Asia's Mr. Clean

With more than 2.1 million people crammed into its 73-sq.-mi. residential areas, Singapore is one of the world's most tightly compacted cities. Singapore Harbor, the world's fourth busiest, is jammed with freighters and oil tankers. Jurong Industrial Estate contains 275 plants that turn out everything from ships to toothbrushes. Another 112 factories are planned or under construction. But despite such dire pollution indicators, Singapore is a breath of fresh air in the miasma of Asian cities, some of which are among the dirtiest on earth.

Cleanliness works in Singapore where it fails elsewhere because the government, and especially tough Socialist Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, cracks down on polluters with a vengeance. Strict laws are well understood in a compact city-state where the citizenry has a high literacy rate. But it is the sting of law--hitting Singaporeans in the pocketbook--that has been the most effective antipollution measure.

$ 166 Cigarettes. Smoke-belching vehicles are stopped by policemen who slap drivers with a court summons on the spot. Drivers with noisy exhausts or "musical" horns can be fined up to $333--the equivalent of a year's wages for many laborers--or sentenced to three months in jail. Just tossing a cigarette butt on the street can bring a $166 fine. Now Prime Minister Lee has permanently closed Raffles Place. Singapore's Fifth Avenue, to most vehicular traffic. He is also phasing out vendors' stalls, which will doubtless improve sanitation, but will also deprive the city of one of its most colorful sights. Because firecrackers have been deemed dangerous, the deafening Chinese New Year celebration is now a thing of the past.

Lee has balanced his tough laws and policies with urban-renewal projects and occasional charming touches. Long a city of parks, Singapore now has more greenery than ever. The government has made cut-rate plants available to apartment dwellers, and is providing an aviary and Chinese and Japanese gardens in Jurong. Most of the city's slums and shanty towns have been razed, and a third of Singapore's residents have been moved into low-rent, high-rise apartments. By 1975, half the population will live in new buildings.

Pollution Patrols. Lee is moving just as fast to curb industrial and marine pollution. Jurong's multitudinous factories are being equipped with antismog devices on their smokestacks, and Singapore Harbor is policed by special patrol boats, armed with cameras, that constantly look for polluting ships. Once the evidence is collected, detergents are immediately spread on the water to absorb oil slicks or other pollutants. Offenders are heavily fined.

As a result of this zealous cleanup, Singapore has earned the title of Asia's Mr. Clean. The results can be slightly oppressive; some Singaporeans even long for the excitement of the dirtier old days. Not only have fireworks been banned, but one government official has talked about curbing the blaring of TV and radios, and has even suggested that the noise of mah-jongg, Singapore's favorite game, should be kept as low as possible.

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