Our Desk | The toys

Julie Zhu

“In response to the increase in the amount of garbage resulting from cleaning-up operations carried out by the public before the Lunar New Year, Macau cleaning companies will send additional personnel and vehicles to collect garbage.”
Does this sound familiar to you? It does to me at least.
“The amount of trash significantly dropped during the epidemic prevention period.” What about this one? Does it sound familiar to you? It also sounds familiar to me. It particularly resonates when I recall those times when electricity was off or when a waterpipe burst.
Being a mainlander, I grew up listening to those alerts from family members, teachers, schools, neighbors and acquaintances, but never heard anything similar coming from official channels.
However, recently, I have been reading announcements written by the Macau SAR government, in particular, by the Environmental Protection Bureau or the Municipal Affairs Bureau. It always reminds me how angry I would become if I were a Macau local because to me, the environment authority does not seem to be able to solve hygiene problems.
To some members of the public in Macau, whatever I say today will either reflect my jealousy or lead them to ask “why don’t you go back to mainland China?”
A note to all Macau’s taxpayers: this is not about me nor is it about environmental protection; this is about your survival.
Last year, the Environmental Protection Bureau introduced some new recycling programs, including setting up recycling bins in residential buildings. The program sounds amusing but, somehow, a question mark arose in my brain.
If I don’t know how to drive, why would someone give me a Ferrari as a gift? I could learn to drive. But I might not fancy driving, and I won’t necessarily learn how to drive just because I received a Ferrari as gift. Someone could force me to learn how to drive; someone could encourage me to sit behind a wheel; someone could make me interested in cars and driving; or, perhaps, someone could punish me for not driving, which could happen when one has authoritarian parents.
The Macau government has enough money to buy all these new, “advanced” and “useful” recycling machines. It’s that simple! If it has enough money, then why not?
However, this action by itself is almost pointless, similar to any discounted game bought by someone who has no time to play it; similar to another elegant bag doomed to be forgotten by a woman who saw a prettier one; or similar to another toy left abandoned by a child under the bed without anyone ever noticing it.
These analogies may not be accurate because individuals work hard to make money and are therefore entitled to buy whatever they want to buy, while the government is managing and spending money earned by taxpayers.
Does Macau learn? How should Macau spend its money?
When mistakes are repeated every year, when behaviors within communities remain the same, I guess we could give that community a definition which I think that you know, I know, and we all know. Macau is not clean.
It’s easier to forgive people when they don’t have the consciousness to be aware of something. But Macau, you know and you are conscious, should you be forgiven?