Got this from ST Forum:

Rid Orchard Road of beggars and hawkers

ONE cannot help but notice an increasing number of people begging for money and selling tissue paper along Orchard Road.

Also on the rise are illegal hawkers at places such as outside Orchard and Somerset MRT stations, selling anything from mobile-phone covers to roasted chestnuts.

I urge the authorities to take action against this group of people, as they are giving a bad image to spanking clean Orchard Road.

This is especially so as Orchard Road is a major tourist attraction and we wouldn't want tourists and foreigners alike to bring home an image of Orchard Road riddled with sidewalk beggars and illegal hawkers.

Nuryusman Mohamed Ibrahim


this person has a serious problem and i wonder how such a letter get to be published.

before asking herself why there are increasing numbers of beggars and illegal hawkers in Singapore, she suggested 'getting rid' of them, as if they can be treated like rubbish.

I wont pretend to stand on moral high ground and say we should all sympathize with beggars, but I would think they, as with all other human beings, have dignity and deserve some respect. We dun just talk about getting rid of them.

And the statement tat we wouldnt want tourists to bring home a lousy image of Orchard Road, come on, are we building Singapore for the tourists? What's next? Mass extermination of all poor people in Singapore? Comeon man, there is really more to life than just economic growth.

Sad to say, I believe many Singaporeans have the same mentality as her (which explains why the editor published this letter), all subscribed, overly, to the ideologies of the state. What hope is there for Singaporeans and mankind?