Civic-mindedness rewarded with rudeness and bad attitude

I REFER to the letter, "Let law handle troublemakers" (my paper, April 27).

It is not uncommon to see people turning a blind eye to those who commit anti-social acts in public.

A friend was waiting to cross a road when a man appeared next to him, puffing away on his cigarette.

The smoke blew in my friend's direction. He covered his nose and mouth before taking a few steps away from the man.

The man said loudly: "Why? Cannot smoke, is it?"

This is the kind of attitude and reaction you can expect from some perpetrators of anti-social acts.

I am beginning to realise why coffee-shop owners do not take action against patrons who light up in no-smoking areas.

People usually do not step in when others break the rules because they want to avoid trouble or are afraid of being beaten up.

There are also times when reminders to fellow train commuters that eating is not allowed on board are greeted with rudeness.

Indeed, it is hard for the civic-minded to ensure that rules are not broken by others.

Singapore's citizen-journalism platform, Stomp, is proving to be a powerful tool the public can use to warn or report people caught indulging in anti-social or inconsiderate behaviour.

Mr Sebastian Tan

From myPaper, My Say – Tuesday, 05-May-2009