By Terence Lee / Youth Editor

27 JANUARY — NO PRIZE for guessing where this is — nope, this is not your typical hawker centre or HDB block, but THE Istana.

Imagine: people littering indiscriminately at the White House. I wonder what would the White House staffers say to that?

It seems like the presidential palace has attracted more than just people during its open house on the second day of Chinese New Year.

For the foreigners out there, the Istana is where the President lives and works in Singapore. And no, the president here mainly serves a ceremonial role with very limited executive powers, quite unlike the American president.

Anyway, I didn’t manage to take a picture of the whole stretch as the queue entering the Istana was moving quite quickly. Trust me, the scene was much worse than it looks.

The rubbish somehow managed to form another line, of all race and religion — you have Starbucks, Coca-cola, green tea, Crysantimum tea — the works. Somebody decided to initiate the whole thing by placing one empty soft drink can, and others followed suit.

And I thought Singapore is the clean and green city. But give credit to us Singaporeans though, for once you enter the wide open grass fields and the walk the long, winding road leading up to the main building, the whole premise is litter-free, guaranteed. The policemen on duty will see to that.

I was rather disappointed when the saw the rubbish lined up outside. What civility displayed by us gracious Singaporeans! I mean, if it’s throwing a sweet wrapper in a discreet stairwell of your HDB block — okay lah, can close one eye. But outside the Istana? That takes the cake.

Well, maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised, after all it was reported in The Straits Times (ST) recently that about 1,000 litter bugs were subjected to Corrective Work Order (CWO) this year, which is almost a ten-fold increase from 2006 (the figure stood at 120)!

A sign that such punitive measures do not work? Perhaps. Lee Bee Wah was quoted saying that education might be a better method of curbing littering tendencies. Of course, this is now being tried on foreign workers, and it remains to be seen whether it will work.

I recall one ST Forum writer who wrote:

I applaud the authorities for displaying signs in foreign languages to warn and remind foreign workers not to litter in the Jurong East MRT Station area.

However, on the other side of the MRT station, where a covered walkway leads to Jurong Entertainment Centre, there is litter near an advertisement board.

There are people distributing various fliers to passers-by at the covered walkway daily, and some of the fliers are thrown away there, landing on the floor.

So far, no one has come to clear the litter.

I wonder what kind of message the authorities are sending to our foreign workers. They are told not to litter at one part of the MRT station, yet the other part is strewn with litter.

Give me a break, Mr Letter Writer. Blame the foreign workers for taking away our jobs if you want, but this is going a mile too far. Maybe it’s not the foreign workers that is the problem, but us Singaporeans. What an absurd letter this is, and even more absurd is the editor who allowed this to get published.

A survey by the National Environmental Agency in 2007 found that a “shocking one in five Singaporeans do not take pride in keeping the nation litter-free,” said a TODAY news report. What abject horror! Perhaps this will serve as a wake-up call to Mr Letter Writer and those in the same vein.

So who is in need of re-education now?

The reason why Singapore is so clean is not because Singaporeans are civil-minded, but because thousands of cleaners sweep our streets every morning, before we wake up. According to a ST report, NEA hires 1,200 road sweepers, while the PAP town councils hire 6,000 men and women to clean up our mess.

For NEA alone, the expenditure for 2007 came up to $34 million. A staggering sum indeed, considering what else they could have done with the money! Sure, we may kid ourselves by saying that littering provides employment. But guess what, the people who clean up after us are old folks and foreign workers. So who are we to preach to them about “appropriate” behaviour?

Hypocritical, if you ask me.

I can attest to the litter problem plaguing Singapore at the moment. Ever walked through HDB estates at 3am in the morning? I have — and it is not a pretty sight. I had to do a double take and pinch myself — I wasn’t sure if I was still in Singapore.

Sure, tourists with cash to spend will certainly sing praises about how clean and green we are as a country — but they will never get to see the other side of Singapore, not unless they drop their luggages and start carrying a broom.

But of course, they’d rather catch the Singapore Airlines flight back home.

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