Civic-Consciousness – Is there such a thing in many of us?

Come weekends and public holidays, in the early morning you will see long rows of cars parked along the pavements of Persiaran Golf at the Saujana Resort. These visitors are taking advantage of the tranquility of the place to jog and exercise. You can tell that most of them are white collar professionals. Many are well-mannered; they will greet if there is eye-contact.

However, for resident walkers like me, I find the way the cars are parked a nuisance. First, they block your way and you must go to the road proper to navigate ahead. Second, they damage the pavements, which are only coated with a thin layer of concrete. Many sections have already been broken up by the weight of vehicles. These people are educated, I just cannot understand why they don’t bother to think. Whenever I happened to cross path with one, I would suggest he or she give a thought to my concerns. Some understood; others gave me the “So what?” look. Be that as it may, you still see the same habit being exhibited, nonetheless.

I have written to the City Council and the District Police of Shah Alam about this. Unfortunately, I have yet to receive an acknowledgement, let alone any action on my complaint. I suppose they are too busy to be concerned with this trivial matter.

Yes, the matter may be trivial, but it says a great deal about our citizenry culture, or the lack of it.

Persiaran Golf is quite well kept. But you still some bad littering habit, probably by workers and visitors – food wrappers and containers, beverage cans and bottles, plastic bags and now used masks. You also see abandoned cars from time to time. Why are people so un-civic conscious?

Even the golfers are guilty. This Persiaran Golf is also the artery to Saujana Golf Course. I would say most of them have totally disregard for good driving protocols. Many don’t bother to slow down let alone stop for pedestrians when they want to enter or exit the branch road leading to their club house! I suppose they believe they are the higher mortals in society.

These ABCs should be inculcated from young. But how many parents and teachers are conscious of having to be civic-conscious?