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  Channel NewsAsia 19 Nov 06
Singaporeans need to correct public health habits: DPM Wong
By Wong Siew Ying

Today Online 20 Nov 06
Keeping S'pore clean and green
Jasmine Yin

Straits Times 20 Nov 06
Young guardians groomed to lead green drive
DPM Wong: They can educate peers with creative ideas
By Khushwant Singh

IT WILL take the young to connect with the young - about the environment. And young people are being groomed to develop and lead initiatives towards a cleaner and more hygienic Singapore as they are in the best position to educate their peers and the community.

The Young Environment Guardians (YEG) programme is the brainchild of the Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC) and the National Environment Agency to follow up on the setting up of a similar initiative among older residents last year.

The YEG programme has already recruited 20 students from three secondary schools in the Central Singapore District, and it hopes to bring in 150 more from schools and tertiary institutions in the district.

Said Mayflower Secondary School student and YEG pioneer Nithia Veeramani, 15: 'I hope to organise small exhibitions at litter-prone areas in my neighbourhood.' Schoolmate Crystal Goh Chiat Yi, also 15, added: 'We intend to start blogs to spread the clean and green message.'

Launching the YEG programme at a public health carnival yesterday at Bishan Park II, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said: 'Young people are very concerned about the environment and they can develop very creative ideas to change the mindsets of their peers and the community.'

Mr Wong, who is also Home Affairs Minister, said the Government will not micro-manage because young volunteers might feel that since the authorities know so much, their role was limited.

Mr Zainudin Nordin, Mayor of the Central Singapore District, said that activities in the YEG pipeline include adopting common community areas.

Mayflower Secondary has adopted Bishan Park since 2004, holding regular clean-ups, but the scheme hopes to extend this to hawker centres, playgrounds and void decks, he added.

He said residents stood to benefit from cost savings as fewer cleaners would be needed if all did their part to keep neighbourhoods litter-free.

The carnival attracted about 4,000 visitors, who cheered loudly when Queenstown clinched the Singapore's OK Most Active Constituency award for the most number of activities last year.


Channel NewsAsia 19 Nov 06
Singaporeans need to correct public health habits: DPM Wong
By Wong Siew Ying

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans must clean up their public health habits as society progresses, says Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng.

Launching a new environment programme, Mr Wong says the young must be allowed to come up with innovative projects as well. Attitudes must change and habits like littering, spitting and dirtying toilets have to go or Singapore would lose its shine as a clean and modern city.

"It doesn't give Singapore a good image. Even though your economy may be first rate, if people's behaviour is third rate, we are not keeping up with the image we have created as a clean and green Singapore that has got a modern economy, which emphasises on science and technology, that people are well-educated and knowledgeable," says DPM Wong.

So, the Central Singapore District will start a new programme next year to groom Youth Environmental Guardians. These volunteers will help to run public health road shows and outreach projects for an estate they adopt.

Nithia Veeramani, a student at Mayflower Secondary School, says: "We are planning to do blogging--network blog on the environment, and my school is also planning campaigns and stuff to make our peers aware of the environment."

Goh Chiat Yi, another student at Mayflower Secondary School, says: "Nowadays children are very pampered--everything is relied on the maid. So they think it is ok to throw litter on the floor because the cleaners will pick them up."

The National Environment Agency says the programme will encourage students to be more proactive and put what they have learned into practice. There are over 80 schools in the Central Singapore District.

So far, 20 students from three of them have signed up as Youth Environmental Guardians. The organiser hopes to attract 150 students for the programme and could expand it, if the response is good.

The Community Development Council will tap its S$230,000 Public Health Protection Fund to get residents to play a greater role in the care for the surroundings.

Zainudin Nordin, Mayor, Central Singapore District, says: "They can also see it being translated into financial benefits, because if we have a clean environment, we can employ less workers to clean the environment, and probably the workers can be used for other more important issues."

Central Singapore District also won the Best Community Award for rolling out the most number of public health activities this year. - CNA/so

Today Online 20 Nov 06
Keeping S'pore clean and green
Jasmine Yin

HABITS such as littering, spitting and dirtying loos have to go--or Singapore will lose its shine as a clean city, said Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng.

Launching a new environment programme yesterday, Mr Wong said: "Even though your economy may be first-rate, if the people's behaviour is third-rate, then we are not keeping up with the image that we have created as a clean and green Singapore with a modern economy, that emphasises science and technology (and where the) people are well-educated and knowledgeable."

One way to clean up Singaporeans' act is through the youth. The Central Singapore District, for a start, will rope in 150 young people to serve as guardian angels to the environment.

Called Youth Environmental Guardians, these volunteers will help run public health road shows and outreach projects--such as checking on mosquito breeding sites--for an estate they adopt, said Mr Wong, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

Twenty young people from secondary schools including Mayflower, Pierce and Whitley have already joined the programme. Said 15-year-old Nithia Veeramani from Mayflower Secondary School:

"We have to do our duty to keep our environment clean. If no one comes forward, and everyone says it's another person's duty, then there would be no change (to improve our environment)." She told Today that she plans to keep a blog about keeping the environment clean and green.

Over 4,000 residents turned up at Bishan Park II yesterday for a carnival featuring an exhibition of the district's grassroots efforts to stamp out littering, dengue mosquito breeding and other public health concerns. Due to these efforts, Aedes mosquito breeding in homes dropped from 1,428 habitats last year to 1,196 this year.

The Central Singapore CDC also set up a Public Health Protection Fund last year and allocates $230,000 yearly to the fund.
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