But one man has taken it upon himself to change that. And, he’s not even a Malaysian citizen. His name is Muhammad Yusuf, and his country of origin? That has remained a mystery.
“I have lived here in Cyberjaya for over four years now. I prefer to say that I’m a citizen of humanity rather than revealing where I’m from,” Yusuf told FMT Lifestyle.
Jogging past piles of rubbish day after day at the Selangor Cyber Valley Lake Park, Yusuf could not ignore the ugly sight any longer. By mid-February, he started cleaning the park himself.
“This lake has been open for over a year to the public. A lot of people come here to have picnics, and I realise that they dispose of their trash irresponsibly.
“I’ve been seeing this unpleasant scene for a while and I decided that if nobody does, I should do something about it. That’s how it started,” he said.
On his days off, Yusuf begins cleaning early in the morning, armed with a rake and a long-handled garden grabber. Two hours and several bags of trash later, the park is finally clean again.
FMT Lifestyle followed him on one of his cleanup days, and the scene was even worse than expected.
From the benches under the gazebo, to the lake’s perimeter, the playground, and even right in front of a sign that ironically reads “Don’t Litter”, trash was present everywhere.
Scattered among the trash were fishing hooks, posing a real danger to the birds and animals nearby.
Yusuf said the trash is mostly made up of plastic water bottles, plastic bags, plastic food containers, and unfortunately, soiled baby diapers.
In just the 30 minutes FMT Lifestyle spent with him, Yusuf had picked up five soiled diapers. “It hurts – it hurts my eyes, it hurts my heart,” he said.
Yusuf admitted that it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision to clean up the park.
“There was a feeling of embarrassment at first. But then I thought, why should I be embarrassed? I’m not the one who is trashing. I’m doing something good for the community,” he reasoned.
He now mainly cleans areas around Cyberjaya, but occasionally ventures out – recently helping with the massive post-fire cleanup in Putra Heights.
He documents all his work on his social media handle, @yourpovcleaner.
“The reason I make the content is to bring some awareness, and educate the public that this is wrong. You can be better,” he said.
For Yusuf, it’s never been about recognition. In fact, he keeps his face hidden on social media, always wearing a mask.
He shared that despite sending numerous emails to the city council, there has been no response from them – and still not a single rubbish bin in sight at the park.
But in his experience, he said rubbish bins don’t seem to make a difference. From cleaning in other areas, he has noticed that rubbish often piles up, spills over the bin, and gets carried away by the wind.
Even on a recent getaway to Terengganu, he couldn’t escape the eyesore of a litter-strewn beach.
“It’s the mentality that has to change. People have to be more civic minded,” he asserted.
“It’s frustrating. After I clean, it doesn’t take long for people to trash again.” He said that in two to three days, he’s back to square one.
Though discouraging at times, Yusuf described this cleaning effort as therapeutic, a way to calm his mind when stressed. “I will come here just to blow off some steam.”
While he’s a one-man show for now, he said he hopes to make cleaning up parks a public initiative in the future – getting more people involved and expanding the activity to other parts of the country.
So the next time you’re enjoying a public space, think of Yusuf – and do your part to keep that space clean.