You know what they say about Singapore being a fine country. Well I have got a picture which says it all. It was taken inside the MRT train. To be fair, Malaysia is also a fine country. In comparison, in Japan, warning signs, be it no smoking or no littering, do not come with an offensive deterrent.
I was just talking to my wife about civic-mindedness in Singapore the other day. I think that Singapore will need to work harder to get rid of the stigma of fines and concentrate on the real problem that they are trying to address. The government are taking many positive steps, of course, like public awareness campaigns to educate their citizens to be more civic-minded. But why do you think the results are less than desired. I guess if one cannot see beyond a direct cause-effect scheme to things, there will be less incentive once the effector is no longer around.
Why is it then that Japanese are so successful in getting their act together. I suspect that it is ingrained in their culture as much as their language. Everyone here is so considerate about the feelings of others. It is so apparent in their language. Try to count the number of すみませんs (I am sorry/excuse me) you get when you next meet a Japanese, or, the number of "I am so sorry to have troubled you". You will be surprised. Japanese are even sorry when their name seems hard to pronounce. All this high-level empathy just makes it easy to be civic-minded. Think about it, if people feel that when they litter, they would inconvenient others. When they smoke, speed, or behave irrationally, others will be annoyed, endangered or honestly concerned, then everyone would practice self-restraint. Isn't this much better than mere punishment or fine. I am not questioning the effectiveness of punishment as a deterrent, but then, an enforcement agent is needed. Whereas, civic-mindedness just takes care of itself and the problem.
While we can definitely learn from the Japanese, short of being a Japanese, how can we install civic--mindedness. Some examples I think which promotes such a desirable quality are religion and education. Civic-mindedness is indoctrinated in most rational religion and this is where religious institutions can help. The other being education. I believe, most educated people have the propensity to be level-headed enough to be civic conscious. If, when next I see a warning sign without a fine tagging under it in Singapore, I would finally agree that she has reached a higher class of social maturity.
Why is it then that Japanese are so successful in getting their act together. I suspect that it is ingrained in their culture as much as their language. Everyone here is so considerate about the feelings of others. It is so apparent in their language. Try to count the number of すみませんs (I am sorry/excuse me) you get when you next meet a Japanese, or, the number of "I am so sorry to have troubled you". You will be surprised. Japanese are even sorry when their name seems hard to pronounce. All this high-level empathy just makes it easy to be civic-minded. Think about it, if people feel that when they litter, they would inconvenient others. When they smoke, speed, or behave irrationally, others will be annoyed, endangered or honestly concerned, then everyone would practice self-restraint. Isn't this much better than mere punishment or fine. I am not questioning the effectiveness of punishment as a deterrent, but then, an enforcement agent is needed. Whereas, civic-mindedness just takes care of itself and the problem.
While we can definitely learn from the Japanese, short of being a Japanese, how can we install civic--mindedness. Some examples I think which promotes such a desirable quality are religion and education. Civic-mindedness is indoctrinated in most rational religion and this is where religious institutions can help. The other being education. I believe, most educated people have the propensity to be level-headed enough to be civic conscious. If, when next I see a warning sign without a fine tagging under it in Singapore, I would finally agree that she has reached a higher class of social maturity.
A sign pasted inside the MRT train
A sign pasted at the Putra LRT station
