Just Saying | Pooing in the pool: a reflection of the uncivilised among us in Hong Kong
Yonden Lhatoo says given our wealth and level of education, Hongkongers have no excuse for any anti-social acts, including befouling our public pools
You may not want to read this if you’re sitting down to a meal. On Sunday, the Mui Wo public swimming pool had to be closed temporarily for cleaning “following the discovery of a small amount of faeces in the pool”, according to the government.
The next day, the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park swimming pool in Central and Western District also required some serious disinfection “following the discovery of a small amount of faeces in the training pool and a small amount of vomitus in the main pool”.
It's happened six times so far this year. Last year there were 19 such repugnant incidents prompting the closure of 10 public pools.
The unsavoury answer? Many of our fellow citizens need refresher courses in basic hygiene, civic sense and civilised behaviour. In Asia’s world city.
Ruffled feathers or not, Hongkongers were engaged in such neanderthal behaviour long before we opened the floodgates to mainland visitors and started calling them “uncivilised”.
I really have to ask what’s wrong with people from such an advanced society if they have to be told not to defecate in a public pool and they go ahead and do it anyway.