式蹦極。"新加坡總理吳作棟在星期六啟動"重塑新加坡"計劃時這樣說。該計劃的目的是徹底改變這個城邦之國以保守而著稱的乏味形象。 或者至少嘗試去改變。 把人拴在巨大的橡皮帶的一端，一下子射到天上的蹦極運動雖然已經(jīng)得到批準，但是市民在公共汽車站嚴禁違反交通規(guī)則。 所以即使新加坡政府努力放寬限制，推銷自己是一個媒體和藝術(shù)中心，它仍然保留嚴格的控制措施。 在委員會的100多個重塑新加坡的提案中，有一項是"觀眾發(fā)展基金"。該提案旨在培養(yǎng)國民的藝術(shù)素質(zhì)，并鼓勵發(fā)展無需政府許可證的跳蚤市場。 早些時候，新加坡總理還表示，他這一屆政府將公開聘用同性戀者。這是一個令人吃驚的變化，在新加坡，同性戀被認為是有悖于保守的亞洲社會準則的。 "不是每個房間都要裝飾成同一種風格，"吳說，"有些人可能喜歡把房間布置成冷色調(diào)，而有些人則喜歡用偶像照片來裝飾房間。" 早些時候政府宣布允許在吧臺上跳舞，而這曾經(jīng)是違法的, 同時還允許酒吧延長營業(yè)時間。 "如果我們想讓人們?yōu)樽约鹤龈嗟臎Q定，如果我們要鼓勵成為一個敢做敢為的社會，我們就必須允許人們做一些冒險和帶點兒刺激的事情。"吳說。 新加坡是亞洲生活水平最高的地區(qū)之一，他們的有些法律也是世界上最嚴格的。政府常常對隨地吐痰和不沖公廁的人罰款，就連口香糖也是最近才被允許出售。 批評家長期以來一直認為反對意見沒有足夠的空間，這個有著400萬人口的東南亞共和島國的自由化進程極其緩慢。 政府對那些它認為粗俗的電影和電視節(jié)目進行檢查，例如HBO播放的連續(xù)劇《六英尺之下》，被認為過于直白露骨，不適合新加坡社會。 《時尚COSMO》雜志和HBO播出的《欲望城市》則被禁止發(fā)行。
（中國日報網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2003-07-18 01:00
