Speaking at an event launching the re-introduction of civic lessons in Malaysian schools on Tuesday (13th August), Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad expressed his concern over the embarrassing state of public toilets in the country.
He stated that the dirtiness of public toilets here reflects the poor civic responsibility among Malaysians and was quoted by the Borneo Post as saying,
“I am very embarrassed. I often inspect toilets in Malaysia to see whether they are clean. Usually, they are not. This reflects our attitude. We should be ashamed but we think no one will know who was responsible.”
Source: Astro Awani
The prime minister added that in contrast to Malaysia, toilets in other countries are cleaner because the people in those countries feel a sense of responsibility and value how the public perceives them, so they maintain their cleanliness.
“It is the same with actions that pollute the environment, such as dumping refuse everywhere and scribbling on walls. It is alright if we do a mural on walls, but scribbling only tarnishes the cleanliness of the walls alongside roads in the cities,” he continued.
Tun Dr Mahathir also pointed out the irresponsible behaviour of litterbugs in the country as well, and was quoted by The Star as saying,
“If three million people in Kuala Lumpur throw cigarette butts indiscriminately, we will be living in a mountain of cigarette butts in no time.”
Source: generalabout.blogspot.com
He added that the lack of cleanliness in our toilets is also mainly due to a lack of self-discipline. Speaking about the re-introduction of civic education in schools, the prime minister stated,
“It is my hope that civic education will mould individuals and society to be people who are responsible, concerned and considerate to all. With its people being civic-minded, Malaysia will be progressive and clean and will be looked upon well by the world.”
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Also read: M’sian Woman Gets Fed Up With People Washing Sanitary Pads in Public Toilets in Viral Thread
