I AM a resident of Hougang, and I would like to highlight the problem of advertisement fliers distributed to HDB flats.

As the new mail boxes in my block can be locked to prevent unsolicited fliers, these fliers end up on the gate of my flat.

There are a few issues that require immediate attention:

1) The fliers are a security risk for households in which the occupants are away for a period of time, or even a few days.

When you have many fliers stuck on your gate, you are announcing to the world that nobody is at home. Who is going to be responsible if our flats are broken into as a result?

2) Fliers blown away from the gate end up as litter.

As residents, we take steps to ensure that our homes will not fall prey to crime when we are away, such as suspending the newspaper delivery, but we have no control over these unwanted fliers.

If we had wanted such fliers, we would have unlocked our mail boxes.

I do not agree with such marketing strategy by companies as they are exposing our homes to crime, and this issue should not be seen as trivial.

Can any responsible authority take appropriate action to prevent crime from happening as a result of these fliers?

Mr Yeo Hwee Keong