There was an interesting article today in the Straits Times about the scourge of littering in Singapore, and how years and years of effort by the Government to address this problem have failed. It followed another article which appeared during the week which quoted Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. MM was asked in a public forum by a questioner when Singapore would develop an environmental consciousness and evolve into a "gracious society". MM's frank answer was that while he expected we'd see increasing environmental concerns, he didn't expect to see a gracious society "in his lifetime".
For some reason he then gave the example of Britain and how graciousness had emerged there over centuries ... why he chose the UK is beyond me, surely Australia would have been a better example? ;-)
In any case, the littering culture in Singapore is one of my concerns about this otherwise wonderful country. This may surprise people elsewhere - Singapore has a global reputation as a spotless spot! And to a degree this perception has a basis in truth; if you wander down Orchard Road, or drive along the major highways from the airport to the city, litter is about as common as a violent riot of discontented citizens.
However since I moved out to what counts as 'surburbia' in Singapore, I've seen another side. I live very close to a major road which is famous for bak kut teh (or pork rib soup) and so is lively 24 hours a day. As a result, we get a lot of visitors to our street. These visitors have absolutely no concern dumping whatever rubbish in their car onto the roadside, despite the presence of bins in front of each house. The worse offenders (confirmed by the Straits Times today) are young men who smoke, who spend their time polluting the air and similarly seem to have no compunction polluting the streets with their butts.
The Straits Times advocates the usual solutions - more government inspectors and higher fines for litterers. This is often the knee jerk reaction by governments and media everywhere to any problem of public disobedience. Indeed Singapore has had some (numerical) success with such approaches - according to the numbers, fines dispensed for littering went from 3800 in 2005 to 21200 last year. However, the littering remains as prevalent. Some of the proposed solutions went even further - like blacklisting litterers from government jobs and big brother style omnipresent CCTV to catch litterbugs!
I think policymakers need to think a little differently about this. I believe the problem is that people subject to a high degree of control will rebel as soon as they sense an opportunity where they won't be caught. Singapore can't rely on the government to solve this problem - the citizens themselves need to solve it - and here is where MM's gracious society comes in. Singapore hasn't developed a culture of graciousness because often the government hasn't given society the space it needs to set its own self-managing boundaries and norms of behaviours.
Admittedly, I can't be 100% sure what MM meant in his mind by the term "gracious society": the term could refer to a nation which is not belligerent and plays a responsible role in the world; or, it could mean a country in which the people are considerate and in a hundred little ways each day interact in ways which show respect to one another. I've taken the latter rather than the former for this post. I don't think this means a gracious society is all about eliminating littering but I'll say its a small part of it.
It can't be socially acceptable to litter. Citizens need to admonish one another for not respecting the environment. In other countries, I've seen irate drivers honk horns and harass smokers who dump butts, but never here. Girlfriends should not stand for litterbug boyfriends. Mothers need to set the example for children. A big part of the issue is that many Singaporeans lead "maid-assisted lives" - most grow up in households with domestic help from neighbouring countries and so aren't taught from a young age to clean up after themselves. Armies of cleaners scour the areas in the city to keep them spotless for tourists.
Time for some safe-fail interventions into society to seed new habits - less reliance please on a control-based approach of government programmes, fines and inspectors. Singapore needs to accelerate its emergence of graciousness, as it has so successfully accelerated its economic development!
Comments (3)
Steve I'm with you on being bemused by the Minister Mentor's citing of the UK as a 'gracious society' ... perhaps it's been a while since he visited Britain or perhaps when he does he now travels graciously.
Just one small example: I spent christmas in Majorca with friends who have recently emigrated there and returned to find a lump of concrete had been thrown through our bathroom window. This in Bath, a world heritage city to which many would point as representing the epitome of English gracious living.
There are many things I appreciate about the UK but, writing from cold grey England as I am now, I have to say that I can't wait to bring my family out to Singapore for a few months later this year if our business there continues to build.
Posted by Hugh Mason | January 20, 2008 4:07 PM
Posted on January 20, 2008 16:07
Thanks Hugh. I'll take cigarette butts outside over a brick through the window any day!
MM did qualify his example of the UK by saying that the British were "sitting at a very high level over an empire for nearly 150 years before they developed their culture and then being invaded by football hooligans and foreigners who are now joining them and coarsening their society." So I suppose that means that while he no longer finds the UK as gracious as it once was, he couldn't think of any other more current examples.
I also disagree that 'foreigners' are to blame (although the issue of disengagement and anti-social behaviour in the UK is complex, with many contributing factors). I thought this was an interesting addition from him, given that he is betting his country's future on attracting more foreigners like you and me to supplement the talent already in abundance in Singapore ...
Cheers
Posted by Steve Bealing | January 21, 2008 8:19 AM
Posted on January 21, 2008 08:19
Steve
There is a historic argument that the UK has always been fairly 'yobbish' in its nature, empire or no empire. However, at the risk of sounding like my father, I personally feel that people are far less polite in the UK than they used to be.
Stuart
Posted by stuart | February 10, 2008 10:37 PM
Posted on February 10, 2008 22:37