ANTI-LITTERING CAMPAIGN (Effectiveness of)

Mr Yeo Choo Kok asked the Minister for the Environment (a) what is his Ministry's assessment of the effectiveness of the Anti-Littering Campaign in the past 20 years; (b) what was the percentage of foreigners in the 8,702 summonses issued to offenders in 1987; and (c) how many were foreigners out of the 190 motorists and their passengers who were fined a total of $26,200 in the same year.

Dr Ahmad Mattar: Mr Speaker, Sir, generally Singaporeans are aware that littering is an offence. Many litter under cover of darkness, for example, inside cinemas, throwing litter out of flats mostly in the nights. A motorist who throws out a cigarette butt usually does it by sliding his hands slowly down the side of the car hoping that he would not be detected. There are also many who are bothered when they come across a place accumulated with refuse strewn all over. They get upset when they come across a littered beach and disgusted when they have to sit through a movie in a littered cinema.

Last year, Sir, my Ministry received a total of 33 complaints from members of the public on littering and there were seven letters to the press complaining about littering. On the other hand, Sir, there are also people who would reason to themselves that the piece of litter that they drop on the ground would not do any harm, or they would say to themselves, "The place is already littered. This piece of litter which I am about to drop will not make the place any worse."

The past 20 years, Sir, has definitely brought about greater awareness amongst our population that littering and other anti-social acts, such as spitting, urinating in lifts, are undesirable acts. The public, in general, know what they should do and what they should not. What we would like to do now, Sir, is to encourage everyone to make a personal effort to refrain from littering. Adults will be asked to set a good example to their children and children could also set a good example to the adults. We hope to see people refrain from littering as a nature of habit or through good sense of social responsibility rather than through fear of enforcement.

Sir, the Member for Delta wants to know the percentage of foreigners in the 8,702 summonses issued to offenders in 1987. Sir, the answer is 536 or 6.2% of the offenders issued with summonses last year were foreigners.

The Member also wants to know the number of foreigners there were in the 190 motorists and their passengers who were fined a total of $26,200 for littering last year. Sir, the answer is 10 or 5.3%.

Mr Yeo Choo Kok (Delta): Sir, can the Minister tell the House who these foreigners are? Are they visitors, tourists or workers?

Dr Ahmad Mattar: Sir, the foreigners booked last year were either workers or residents in Singapore. Tourists are usually given a word of advice if they are caught littering in public places.