A banner asking
residents to clean up after a large amount of rubbish left behind following
Diwali celebrations in Singapore will be taken down to avoid further
misunderstanding, according to a parliamentarian for the area.
Singapore-based
Indians will be celebrating Diwali in the multi-racial prosperous city-state on
Sunday.
Feedback over the
years prompted the Mountbatten Residents’ Network (RN) to put up a banner
asking residents to clean up after the Diwali celebrations.
Littering is an
offence in Singapore, globally known for maintaining a clean environment.
Mountbatten Member
of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan said the anti-littering banner – put up by the RN
and supported by the National Environment Agency (NEA) – will be taken down to “avoid
further misunderstanding”.
“That banner was a
ground-up initiative by the RN because they had received feedback over the
years about the large amount of litter left behind after Diwali celebrations,”
The Straits Times newspaper quoted Lim as saying.
A second banner –
with an image of Lim and a message wishing Mountbatten residents a happy Diwali
– was put up by the People’s Association above the RN banner. This will not be
removed.
Lim said the same
banner can be spotted in many locations in his constituency.
“It so happens
that at this one location, they were placed one on top of the other, and this
has then been misconstrued to be targeted against a particular race, which was
never the intent.”
Parliamentarians
across Singapore have put up banners in their constituencies with best wishes
to constituents celebrating Diwali.
Lim said he raised
the issue of the banner on Wednesday with the RN chairman, who told him that
the RN had received feedback from residents over the years about the litter
left behind after Dipawali celebrations.
“The RN members
discussed the issue and felt that it would be appropriate to send reminder
messages not to litter,” he added.
Lim said RN
members had previously seen messages about responsible joss paper burning and
felt that a reminder not to litter was reasonable.
On Wednesday,
Facebook user Susiilaa Shanmugam put up a post on the social media platform in
which she questioned the two banners put up in Mountbatten, with a photo
attached. In particular, she took issue with the banner asking residents to
clean up after celebrations.
She wrote, “Though
the message appears to have a positive intent, it is being used at a very wrong
time, given festivals are a time when those who have endured a tumultuous time
come together as one to unite with their family and friends.
“I hope to see the
same message for the coming Chinese New Year,” The Straits Times quoted
Susiilaa as saying.
She also asked in
her post if such a message was issued during Chinese New Year or the Hungry
Ghost (Chinese) Festival.
In a Facebook post
on Thursday, she said she had been informed that the authorities were looking
into the issue and that she is “heartened that action has been taken, and the
banner will be removed”.
She added that she
was hopeful that more thought would be put into the phrasing of messages that
could potentially be deemed insensitive.
PTI
