Singapore mounts high-tech courtesy
campaign
From an Agence France Presse report.
July 4, 1998.
HIGH-TECH Singapore, Saturday, marked the 20th year of a campaign
to promote courtesy by urging citizens to observe etiquette on the Internet,
and use their pagers and cellular phones more discriminately.
"It is my hope that courtesy will eventually become second nature to Singaporeans," Finance Minister Richard Hu said in ceremonies launching the latest edition of the annual campaign.
The squeaky-clean multi-racial island of 3.1 million people, most of whom live in high-rise public housing estates, launched the courtesy campaign in July 1979, with civil servants as the first target.
This year's main theme is good neighborliness. Television commercials will focus on encouraging people to switch off their pagers and mobile phones in inappropriate settings such as theaters.
"Although there are gentle reminders before the performance starts for patrons to switch off their pagers and handphones, how many times do you recall a handphone ringing or a pager beeping in the middle of a performance?
"Worse yet, the owners of the mobile phones may even try to hold a conversation within the theater," Hu lamented.
The 71-year-old minister, one of the most polished public figures in Singapore, noted numerous reports of neighbors in housing estates beating each other, or scratching cars after quarrels over parking space.
"Our high population density and the close proximity of our neighbors means that many things that we do may impinge upon others," he said.
Noel Hon, chairman of the Singapore Courtesy Council which runs the campaign, said that with over 2.3 million handphones and pagers in Singapore, the inappropriate use of such electronic devices "could become a very serious problem."
"Even in places of worship like churches, handphones and pagers interrupt the most sacred of ceremonies," he said.
Hon deplored "vulgar language" on so-called chat groups on the Internet global computer network and said the council was studying how such behavior can be discouraged by the users of discussion or chat groups themselves.
"In today's difficult economic environment where uncertainties abide, there is much more stress in our society as many will wonder about their future," Hon said.
"In such times, more courtesy, kindness, consideration and understanding is needed so that we can help ease the tensions in our daily lives."