2009/02/18

By : TAM YONG YUEE, Muar

Residents must create a clean, healthy, safe and peaceful environment for themselves and their neighbours.

WHEN you come to think of it, it is a dismal state of affairs that after 51 years of independence, Malaysians are far from civic-minded.

I agree with Perak health director Datuk Dr Ahmad Razin Ahmad Mahir that keeping our community safe, clean and healthy is a "shared responsibility" (NST, Feb 16).

The authorities that oversee our community have roles to play and it is incumbent upon them to take their jobs seriously.

If they are guilty of negligence or complacency, they must be admonished.

But at the same time, as fellow citizens, we should not just wash our hands with the excuse that we are taxpayers and they are paid to do their jobs.

In disease control, if we are careless in the way we dispose of rubbish, we are giving space for all manner of vectors to breed and multiply.

In crime prevention, if we go about our life carelessly and disregard safety, we are giving space for criminals to attack us.

In road-safety promotion, it has been proven that reckless, disrespectful and careless attitudes contribute to road accidents.

Creating a clean, healthy, safe and peaceful environment for ourselves and our neighbours is a shared responsibility.

We need to cultivate and nurture a mindset that looks out for one another, rather than one that is always and only mindful of our own convenience.

And after every person has played his small, but nevertheless vital, role and the authorities are found to be wanting in their service commitment and enforcement duties, then we have cause to take them to task.

The community-policing po-licy undertaken by the Johor police has seen some improvement in combating crime.

I am sure "the 10-minute-a-day search and destroy mission" suggested by Dr Razin will reduce the Aedes menace.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Letters/2483201/Article/index_html