n notoriously spotless Singapore, where dropping a piece of gum on the street can land you a $250 fine, graffiti is as rare as a gum wrapper blowing in the wind. The government regards litter, excessive noise, personal slovenliness, and the like as serious violations of civic code. In 1994, American teenager Michael Fay earned a welt-raising -- and controversial -- public caning for spray painting several parked cars. Many Singaporeans accept these restrictions, and the penalties imposed for violating them (severe by Western standards), as the price they pay for public order. But can social harmony coexist with street art? Yes -- at least in cyberspace. On Jek Kian-Jin's Web page, artists "paint" by tapping on keyboards, tagging digital "walls" and tweaking modern life without the risks that such a display on the street would trigger. "It's a way to allow people to have their say and get away with it -- and, in the process, make it an art form," says Kian-Jin, himself a graffiti artist. Called CyberBOG, after the British slang for "toilet," the page attracts up to 1,500 artists a week; Kian-Jin "cleans the walls" of his Web page twice a week to make room for new art. The irony of a Singapore-based cybersite becoming an international haven for graffiti is not lost on Kian-Jin. "We did it to tell the world, 'Hey, we're not as strict or strait-laced as people think,' " he says. "Even though we may have severe civic penalties for things such as graffiti, we still have a sense of humor."
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