The newly-elected Environment Minister Masagos Zulkifli told Singaporeans to pick up after themselves and not depend on others in a mass clean-up event held at the Singapore River yesterday (Oct 10).
“Cleanliness must become something Singaporeans do for themselves and by themselves, rather than depend on others to clean up after them. It concerns me there are a lot of cigarette butts and small wrappers, which means we do not take this little bit of effort to throw something very light, to somewhere very near. It’s unfortunate that even when I see trash cans near these places, people would rather throw them exactly where they are. Worst of all, these are not biodegradable, so it remains on the ground almost forever.”
However in his enthusiasm to promote cleanliness behaviour, Minister Masagos did not point out that more than 45% of the population are foreigners and that the rubbish he saw on the street did not specify which nationality responsible. As far as Singaporeans are concerned, public parks are usually occupied by foreigners on weekends as local citizens do not possess the culture of picnicking on grass patches in parks.