At first, I thought that Marriage Central‘s mass balloon release was just a case of ignorant. Maybe the organisers thought that it’s just releasing 1000 balloons into the air and it won’t cause any problem. But apparently, someone wrote an email to Marriage Central a week before the event but Marriage Central choose to turn a deaf ear. Here is the comments written by victorliu on 24 March 2009, 09:49 PM with regards to the Straits Times Forum article.

I agree with the writer.

I emailed the organizers of this event once to request they plan an alternative event. This is what I got:
Thank you very much for your email. We appreciate your kind feedback and have taken note of your concern with regards to our event that will be held at the Marina Barrage next weekend. Please rest assured that we have obtained the necessary clearances and permission from the relevant authorities for the mass releasing of balloons. We will most certainly keep your suggestion in mind for upcoming events in future.

So I replied to say that they were missing the point, that this event could already cause damage. It’s been more than a week and no one has replied.

I am very very disappointed with our Clean and Green Garden City that would actually risk killing sea turtles to celebrate marriages. Surely there must be some other way!

Also, for those who think people against releasing balloons are just being anal, you won’t die without seeing pretty balloons flying away, but many innocent creatures will if you are so bent on doing so.

So please spare a thought for all the innocent animals, and the ecology. Find some more environmentally friendly way of holding celebrations, please!

Note that I’m not able to verify if that is really the reply from Marriage Central. I hope to get in touch with victorliu to get the entire email conversation. But the Straits Times forum online does not allow private messaging. If anyone knows how I can get in touch with victorliu, please drop me a comment/email. Thanks.

If that comment is really true, then it just go to shows that Marriage Central simply don’t care about the environment. All they want to do is to create a great event for themselves. I’m utterly disappointed. The organisers should visit this website and read about the damages they have done.

And I wonder, who are the “relevant authorities” who approved the mass balloon release? NEA? CAAS? PUB?

Related posts:

1. Celebrate marriage without balloons
2. Releasing 1000 balloons into the sky as a symbol of soaring love
3. Why release 60 balloons into the air to launch Earth Hour Singapore?
4. I’m turning on comment moderation
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