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Courtesy Campaign

The National Courtesy Campaign was launched on 1 June 1979 by Lee, Kuan Yew, the then Prime Minister of Singapore. The aim of the Campaign was to create a pleasant social environment with Singaporeans considerate to each other and thoughtful of each other's needs.

The campaign began as an initiative by the former Singapore Tourist Promotion Board encouraging Singaporeans to be more polite and friendly to tourists to support the tourist industry in Singapore. Then Lee felt strongly that it should not be restricted to tourists and spearheaded the nation-wide drive. Originally, the campaign was for a month, with July designated as Courtesy Month. It was thought that the target to build a courteous and pleasant society could be achieved over a period of 10 years. The campaign was initially represented by a Smiley logo and had the slogan "Make courtesy our way of life". The Smiley logo was subsequently replaced by Singa, the Lion mascot in 1982.

The campaign has targeted many different sectors of the population with different strategies and focus emphasised through the years. Commonly used methods of promotion were through distribution of souvenirs such as bookmarks and caps, and through the use of catchy slogans. TV commercials, sitcoms, school activities and competitions have also helped raise people's awareness of the need to be courteous and considerate in various social situations. From 1985, it became a year-long publicity drive, costing S$700,000 a year. It took the form of media advertisements, tokens and activities such as essay-writing competitions and jingles. The Singapore Courtesy Council was also set up in 1993 to draw on private sector talent to organise and co-ordinate the campaign.

On 1 March 2001, the National Courtesy Campaign was officially subsumed under the Singapore Kindness Movement. Courtesy programmes previously run under the National Courtesy Campaign now continue to be run under the Singapore Kindness Movement.



Author
Lim Siew Yeen



References
Nirmala, M. [1999]. Courtesy - more than a smile. Singapore: The Singapore Courtesy Council.
(Call no: SING 395.095957 NIR)

Survey of the 1985 courtesy campaign. (1985). Singapore: Survey Research Singapore: Ministry of Communications & Information.
(Call no.: R 177.1095957 SUR)

National Courtesy Campaign. (1979, June 2). The Straits Times, p. 1.

Soon, courtesy will be part of kindness. (2001, January 13). The Straits Times, Home, p. 2.

Chew, J. L., et al. (2002, August 22). The courtesy campaign, an analysis of tactics: Past and present. Retrieved September 30, 2002, from  www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/behaviour/students/courtesy/p1.html

Singapore Kindness Movement. (n.d.). History-Courtesy Campaign. Retrieved September 30, 2003, from 
www.mita.gov.sg/skm/c_history.htm


Further Readings
Courtesy is in us, let's show it: Kita berbudi bahasa amalkanlah: National courtesy campaign. (1984). Singapore: Information Division, Ministry of Culture.
(Call no.: RSING 395.095957 COU) 

The information in this article is valid as at 2002 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Events>>National Campaigns
Special events--Singapore
People and communities>>Social interaction

Librarian Recommendations
>> Singapore Kindness Movement


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