22 January 2011:
Just met with one of my parents' long time friends and his family.
It's been a yearly thing to meet up with Uncle O. From the dinner that we had at Li Fun, I also learnt of something. (For things to make sense to you, Uncle O currently lives in Australia, coming back once in a while.)Uncle O was remarking at the different attitudes taken by the Singapore and Australian government. He mentioned the case of saving water. In Australia, the government pays to encourage its people to save water. When you buy water-saving equipment, the government pays you a portion of the cost.
In Singapore, things are not the case. (Of course, there has been nothing about water saving.) The government fines people when they do something wrong. No wonder there is a shirt stating that 'Singapore is a fine city.'
Comparing the two measures taken, I would seem to think that the measure by Australia might have worked better. (If there are more reasons to why Sing Gov is doing this, I do not know it.) People generally feel better getting incentives for doing things that do not harm themselves, instead of getting fined when they do something wrong.
I feel that, in the long term, perhaps the Australian method may work better. Well, who knows? Singaporeans have been so accustomed to the fine method, maybe if there is a change, they might not even be happy.