| James Kon |
THIRTY-THREE volunteers including youths came together yesterday morning to clean up Sungai Kebun area in a campaign organised by Green Brunei in conjunction with Day of Action.
Ninety big plastic bags of trash were collected.
YB Khairunnisa binti Haji Ash’ari, a member of the Legislative Council and Co-Founder and Community Engagement Director of Green Brunei, took part in the campaign with volunteers from schools, institutions, Kampong Sungai Kebun Fire Station, Village Consultative Councils of Kampong Sungai Kebun and Kampong Lambak committee members and members of the public.
YB Khairunnisa said the cleanliness of Kampong Ayer is not only the responsibility of the residents but also members of the public.
She said only one clean-up campaign would not fix the problem. To address the issue, there is a need to change the mindset of people throwing rubbish in public areas or rivers.
She added that the trash on the river bank may not have necessarily come from the water village but from other locations brought by the water tide.
She said, “There is this old habit of just throwing rubbish indiscriminately and it ended up in the river. It not only affects the beauty of the place but it is also unhygienic. Kampong Ayer is a popular tourism site and a landmark of the country. When tourists visit Kampong Ayer, they notice the rubbish and it’s extremely disappointing.”
On the cleaning campaign, she said, “We are really happy with the turnout today with volunteers from the public as well as villagers and personnel from the Fire and Rescue Department participating.”
This will be one of the many initiatives of not only the Green Brunei but also various stakeholders like the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Development and Ministry of Health.
YB Khairunnisa added, “This is a long term project to clean up Kampong Ayer and we hope that more such programmes will be carried out.”
She reminded the public that it’s an offence to throw rubbish in public areas where under Chapter 30 Section 12 of the Minor Offences Act, anyone or company found guilty of disposing rubbish in public places will be handed a compound fine not exceeding $500. The next cleaning campaign spearheaded by the Ministry of Home Affairs will be at Kampong Tamoi on December 22, 2017.
Source: Borneo Bulletin