It is not uncommon for overseas friends and tourists to commend Singapore for its cleanliness.

However, those of us living here are aware that this is a facade maintained mainly by an army of cleaners (Everyone has a role to keep Singapore litter-free, Nov 22).

Anyone who doubts this just needs to take an early morning walk along places like East Coast Park or Empress Place before the cleaners arrive and see the amount of rubbish left behind.

Our previous success in making Singapore a clean and green city was built on the twin pillars of education and enforcement.

In recent years, it seems that the approach is to rely on an ever larger group of cleaners to pick up after everyone else.

It might be the easier way out, but it certainly increases the costs for everyone while cultivating a populace unable or unwilling to clean up after itself.

Perhaps it is time to start transferring some of the cost of cleaners to litterbugs via higher fines.

While we continue to teach civic-mindedness in school, even more frequent patrolling of high-litter areas is needed. After all, rules without enforcement are merely suggestions.

Only when littering is tackled at source can we be truly proud to receive the accolades on cleanliness.

Eric Teo Hong Kiat