Article Review - Garbage Everywhere

GARBAGE EVERYWHERE

The article ‘Garbage Everywhere' in The Star newspaper dated 16th July 2011 was written by Charles Fernandez regarding the dumping of rubbish.

The articles points out that the ignorance mentality of Malaysians is increasing in the matter of littering and throwing rubbish in their surroundings. Sadly, they do this activity without bothering about the people and Mother Nature around them. For example, in some of the settlements in Seremban, residents rather throw their rubbish on the ground rather than throwing them in the garbage bin provided by the local council. This people have the mentality that ‘somebody else will take care of it' and this refers to the companies that take care of collecting the rubbish.

The author states that the citizens just do not just throw their rubbish on the ground but throw them into the rivers too. For example, uncivilized minded people in the city dump their rubbish along Sungai Kepayang. This creates an ugly site for the passer bys and unpleasant smell for the citizens around the area. Throwing leftovers is one of the moral decadence described by the author.

The author critique about Taman Permai Phase 1 and the stretch along Bukit Tembok where there are ‘No Littering' signs placed but the residents keep on throwing their rubbish just as where the signs are placed. The signs attract the people around the area to dump their rubbish even more compared before. According to the writer, Star Metro reported news at the beginning of last month about the local council around that area which did not perform their duty in cleaning up the rubbish at the back lanes of Taman AST. Taman AST residents had garbage pilling up at their back lanes.

The author points out that this problem is not only faced in Seremban but also many other places around the country. He expresses his disappointment that many of them do not care about cleanliness and good hygiene practises. He also stated that there are several times where citizens throw their garbage into the flowing water of Sungai Kepayang from the bridge top every day.

To clean up the mess, a heavy downpour is expected to do the job. It will clean up the river that full with garbage. During the day, the river which is known as a place for fishing will turn out to be one big dumping ground.

Dr Al Ashari Othman who is the manager of SWM Environment Sdn Bhd of Negeri Sembilan and Malacca told the author that Taman AST is under their control of collecting garbage as well as certain part in town centre. This job is actually being done by the SWM's sub-contractors. Besides that, he also emphasize that in order the trash will be taken by SMW, all the residents and the owner of premises must be responsible to have their own garbage bin.

In addition, Dr Al Ashari also added that it is actually the duty of the resident and