Singapore Settee

Hot topic of the moment - RUBBISH!! Lots of it

A lot has been said on this subject by many and I concur with those that said Singapore is still a very dirty place. The only reason it looks clean is due to the many paid cleaners sweeping and picking up the litter everywhere. This has been going on for many years and now, it has worsened.

I do not wish to sound racist or condescending but I have seen many "new" residents who have little knowledge of living in a small country like Singapore going about their daily activities without thought to public cleanliness.

In the last decade, many new citizens and permanent residents came from China, India and Malaysia. These nations were developing at a lower rate than Singapore. And to many of their citizens, the lack of public hygiene is not seen as a problem. Hence there is a lack of education on littering among other issues. I have personally seen a number of these residents polluting the parks and also the playgrounds in between the public housing apartments.

It is also true there are many local Singaporeans who does not think about cleanliness and will simply discard their litter everywhere. This is a problem that education will help. But what level of education is required. Singapore has been educating the young for the past many years about the need to keep the place clean. Yet, the abundance of litter everywhere is well known.

In some things, the government is willing to pass a law when everyone is against it telling the population that the law stands as it is good for the nation e.g. the ban on smoking in open spaces like the bus stops and food stalls. Yet, on the subject of littering, the government says they prefer to use education and not legislation.

The people who litter are simply both lazy and disrespectful of others. And many of them do not consider littering is an antisocial behaviour. The antisocial behaviour should be treated as it is. If graffiti is not tolerated well, why are we tolerating litter bugs. If we are willing to throw the books at graffitis then we should do the same for littering.

posted by JHG J Chang @ 12:40 pm