SANITARY CONVENIENCES IN BUILDINGS (Prosecutions for improper maintenance)

Dr Koh Lam Son asked the Minister for the Environment what was the number of cases, in each of the past five years, of offenders warned or prosecuted for improper maintenance of sanitary conveniences in buildings.

The Minister for the Environment (Dr Ahmad Mattar): Mr Speaker, Sir, I shall give the number of written warnings issued first, followed by the number of convictions for the year in question. They are as follows: No. of written No. of warnings issued convictions 1982 1,558 97 1983 2,580 127 1984 1,275 77 1985 1,709 84 1986 1,058 53

Sir, re-inspections following the issue of written warnings showed that the majority of the shortcomings were put right by the building management. Recalcitrant offenders were ticketted and subsequently prosecuted.

Dr Ang Kok Peng (Buona Vista): Sir, if my memory serves me right, we have had campaigns to promote the proper use and maintenance of public toilets. Would the Minister agree that these campaigns did some good and would he consider having another campaign?

Dr Ahmad Mattar: Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank the Member for Buona Vista for appreciating that campaigns on keeping public toilets clean have produced some positive results. In fact, Sir, the Ministry is considering having another campaign this year.

An hon. Member: Make him the Chairman.

Dr Ahmad Mattar: To make him the Chairman? I think I shall consider.

The purpose of the campaign is to reinforce the message of keeping public toilets clean. The campaign also aims to reach out to the building managements, the cleaning contractors and the users themselves.

Dr Koh Lam Son (Telok Blangah): Sir, is the Minister happy with the present state of cleanliness of most of the toilets, public toilets as well as toilets in buildings, and what does all these figures mean? You have a decreased number of cases where you issued warning letters. Does this mean that there are less cases of persons defaulting? Or does it mean that your enforcement varies according to complaints or reports that you have of defaulting cases?

Dr Ahmad Mattar: Mr Speaker, Sir, to answer the Member for Telok Blangah's first question. As I have mentioned earlier on in my response to the question from the Member for Buona Vista, as a result of the campaigns there has been a general improvement in the cleanliness of public toilets. But more can still be done. And here, I think members of the public can play a part in observing good personal hygiene and in having enough civic consciousness to keep public toilets clean for the other users. Sir, so long as people misuse and abuse public toilets, we will continue to have dirty toilets. It is not possible for my Public Health Inspectors to check on the users to ensure that they practise good toilet habits. It is just not possible. So this is where members of the public can play a part.

With regard to the figures, these figures refer to public toilets and it is the duty of the Public Health Inspectors to inspect public toilets. Some of them could be due to complaints from the public and some could be due to their own enforcement action.