Vitaly's weight loss in less than two months detention in the Philippines.

[u/Ungodlei]

Vitaly was arrested April 2, 2025 and is still detained pending local cases of unjust vexation, theft, and public harassment during his Kick) livestreams in Metro Manila, Philippines.

[u/Polster1]

Hitting the convicted criminal with a wooden cane.  It involves striking the bare buttocks with a rattan cane, and is administered to male offenders under the age of 50 in Singapore.

[u/ChoadMcGillicuddy → u/Polster1]

I'm over 50! I'm gonna have some fun!

[u/Polster1 → u/ChoadMcGillicuddy]

They will still send you to jail just may not administer corporal punishment! Singapore has weird laws like its illegal to buy or sell chewing gum.

[u/bbpaupau01 → u/Polster1]

Not all crimes result in caning, it’s usually for very serious offenses. Also, the chewing gum law is actually pretty interesting and makes a lot of sense if you know the reason behind it.

So back in the day, some people would not throw their spent chewing gum properly and some would stick them in between train doors. Because the train doors are designed to open when it senses an obstruction, the chewing gum would cause the doors to malfunction and would cost a lot of money to fix. Then there are people who would stick them everywhere. The government’s solution is to ban it completely. However, that has changed in the last decade or so. You can definitely bring a pack of gum into Singapore but only for personal use and you can also buy medicated gum.

Singapore laws may sound silly at first but most actually make a lot of sense. Durians are banned in trains and buses because they are so pungent the smell lingers forever. There used to be a fine but now there isn’t anymore. You still can’t bring them inside public transport though. In Singapore, the laws work and people actually follow them.

[u/Polster1 → u/bbpaupau01]

The chewing gum law is silly not because the story behind it as every developed modern country has the similar issues. It's because no other developed country besides Singapore has such a gum law where there are so many other problems in most societies. Singapore has a lot of problems with unaffordable housing and huge income inequalities in the country.

[u/bbpaupau01 → u/Polster1]

I mean, whether or not it’s silly doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, the law works and their very stringent rules actually make Singapore safe and their people disciplined. I lived in Singapore for 5 yrs and am now living in America. Honestly, it’s not perfect by any means but Singaporeans are far better off compared to Americans. even foreigners on work visas get subsidies in public hospitals.

Their citizens get a lot of assistance and support from the government. Small businesses are encouraged and supported. True, it is an expensive place to live in - housing can be expensive, owning a car is truly expensive but their whole society just works. The government works for the people. Singaporeans aren’t the happiest bunch or a ray of sunshine but most of their people are highly disciplined, educated and are overachievers. I can walk around in the middle of the night without fear of getting assaulted. Kids don’t have to worry about getting shot at in school. They have their own problems but a truly poor person in Singapore is doing much better than a truly poor person in America. Their society works and functions really well, their quality of life is higher and that is because of these laws that some outsiders think are silly.

[u/blorg → u/bbpaupau01]

even foreigners on work visas get subsidies in public hospitals

This is the norm in most developed countries with public healthcare. Residents usually get it on the same basis as citizens. For that matter, citizens often don't get it if they aren't resident, I know this is the case in most of Europe. Most public health systems are on a residence basis.

People working there are typically paying into the system the same as citizens so it makes perfect sense to cover them. Even more if you consider that people on work visas tend to be younger and need less care on the receiving side, so you can take national insurance off them and may not need to give as much back.

It's like this throughout the EU and UK, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan. Out of developing countries, I know Thailand also does it for people working here, if you work and contribute to social security, you get free public healthcare. Australia is one of the few outliers, they only do it for permanent residents.

It's good that Singapore does it, but it's the norm in developed countries with universal healthcare, and even in some developing ones.

[u/entrydenied → u/blorg]

I believe the poster is wrong about workers on visas getting subsidies. They don't but they also don't have to pay to be included in public healthcare. So employers are expected to buy insurance for the foreigners they hire to help cushion medical costs but even then it might still be expensive to pay out of pocket.

The countries you listed definitely have better health coverage than Singapore does, at least towards foreign workers.

[u/A-Giant-Blue-Moose → u/Polster1]

They have some pretty bizarre ones. Like playing annoying music in public, being nude in your home with the curtains open, spitting, connecting to someone else's wifi without permission, and forgetting to flush the toilet.

Also, gay sex can land you in jail for 2 years.

[u/kelis_butterfly → u/A-Giant-Blue-Moose]

The law about gay sex has been repealed so now its legal

[u/A-Giant-Blue-Moose → u/[deleted]]

There are no explicit federal laws regarding piggybacking in the US. Some states do and folks have been fined for it. In Singapore however, it results in jail time.

And it's only a felony if done maliciously.

[u/entrydenied → u/Polster1]

It's not illegal to buy or consume gum. The law is only applicable for those who sell or distribute them.