‘Be prepared to be a busybody to keep environment clean’
SINGAPOREANS must be prepared to be busybodies and check the behaviour of those who make the surroundings less pleasant for everyone, Mr S. Dhanabalan said last night.
Speaking at the opening of a residents’ committee centre for Kim Keat East, the National Development Minister noted that a small minority of uncaring people was enough to make housing estates unpleasant by urinating In lifts, littering or leaving old furniture and clothes on the landings.
"When such things happen, It Is Important that the majority — who behave themselves, who care for the environment — should be prepared to check the minority."
Grassroots leaders should be prepared to stick their necks out to ensure that everyone did his part to keep the place pleasant, he said. And residents should support them, he added.
"But unfortunately, we Asians think that if we tell our neighbours not to do something, then we are being busybodies — some people will say, he is kaypoh. But it Is Important that the majority, together with the community leaders, do interfere when people do not do the things that keep the environment healthy and pleasant," he said.
In this respect, Asians could learn from Westerners: "They are prepared to say things to others, strangers or neighbours, which may be unpleasant, In order to check them," he said.
The new RC centre Is In Block 258, Kim Keat Avenue, In Mr Dhanabalan’s Toa Payoh GRC.
Speaking to reporters later, he also said that it was important that grassroots organisations had a mix of people so that they could communicate well with residents of all races and classes.
Source : The Straits Times,7th October 1991
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