Litterbugs will soon find themselves performing community service as a punitive measure to deter them from repeating the misdemeanour in future.

Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting today announced that the municipal councils will soon be empowered to punish those found guilty of littering by requiring them to undergo community services such as cleaning up the roads.

This will be possible once the government amends the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 and tables the Solid Waste Management Bill in the Parliament soon.

According to Ong, such 'community services', will no longer be considered as a violation of human rights as defined under Article 6 of the Federal Constitution once the constitutional amendment bill is gazetted.

The provision, which defines 'forced labour' in Article 6, was one among the 13 constitutional amendments unanimously approved by the Dewan Rakyat in Parliament yesterday. The constitutional amendments are due to be gazetted once it is approved by the Dewan Negara.

Under the present Article 6(3), only work during a prison sentence is not considered as 'forced labour', thus, rendering other forms of work order as unconstitutional.

However, with the new amendments, work or service extracted from any person found guilty in the court of law is no longer unconstitutional as long as such work or service is carried out under the supervision of a public authority, Ong told reporters this after attending a ceremony to rename Jalan Cheng Lock to Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock in Kuala Lumpur today.

"The government will need to conduct a publicity campaign to raise public awareness against littering before the laws are implemented," he added.

Singapore example

Ong said that in Singapore, people are afraid to throw their rubbish on the streets because of a stringent policy against littering. He said that even the United States had implemented laws against litterbugs.

The minister assured the public that the enforcement of the law will be strict and transparent.

"A normal municipal enforcement officer cannot simply punish anyone. He has to take the suspected litterbug to the municipal court which will decide on the punishment," he said.

Asked to comment on the status of the proposal by the Selangor state government to issue its local council enforcement officers with firearms, Ong said that his ministry will need to discuss the proposal from the Home Ministry as the issuance of firearms are under that ministry's jurisdiction.

"The Housing and Local Government Ministry will abide by any decision made by the Home Ministry on this matter," he said.