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  Straits Times Forum Online 22 Nov 05
Clean and Green campaign?
Nobody bothered to clean up after tree-planting exercise
 Letter from Tham Yunbing (Miss)

Before we start to pat ourselves on the back for a successful Clean and Green Campaign, there are two major flaws which need rectification before it can be totally successful.

1. I understand the desire to build infrastructures around our reservoirs and parks to promote a sense of ownership through participation. Yet, the most important issue of maintenance has been left out of the campaign.

While we put up exhibitions in parks to drive home the awareness of green issues, how consistent is the message when vehicles are driven and parked on green patches of land creating a dirty mess of bare soil in Bedok Reservoir?

Are we to say that it is permissible to use our parks in such a manner because we can always replant the grass after the damage has been done?

Will this attitude be reflected too in our efforts to conserve our nature areas when even Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has spoken of the need to have sustainable development?

2. I participated in the tree-planting exercise in Bedok Reservoir on November 12. I was horrified that nobody bothered to clear the rubbish after the exercise was completed. Plastic bags and spades were left in the open after the task was done. When I asked a NParks officer about it, his reply was 'Oh, there will be vehicles and workers to clear the rubbish.'

Aren't we supposed to clear our own rubbish? A real sense of ownership of our green areas does not come through building the amenities. It comes through pride and the effort to maintain such green spaces. I implore the organisers to think seriously about the totality of the message of the Clean and Green Campaign to drive home its importance through consistency in action.

If there is a need to bring the exhibitions to the parks, why not hold them on the pathways to minimise the damage to the green areas?

Instead of relying on others to clear our own mess, why not provide rubbish bags and bins to people so that they can participate fully in such a meaningful exercise?

While I understand the need for efficiency in the organisation of such events, it is ridiculous that while we are exhorted to take pride in our green areas through such exercises, the message to the people is: 'It's okay to plant trees. It's okay to litter and deface our green areas because there will always be others to make good the damage.'

I question the motivation of such a campaign when there is no consistency in the message driven to ordinary Singaporeans to keep our parks clean and green. Leadership and education start with examples of exemplary action from the organisers, who sadly were not present at the event. I hope this can be reflected in the next campaign.

I suggest the theme for the next Clean and Green Campaign should be 'Maintenance and take pride in what we have now'.

Tham Yunbing (Miss)
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