Sengkang GRC MP, Jamus Lim, shared in a candid Facebook post that when he was in primary school, he wanted to be a garbage collector.
Here is what he said
Over breakfast the other day, Mom shared with me that when I was in primary school, I once wrote an essay about what I wanted to be when I grew up: a garbage collector (perhaps I was enamored by the trucks). Funnily, inspecting rubbish chutes and collecting items of trash is now indeed a part of my weekly estate walk routine, as well as what is now the quarterly #SengkangGRC #CleanSG Day. So in some ways, things have truly come full circle!
In seriousness, I do think that the task of keeping our environment clean relies on all of us doing our part. We shouldn’t have the mindset that it’s someone else’s “job” to clean up after us; after all, the trash we generate is because of our own choices about what we consume and dispose. I see cleaners as being there to help us along the way.
And as I’ve grown older, I’ve also seen the virtue of an honest job, done well. When I first went abroad for studies, I recall being surprised that garbage truck drivers are able to earn a respectable, middle-class income (today, their average salary in Australia is $60,000 a year). This is in part due to minimum wages, in part due to heightened productivity from mechanization, and in part due to what economists call a “compensating differential”; the premium a worker receives for taking on a job that is risky or unpleasant. My dream is that our economy will evolve into one where all workers—not just those at the high end of the educational and talent spectrum—receive sound, living wages that reward them for honest jobs, done well.
That’s why I see #CleanSG as such a positive exercise; both as a reminder to us of our collective responsibility, and as a way to appreciate the value of simple but essential jobs. As restrictions on larger gatherings have relaxed further, we took this opportunity to also make it a community event, and we were fortunate to have Sengkang General Hospital staff, Sengkang Town Council folks, #TeamSengkang volunteers, and even a good number of resident families join us this morning. Thanks to them all, and I hope the experience was as valuable for them as it was for me.
