HIGH-RISE LITTERING

HIGH-RISE LITTERING:

(Measures to tackle problem): 11.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether his Ministry will come up with more effective inter-agency measures to tackle the problem of high-rise littering in HDB estates; (b) whether there is the need to step up surveillance measures to identify serial high-rise litterbugs; and (c) how many serial high-rise litterbugs have been taken to task in the last three years.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for National Development (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman) (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, Sir, HDB works closely with NEA and the town councils (TCs) to tackle the problem of high-rise littering in HDB estates on two fronts.

First, education. Last year, with the help of agencies such as NEA, SPF (the Singapore Police Force) and the Community Mediation Centre, HDB compiled a handbook on the "do's" and "don't's" of HDB living for all households. The handbook aims to remind residents against anti-social behaviour such as littering and disturbance to others. Recently, HDB and the TCs also embarked on a public education exercise against killer litter. This is in addition to NEA's ongoing effort to raise public awareness about the importance of keeping the living environment in HDB estates clean and litter-free.

Second, enforcement. To minimise the incidence of high-rise littering, NEA and TCs conduct joint surveillance operations

Column: 1872

to catch high-rise litterbugs. In the past three years, NEA has taken 14 cases of high-rise littering to task through fines and/or corrective work orders. HDB has also served warning letters to 12 residents for the throwing of killer litter. Where warranted, HDB will undertake compulsory acquisition of a flat if a resident is convicted under the Penal Code for killer litter offences.

The high-rise littering incident in Sengkang last month resulting in a serious injury is a reminder to us that such irresponsible behaviour can have grave consequences. It is simply not possible for agencies to have 'eyes on the ground' round the clock. To combat high-rise littering effectively, it is critical that residents play an active part in the battle against litterbugs. First, do not be a litterbug. Second, spread the message to your family and those around you not to litter. Third, alert NEA and TCs if you are aware of litterbugs in your community.

We agree with the Member that we need to find more effective means to deal with the problem of high-rise littering and falling objects. HDB will work with other Government agencies and the TCs towards this end.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah): Sir, I would like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary whether he agrees with me that in the HDB estates' situation, it tends to be a small minority of culprits that is the root cause of this high-rise littering. Hence, would the Ministry, together with the other agencies, want to be more targeted, for example, have step-up surveillance measures on some of these possible repeat offenders, enforcement as well as counselling of these repeat offenders?

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Sir, we agree that, often times, issues like these are actually affected by a small minority and we will continue to step up

Column: 1873

surveillance methods. I think, more importantly, it is the cooperation between the residents and the agencies involved – NEA and town councils.

As mentioned earlier, we cannot have the "eyes on the ground" 24 hours but the system is one in which we rely on feedback as well as information given by the residents and the agencies will continue to do its surveillance and take action against those who are affected. When we take action against those who are affected, we give warning letters, we counsel them, and at the same time to make sure that they comply and if they do not comply, we take more severe action against them.

But having said that, we also think that it is important to do a broad sweep of public education campaigns to make sure that everybody is aware of the messaging that goes about, so that it is important for everyone to know their respective roles in the community. That it is also the responsibility of every resident to be aware of the issues of high-rise littering, especially killer litters.

Mdm Cynthia Phua (Aljunied): Mr Speaker, Sir, I have a few supplementary questions. The Parliamentary Secretary has said that HDB has issued warning letters for only 12 cases. There is a report that says 4,650 in 2008. Who had actually issued the warning letters? And in 2009, what was the figure? Is there a disturbing trend in such high-rise littering by residents? If that is so, what is the land owner, ie, HDB, going to do? Because it only issued 12 letters of warning, as compared to –

Mr Speaker: Mdm Phua, we have only four minutes left. Make your question short, please.

Mdm Cynthia Phua: The third question – can the design of such flats be further

Column: 1874

improved? If high-rise planting is desired, then flats should be properly designed for high-rise planting. If not, can it be further improved to ensure that it is not dangerous for high-rise planting?

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Sir, allow me to clarify. The 12 warning letters refer to warning letters to residents for throwing of killer litter whereas the figure of 4,000 that Mdm Phua mentioned refers to warning letters given out to residents who placed precarious objects that are potential killer litter. So these are two separate incidences. It is given out by HDB as well as town councils and today, we continue to do preventive efforts to make sure that residents are aware that it is wrong for them to even put out objects that are potential killer litter.

On the issue of the design of HDB blocks, we will continue to look at how else we can further improve on such situations. HDB estates have been around for many years and the blocks have been around for many years. I think the issue is really the extent to which residents are aware of their behaviours and the extent to which how dangerous these behaviours are to the residents. If we continue to educate them, telling them that what they are doing is really at the expense of other residents, they should be able to follow the regulations and stop themselves from behaving in such a manner, I think we should be able to have a safer environment for our HDB residents.

Mr Speaker: Miss Penny Low, last question.

Miss Penny Low (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Sir, two supplementary questions. One, I am aware from my block visits yesterday that Town Council, in working with the HDB, has started to issue a lot of letters of warning to residents for placing objects or undesired parcels precariously. This has caused a lot of unhappiness, mainly

Column: 1875

because residents are not aware of the dangers associated with such behaviour. So may I ask the Parliamentary Secretary, in his reply earlier on, where he noted that there has to be a higher level of education, when will this be rolled out and can this be rolled out quickly so that the communication with the residents can be a lot smoother?

Second, on an associated litter issue, there has been a rise in unsolicited mails – mailers, pamphlets, leaflets distributed door-to-door by housing agents, locksmiths, and so on. This has caused two concerns. One is, of course the cost of cleaning up itself is tremendous and the residents are paying for that. Two, it has also become a signal of which unit is not occupied or that the occupants are temporarily away, and this has also caused quite a number of cases of burglary, even in my own area itself.

Mr Speaker: Miss Low, you only have four minutes left.

Miss Penny Low: May I ask the Parliamentary Secretary whether there is going to be any step-up measure against unsolicited mailers?

Mr Speaker: Four minutes left, Dr Maliki.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Sir, we have recently embarked on a public education campaign. Miss Low asked for the details of that campaign and how fast we can roll it out. On 17th December, we announced a public education campaign to raise the residents' awareness of a particular killer litter issue. We also worked with religious organisations, particularly three religious organisations. They issued statements on 17th December last year, to remind their devotees that it is not in line with their religious practices of compassion to place or hang religious items in precarious

Column: 1876

manner. Killer litter posters were displayed on all notice boards in HDB estates and we issued advisory letters to all HDB households to reiterate the message against killer litter. Apart from issuing the warning letters, we also issued advisory letters. That has already been done. Advisory notes will be issued subsequently through newsletters of the different religious organisations. We are also in the process of producing the "do's" and "don'ts" of killer litter video which will be produced and screened at branch offices so that the residents are more aware of the dangers of killer litter.

On the issue of unwanted mailers, I think we have recognised that it is a problem in certain parts of Singapore and certain estates, particularly estates where your minimum occupation period has just been fulfilled and people want you to sell your flat. I think we will work together with the local organisations and the TCs to try to see whether we can actually address these issues locally.

Mr Speaker: Mr Low, a quick question. We have two minutes left.

Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang): There are some killer litters who are IMH patients. How does the HDB deal with them? And, secondly, under what circumstances will the HDB acquire the flat of those convicted of killer litter?

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: On the issue of mentally-ill patients, we recognise that it is a unique situation and I think most important is the role of the family to ensure that the mentally-ill patient is able to function effectively in the community. If the mentally-ill patient is not effectively ready to be in the community, then they should be in the Institute of Mental Health. Often times, the point is that the Institute of Mental Health thinks that they are ready because they are able to function in the community with medication. The issue is really the extent

Column: 1877

to which they are able to comply with their medication regime. If we come across a situation like that, we probably seek the family member's cooperation in ensuring that this particular family member actually complies with his medical regime to make sure that he is still able to function in the community.

On the issue of how and when we actually compulsorily acquire the flat, it really depends first, as I mentioned earlier, on whether they have been convicted of the offence under the Penal Code and the severity of the offence. In 2005, we had actually compulsorily acquired a flat of a resident who actually had been convicted of such an offence.

3.00 pm

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question time.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No. 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos. 14, 18-19, 25, 27, 30, 32-33, 37-38, 46 and 49-50 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix*. Question Nos. 15-17, 20-24, 26, 28-29, 31, 34-36, 39-45, 47-48 and 51 have been postponed to the sitting of Parliament on 12th January 2010 .]

*Cols. 1963-1980.