National Courtesy Campaign (Singapore)

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The National Courtesy Campaign was a campaign launched in June 1979 by Singapore's Ministry of Culture as a means of encouraging Singaporeans to be more kind and considerate to each other, so as to create a pleasant social environment.^[1] It was to be an annual effort by the government to encourage the people to adopt a more courteous attitude and lifestyle. It was seen as a means of ensuring a smooth transition to a new Singapore which would be densely populated, where people lived and worked in high rise towns, offices and factories, while traveling in crowded buses and lifts.^[2] In March 2001, the campaign was subsumed by the Singapore Kindness Movement.^[3]

Contents 1 Origins 2 Publicity 2.1 Singa the Courtesy Lion 2.2 Mass media 2.3 Courtesy Campaign website 3 Activities 3.1 Activities aimed at youths 3.2 Activities aimed at adults 3.3 Activities held at constituency-levels 4 Timeline 5 References

[edit] Origins

The National Courtesy Campaign was not actually the first of its kind to instill values of courtesy to Singaporeans, though they were not conducted on as big a scale as the National Courtesy Campaign over such a long period. More than 10 years prior to the introduction of the National Courtesy Campaign, there was already a Bus Safety and Courtesy Campaign^[4] , which was held in 1968, as well as the National Safety First Council Road Courtesy Campaigns^[5] and the Safety and Courtesy Campaign Week^[6] which were held between 1972 and 1973 among others. Thus, it can be seen that Singapore had already experimented using campaigns as a means of encouraging Singaporeans to acquire a more courteous disposition in their lifestyle. Nonetheless, the forerunner of the National Courtesy Campaign is usually recognized as the courtesy campaign that was conducted by the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB).^[1][7]

The courtesy campaign conducted by the STPB was meant to teach Singaporeans to be polite only to tourists for the benefit of the tourist industry.^[1][7] Then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s had followed the courtesy campaigns by the STPB with ‘interest and amusement: interest because most people were responsive to the campaign; amusement because no one protested that it was absurd to teach Singaporeans to be polite to tourists’.^[2] In his speech, he stressed the importance of being courteous in one’s everyday life as it would make life better for everyone. It was a desirable attribute which could be found in all cultivated societies, and something which we should practice for Singapore’s own self-esteem.^[2] If tourists do find Singapore a courteous nation, it was because it was ‘incidental’.^[2] This ‘prodding’^[2] by Lee Kuan Yew thus saw the birth of the National Courtesy Campaign, which became a recurrent, annual campaign that was seen as a long-term project of aiming to imbue values of courtesy into Singaporeans within a period of 10 years.^[7]

[edit] Publicity

Numerous measures were taken to ensure there was a great degree of publicity to match the ambition of the campaign. It was the first Singapore campaign to adopt a mascot in the form of “Singa, the Courtesy Lion” in 1982.^[1] In addition, the profile of the campaign was sustained through the use of radio, televisions and newspapers, where the campaign is highlighted in articles, documentaries, jingles, songs and other programmes.^[1] Posters and banners were hung up at prominent public places like bus stops, shopping centres and open-air markets. Debates, contests, talks, exhibitions, courtesy courses^[8], where leaflets, handbooks and pamphlets would be handed out, were also arranged to further educate the people.^[1] To reach out to children, essay-writing competitions in all four national languages were arranged with “the objective of getting members and employees of unions and co-operatives and their children to think about and express their views on the importance of courtesy”.^[8] Even bills and correspondence from government and statutory bodies had courtesy slogans in them.^[1] In later years, additional items in the form of stickers, badges, t-shirts^[1], mugs, keychains, vases, notepads and even a musical coin bank that played jingles composed for the courtesy month were amongst an assortment of memorabilia served to continuously remind the public of the ongoing need for Singaporeans to have courtesy ingrained into their lifestyle. Courtesy songs, fables and a website were introduced into the campaign as it entered the 80s and 90s.

[edit] Singa the Courtesy Lion

Represented by a Smiley logo as the campaign kick started, the National Courtesy Campaign had Singa the Courtesy Lion replace the Smiley logo in 1982. The lion was chosen because, in addition to the fact that Singapore was a ‘lion city’, it was believed to paint the picture of the ideal, courteous Singaporean: warm and friendly.^[9] In addition, using the race-neutral lion overcame the issue of racial representation.^[9] The brainchild of Basskaran Nair, who had come back from America with a masters degree in mass communications, he would be actively involved in the Courtesy Campaign for the next 10 years.^[10] The use of Singa was a milestone of sorts where campaigning in Singapore was concerned as it was the first campaign to adopt a mascot.^[1] Campaigns then were largely slogan-driven, following a predictable pattern where ‘many a slogan was written by a senior politician who would pass it on to a senior civil servant who in turn passed it to his subordinates and the machinery would start rolling”^[10]. In Singa, the Courtesy Campaign provided a ‘creative spark’, changing how the campaign was managed and executed. Singa provided a visual means of connecting every Courtesy Campaign, as well as a constant reminder for Singaporeans of all backgrounds and education level of the need for courtesy.^[10] The use of Singa the lion as the mascot was deemed successful enough, warranting an expansion of the mascot to include “Mrs. Courtesy” and the “courtesy cubs” to complete the “Singa Family”.^[9] Their presence would be felt across Singapore as their pictures were plastered across a variety of products. Extending the concept of using mascots even further, ‘discourteous animals’ were also present in a hit ‘Courtesy snakes and ladders’ game that was created for school children. These ‘discourteous’ animals, engaging in acts of discourtesy, would cause the player to slip down ranks if his or her counter landed on them, while players landing on Mr. Courtesy and Mrs. Courtesy engaged in acts of courtesy would allow players to advance further.^[10] The deemed success of the use of the mascot in the courtesy campaign also served to pave the way for the use of one in Singapore’s Productivity Campaign, which adopted “Teamy” the “productivity bee”. After being subsumed under the Singapore Kindness Movement, the mascot has since been the Dolphin. ^[3]

[edit] Mass media

The use of mass media as a means of communication was extensively and intensively used during the campaign month. Courtesy advertisements with catchy jingles, songs were transmitted through the radio and television with the latter also broadcasting shows that carried messages of courtesy.^[9] Newspapers like the Straits Times also introduced special features, like the “Courtesy Hotline”, which allowed people to call up and express their views on matters related to courtesy.^[9] The messages that were being sent to the public seemed to be “more instructional than persuasive”, with pamphlets targeted at improving the service industry reminding people working in the sector to “conduct service with a smile”, while those distributed to “teach” courtesy on roads informed people of fines for being discourteous on roads.^[9] The continued instructional tone^[9] in the form of declarative sentences^[11][12] can be found in the messages in posters as well, where the responsibility of courtesy is placed on the people, rather than it being a shared responsibility. For example, in “I will be courteous” (1979), the reader tells the reader what he or she ought to be, while “It’s so nice to be courteous” (1982) is phrased as if it was a logical statement or timeless truth. “Make courtesy our way of life” (1979) and “Bring on a smile. Say ‘thank you’” (1985) were slogans that, through the used of imperatives^[13], forces the alignment of anyone reading the poster as the intended reader of the poster, which is seen as a means of directing or commanding someone to carry out an action. All 4 languages that were officially recognized in Singapore (English, Standard Mandarin, Malay and Tamil) were used to ensure the message was understood by the populace.

[edit] Courtesy Campaign website

The Courtesy Campaign website^[3] was set up as a means of reaching out and staying relevant to a new generation of Singaporeans that used the computer and the Internet regularly. Additionally, this new generation of Singaporeans is seen to actively use Singlish, an English-based creole language that has strong Malay and Mandarin influences native to Singapore, as a means of casual communication with one another. It is thus unsurprising that the choice of language on the website being only English, would be deemed sufficient to reach out to the younger Singaporeans. Still, it should be noted that this is a departure from previous efforts in the campaign where English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil would be utilized to get the message across. Nonetheless, there is equal racial representation on the website where under ‘Courtesy Fables’, stories with moral values and lessons of courtesy and consideration can be found stemming from the 4 recognized racial groupings can be found. This idea of English as a means to communication and one’s mother tongue to inculcate desirable values and morals fall in line with the government’s language policy on English as a means of communication through racial barriers, while the “imparting of moral values and cultural traditions is best done in the student’s own mother tongue”.^[14] Also, on the website there is a section on cyber courtesy, a testament to the campaign’s drive to stay current and relevant with a list is a list of dos and don’ts. Additional such evidence can be found in the form of content exclusively for use on the computer can being available for download on the website as well, like screensavers, wallpapers and a Singa cursor for download.

[edit] Activities

Upon the launch of the Courtesy Campaign at the national level, a range of activities are started. Various members of the National Courtesy Campaign Working Committee in both the private and public sector also initiate and embark on their own activities. Different activities were aimed at promoting a courteous lifestyle amongst people of different ages.

[edit] Activities aimed at youths

Various competitions were held at school-level to encourage students to think and express themselves on courtesy. For example, essay-writing competitions were arranged with “the objective of getting members and employees of unions and co-operatives and their children to think about and express their views on the importance of courtesy”.^[8] There was also the Courtesy Cheer Competition, as a way to “inject fun into the campaign”, where “students were encouraged to freely express what courtesy meant to them through a combination of innovative cheers, elaborate routines and choreography”.^[10] The Friend of Singa Award was initiated by the Youth Challenge in 1991 as a means to recognize courteous conduct by students, and to function symbiotically with the school’s efforts to teach courteous behavior within students as well. It was established with the hope that other students would see winners of the Friend of Singa Award as role models, and follow the example set by them as well. The award, opened to any school in Singapore, involved the nomination of a student from each school by recounting the respective student’s act of kindness and courtesy. Among all the nominations, a student would then be chosen for the Most Courteous Student Award and 10 other students for Merit Awards.^[10] The Youth Challenge has also organized a Courtesy Photo Competition where students were challenged to “capture acts of courtesy being performed in public... to [demonstrate] one important thing: that our behavior and our actions are visible and are always observed by people around us”.^[15] A courtesy camp organized by Youth Challenege required participants to be involved in various “camp projects, community service and daily chores” in an environment where people of the same age group are all together since “young people are usually more effectively influenced by their peers”.^[16] 1989 also marked the year where the Youth Challenge organized a Courtesy Meet, which aimed to get students to “exchange ideas on how to promote courtesy” .^[17]

[edit] Activities aimed at adults

Activities aimed at improving workspace courtesy and etiquette were mostly a result of the Ministry of Council (and subsequently the Singapore Courtesy Council) working with organizations such as hotels and transport companies to encourage a courteous disposition and attitude amongst the workers.^[10] Examples of such activities include the education of taxi drivers and civil servants through the use of training films, the Retail Merchants Association (RMA) organizing role-playing dramatization of courteous and discourteous scenarios by sales staff and poster-design, jingle and song-writing competitions.^[18] And just like students, awards and recognition were also given to adults. Known as the Service Gold – The National Courtesy Award, it serves as a platform to recognize the efforts put in by various hotel staff “who have gone out of the way to help others, be it colleague or guest”, and it opened to all members of the Singapore Hotel Association (SHA).^[10] The award that was bestowed upon the recognized staff came in the form of a certificate and a 23K gold-plated Service Gold pin, which they would wear at work. To assess how courteous civil servants were in dealing with the public, the government would hire private companies to perform undercover courtesy auditor.^[9]

[edit] Activities held at constituency-levels

Activities were also organized at the constituency level, to target hawkers, shopkeeper and people gathered at public places. Campaign tours are conducted by various members of parliament (MP) to public places, as well as “the distribution of pamphlets and stickers, contests to find the most courteous shopkeeper, hawker and bus crew, exhibitions, posters and sport art competitions are some of the activities held during the campaign”.^[1] Residents are thought not to be an important target when constituency-level activities are carried out, as it is believed that regularly-held neighborhood gatherings have already helped to create the friendly and neighborly environment through which the campaign messages and values are disseminated.^[1] Such an assumption, however, is questioned as neighborhoods gatherings might only be attended by a small number of constituents. However, it has been noted that the regular visits by the MP during the Courtesy Campaign have allowed the MPs to come into more regular contact with the constituents, widening his or her scope of contact, ultimately creating a closer working relationship between the MPs, representing the government and the people.^[1]

[edit] Timeline

Time Span	Target	Slogan
1979-1980	Public, government and service sector	“Courtesy is our way of life. Make courtesy our way of life.”
1981	Public, workers	“Courtesy is part of our tradition, it’s so nice to be courteous.”
1982	Public, employers and employees	“Courtesy is part of our tradition, it’s so nice to be courteous.”
1983	Public	“Courtesy and social responsibility, let’s go the courtesy way.”
1984	Public	“Courtesy is in us. Let’s show it.”
1985	Public	“A little thought means so much. Bring on a smile. Say ‘Please/Thanks’.’’
1986-1991	Public	1986: “A little thought means so much.” 1987-1988: “Courtesy. It begins with me.” 1989: “Courtesy begins with me.” 1990: “Courtesy begins with me. Go on, be the first.” 1991: “Courtesy begins with me.”
1992	Public and transport	“Courtesy begins with me. Pass it on.”
1993-1994	Singaporeans working, studying or living overseas and public	“Let courtesy show, wherever we go.”
1995	Youth and public	“Courtesy. That’s my kind of help.”
1996-1997	General public	“Courtesy. Try a little kindness.”
1998	Handphone, pagers and internet users and public	“Courtesy. Try a little kindness.”
1999	Transport sector, transport users and public	“Let’s move with courtesy”
2000	Handphone users and public	“Let’s use handphones with courtesy.”

^[10][3]

[edit] References