SIBU, July 22: Residents have been told to help maintain Sibu’s cleanliness, as the town has been voted as one of the 10 ASEAN Tourist Standard Cleanest Town for the 2022-2024 period.
The other nine recipients of the award include Putrajaya, Kuching South, Kuantan, Miri, Kuala Terengganu, Kuching North, Georgetown, Muar and Langkawi.
Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman Clarence Ting, however, does not want it to be a one-off award only.
“Are we proud of it? Yes we are very proud of it but I must say this. This thing is an ongoing process. In order for us to do better, we must continue to change the people’s mindset to improve the standard of living,” he said.
In line with this, he felt that residents need to continue inculcating the habit of cleanliness.
Meanwhile, three public toilets in the town received five-star ratings as part of SMC’s ongoing efforts to promote civic mindedness.
Taking the public toilet rating system as an analogy, he said the level of cleanliness of the three winning toilets could turn for the worse in the next five years, if the public does not assist in keeping them spick and span at all times.
“We need to do daily cleaning of the toilets and improve them. We don’t want them to go backward but forward,” he urged.
A clean public toilet he said is crucial in order to maintain the good image of the town.
“Petrol station toilets need to be kept as clean as possible as many people visit them. We have to keep them clean as it is important for the image of our town. Visitors who see our public toilets are clean will say ‘I went to a Sibu petrol kiosk toilet and they are very clean’,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government, Michael Tiang praised the council for implementing the public toilet rating system.
“This is a very good programme of SMC to encourage public toilets to be maintained at a certain level of hygiene and cleanliness,” he said.
Tiang wants the public to stop putting a heavy burden on local authorities to enforce cleanliness in public areas, as such responsibility also lies with the former.
Also present at the event was standing committee chairman for Public Health and Environment of SMC, Councillor Jenny Ting. — DayakDaily
