Littering has always been a problem wherever I go in Malaysia. However, this problem has reached an all time low, in my opinion, when I noticed A4-sized signs posted by each ATM machine on campus.
"Please ensure that your litter is properly disposed in the rubbish bins provided," pleaded the signs.
I nudged my housemate and pointed them out. Shame, I said, that university students still have to be told where rubbish goes.
"Nak wat camner...," she answered, indifferent, and went back to interacting with her mobile phone.
My jaw dropped. True, we can't go around making people throw their rubbish in the rubbish bins -- that's what authorities take our tax money for. But to not care?? To me, that's equivalent to littering yourself.
I looked at the floor by the ATM machine I was standing in line at. Sure enough, there were transaction slips on the floor, right beside an empty waste basket. I wish I had a camera, I would have taken pictures as proof.
We've been taught that rubbish goes into rubbish bins since, what -- kindergarten? Is that still insufficient time to learn the theory?
Aimless Wanderer
3 years ago
3 comments:
Hey I litter, but only the ‘biodegradable’ thrash, like cempedak seeds, rambutan peels, langsat peels, durian peels, oh wait scratch durian. Tossing it over the window might pose certain death to unfortunate passerby. I once threw an apple core through my house window, and it almost caught a family friend passing by. He was indignant, but he should’ve been grateful it wasn’t durian shell (okay, the last bit was a joke).
Anyway, was a student in UiTM Shah Alam, and I find the blatant disregard for public cleanliness among cosseted indigenous Malaysian scholars, appalling. For you see, despite what I’ve told you, I’ve been thought, as a rule in public areas, to throw thrash into trashcans since I was a kid. And if there weren’t any at hand, I’m supposed to keep it in my possession until I find a proper place to dispose of it. To see people littering, like a bunch of indiscriminate animal poopers, grates on me at times, I just want to yell civic lessons 101 in their faces. But of course, who am I to be teaching civic values to strangers. So like your friend there, ‘nak wat camner’ was the best attitude I can take on against this kind of behaviour.
Well...
that was until I lost it after witnessing a faculty mate littering at a bus stand. Imagine a baboon eating a banana and after each peel just drops the skin onto the cement floor without so much as looking at it. Except that this wasn’t a baboon, this was a university student, and he was dropping plastic on cement floor when there was a thrash can right next to him. Infuriated, I stomped towards him, picked up his refuse right before his very eyes, and chuck it into the dustbin.
Brainless twit. He should have learned the civil minded way of littering... and that’s my way.
Ps. I live in a kampong house with bucolic surroundings grassy and uneven ground.
@Anonymous
That's exactly what my mom taught me, too! To hold onto your trash till you find an appropriate place to dispose of it.
The most appalling thing is when we have to sit in a classroom that mostly resembles a landfill. Good to know I'm not the only one bothered. True, sometimes the ignorance-is-bliss attitude is the only option presented, though....Shame.
I grew up in a kampung, too. I used to play football barefoot on gravel. So, like we so conveniently prove, having a kampung background is no excuse for lack of civil conscience.
I appreciated your opinion, thank you.
U'r right to the core....!!!!
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