How the ‘Toilet Man’ and George Yeo made it happen

For 12 years, most Singaporeans knew Mr Jack Sim only as the “Toilet Man”, trying to bring about cleaner toilets here, even though he had also been jetting around the world trying to convince politicians to do more to provide proper toilets for their people.

Yesterday, the 56-year-old founder of non-governmental organisation World Toilet Organisation was given a big boost for his mission: The Nov 19 World Toilet Day he started in 2001 was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly.

How a social entrepreneur’s initiative became recognised by the UN involved a large dose of luck.

After former Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo lost in the 2011 General Election, Mr Sim decided to try his luck at getting Mr Yeo to open his World Toilet Summit on Hainan island that year.

To his surprise, Mr Yeo accepted his invitation. “We spent three days together, and he said to me: ‘I’m very impressed with what you are doing. Is there anything I can do to help?’” said Mr Sim. “So, I told him I wanted to make World Toilet Day official.”

Mr Yeo spoke to Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MFA) Deputy Secretary Vanu Gopala Menon, who agreed to meet Mr Sim. Mr Menon said while he was initially cynical about meeting someone to talk about toilets, he was quickly sold on the importance of Mr Sim’s mission.

Mr Yeo told TODAY via Facebook: “Jack’s passion is infectious. Toilets are a daily necessity for everyone but, everywhere, we have to make do with sub-standard ones, to put it mildly ... Toilets cost much less than their utility, yet they are often under-provided.”

He added: “(There are) complex reasons for this market failure. (The) big reason is because it is a subject we often think (is) beneath us, so we don’t address it as a problem. World Toilet Day will help make toilets a legitimate, even desirable, subject of management and group cooperation.”

In April this year, armed with a draft of the “Sanitation For All” resolution, the MFA arranged for Mr Sim to speak to delegates from other UN member states in New York. Things progressed swiftly from there and, yesterday, the resolution initiated by Singapore was tabled with more than 100 co-sponsors.

On the General Assembly’s adoption of the resolution, Mr Sim, a self-described “toilet evangelist”, said: “It feels like I won the Nobel Prize for sanitation.” TEO XUANWEI