As the saying and the accompanying Taylor Swift lyrics goes: this is why we can’t have nice things.

We’ll try to stay optimistic here about the longevity of a community umbrella-sharing initiative among a small cluster of Pasir Ris flats, which was shared Friday (Dec 14) on Reddit’s r/Singapore page.

The initiative, upvoted more than 300 times on r/Singapore, was launched as part of a kampung spirit movement by a certain “Granma Sylvia”, and is shared across four blocks in the Elias Park area in Pasir Ris.

Coconuts Singapore understands the four blocks are located in pairs opposite each other, separated by the Api Api River. A bridge connects across the river to both sides of housing blocks and this might be the reason for the presence of the umbrellas.

Despite the obvious support the ground-up initiative has received from Redditors, some questioned whether the umbrellas would be taken advantage of by no-gooders who may steal the umbrellas for their own selfish reasons.

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Other Redditors have pointed out that similar umbrella-sharing systems sprouted in their neighbourhoods but were not sustainable due to bad behaviour and inability for the community to maintain the umbrellas at their sharing spots.

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While we certainly do not wish to see initiatives like this go to waste, misusing public property is something heard often in Singapore’s context.

Another Redditor, u/Reddit-Loves-Me, shared a post Saturday evening of a NTUC Fairprice sign saying that all their shopping carts had been stolen and that a police report was made.

It looks like it may take Singapore a while to get used to the idea of not taking public property for their own personal gains.

Let’s hope the Pasir Ris initiative stays on for a while.

This article, Umbrella-sharing initiative launches in Pasir Ris, but it only takes one idiot to steal them all, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. For more Coconuts stories, you can download our app, sign up for our newsletters, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.