By Gangasudhan
Reports focus on the incident instead of the fact that it could have been prevented months ahead
Photo source: Simpsons Crazy
In Wednesday’s copy of TODAY, a report (below) mildly suggests ‘In court over chilli sauce bottle’ whilst over at Channel NewsAsia, the same report is reproduced with the more descriptive headline of ‘Woman suspected of throwing killer litter hauled to court’. The case in question is straightforward and involves what seems to be an emotionally-disturbed woman chucking a good few items that include flowerpots and a chilli sauce bottle from an upper floor at Compassvale. Naturally, it can be brushed aside as ‘one of those things’ that happens in high-stressed Singapore from time to time.
However, the alarming issue is revealed closer to the end of the report which goes on to state that, “According to media reports, residents in the area had been complaining of killer litter for months. Half-eaten food and even sanitary pads had been thrown. Six complaints have been reported to the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council in the last three months.”
Which means that poor Kasman Samat who was attending a wedding at the time of the incident, could very well have avoided suffering ‘fractures to his head and injuries to his face’ had the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council chosen to handle the matter immediately when they received the first complaint (or second, third or fourth, for that matter).
Whilst killer litter incidents may be unavoidable and unpredictable, acting on complaints and information is clearly a tangible exercise. Being the (multi) million-dollar entities that they are, one is hard-pressed to account for the inaction by the authorities over the preceding 6 months to suitably investigate and identify the culprit. If indeed the person is of unsound mind then the task would have arguably been very much easier (i.e. the inability for the culprit to premeditate her actions).
It would seem that in this case the charge proffered is under Section 337 of the Penal Code (Chapter 224) which would require someone to have been injured first before the necessary action can be taken.
Section 337, Chapter 224 (Penal Code)
Causing hurt by an act which endangers life or the personal safety of others
Whoever causes hurt to any person by doing any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others, shall be punished -
(a) in the case of a rash act, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to $5,000, or with both; or
(b) in the case of a negligent act, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months, or with fine which may extend to $2,500, or with both.source: Singapore Statutes
However, Section 336 of the same act in fact allows for prosecution to be initiated without any injury:
Section 336, Chapter 224 (Penal Code)
Punishment for act which endangers life or the personal safety of othersWhoever does any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others, shall be punished
(a) in the case of a rash act, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months, or with fine which may extend to $2,500, or with both; or
(b) in the case of a negligent act, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 months, or with fine which may extend to $1,500, or with both.source: Singapore Statutes
This leads one to the conclusion that it was the injury in this particular case that expedited action and prosecution, which is clearly a reactive approach in addressing the issue and certainly unacceptable in a modern society that boasts efficiency and effectiveness. The media should be questioning the failure of the system that led to 3 months of documented complaints without any satisfactory outcome. Instead, it has elected to describe an isolated incident and leave it at that.
Does Singapore need a citizen to die before an issue will ever be taken seriously by the authorities? Do we need the killer-litter equivalent of the Geylang Serai Food Poisoning incident before a slew of initiatives will be rolled out and comprehensive action is taken? Must an issue be (sensationally) newsworthy and/or un-ignorable before the mainstream media starts investing its energy in asking the difficult questions?
The town council appointees and employees were probably busy adding up the losses from their ill-fated investments.
oo thank god, to think I thought I was the only one who thought they could have done more to prevent this from happening.
Gangasudhan
Can the victim sue the town council for failure to act causing his injury? Surely there is sufficient evidence with the 6 reports in the past 3 months?
If the town council faces no consequence, it will continue to ignore complaints and other town councils will follow suit. Where is the accountability to the people? Who are paying them for what?
I am thinking if this happened in the US, the ‘town council’ would probably be sued.
wake up lah …. this is singapore … every is unique … out of this world … in this little red dog … i mean dot.
Hah. Hah. This is the same town council we called the other night when electricity tripped. We needed the master key from them because it was the outside box that needed attention and they said they will need an hour to bring it to us.
Excuse me, I live only a few blocks away from one of their main office. I walk to the other end of the TC area also no need one hour.
Anyway we managed to get our electricity back (whether illegal or not, it was at 8pm and dark and we were hungry). Someone came over with the key more than 2 hours later.
So embarrassing. I hope they get their a$$ sued over this oversight.
It is again a case of acting after an incident and not “Pro-activeness” Look at the floods in Bukit Timah, action after the “once in Fifty years” incident!
Look at the cyclists accidents, action will come after more deaths!
yawn yawn…now HDB doing a killer litter campaign….and this will soon be push to residents AGAIN…..not our millionaire govt’s fault what
Don’t forget that our beloved PAP likes to scare us before elections that whoever we choose as our MPs will manage the estates thru the Town Councils, and likes to point to PP and HG as poorly managed estates because we didnt have PAP MPs and Ministers there. See? When they offer goodies like upgrading, the govt tries to ‘siam’ and reneged on this statement in HG and PP when HDB ugrading came along and instaed avoided asking CST and LTK to announce it. When it comes to work, and improving the quality of life at the estates, even a big GRC like that at PR-PT complete with PAP Ministers and ya-ya MPs to boot, look at the result? Are they doing their jobs? Enough said, time to change the slate of MPs. No harm trying Opp. No venture, no gain.
Not many law firms will dare to take on the town council lah. U need a real ballsy lawyer. Think M Ravi..but he has more impt items on his hands. Come to think of it, S,pore is filled with useless money-grubber lawyers.
The “higher mortal” in charge of Pasir TC is complacence and sleeping on his job. This is no wonder pasir TC can lost millions of taxpayers money without much of responsibility and duty to do things right.
I too am very very disappointed when reading that news couple of days ago. It is really a shame that our PAP government choose to mislead and divert the citizen attention to the women who throw the killer litter, yet minimizing the fact that it it the TOWN COUNCIL who FAILS to perform their duties, despite 6 COMPLAINTS lodged !!!! This is simply outrageous and ridiculous.
The more I read the news nowadays the more I believe Singapore is going down the drain. Our civil/public services is the MOST EXPENSIVE in the wolrd, yet the quality is definitely not in par with their pay. A good example would be our police force. Most of the police nowadays are those youngster in their early 20s, inexperienced, and only do according to their books. Last month I witnessed a fighting case at a coffee shop, where a man hit another elderly man. The elderly man was beaten so badly on his face till his blood are stained all over his body. Police came, took statement, and let the man who hit the elderly go!!! Then the police ask the elderly man to go for checkup, find his witness and file a civil case against the other man. Now then I know that in Singapore you can bully anyone and walk free without being detained.
It seems you answered your own question, hahaha. Yes, they can be sued, but there should be enough legal cover for the government institution to avoid accepting liability. I also believe if push comes to shove, the buck will be eventually passed to the houseowner/offender in one way or another.
If reports are true as those in the papers, it is disturbing to realise there are so many Singaporeans with mental problems living in HDB flats, throwing litter down and causing death to passersby.
Why no such reports about residents living in private condo apartments. Maybe such economically better residents have access to expensive medical treatment
to control their illnesses, as compared to those in HDB flats.
6 reports over months yet this incident not prevented.
Does it not remind you of the fall of the little girl months ago when rusted railings were not repaired—after repeated complaints.
Yet we read about 8 months bonus for town councilors.
This is the Mas Salah Syndrome—sleeping on the job, not taking responsibility, drawing by far the highest pay in the world.
15) popcorn
Or maybe the people running private apartments are better at dealing with complaints.
I sympathise with those victims who were injured.
But If the accuse have mental problem,proper medical care should be given to her instead.Why does she turn up to be of unsound mind and landed up in this state?Who knows?She herself is also a victim ,being hurt mentally by society thus causing her to be depress and hurt the innocent .
What do we learn from this incident?Build shelter everywhere?Dun walk in the open area?No.Its time that we learn to show more care and concern to those who need attention.
Don’t know who are the ones speaking in this forum. WAKE UP!
If all residents are considerate, the town will be safe. Spend your energy telling off your neighbours to remove their danger items. You guys are just making noise but do not lift a finger to make the situation better. You guys just want to pay less have as many people on the ground to do the work, but continue to contribute to the litter etc… If everyone in this Nation continues to harbour such attitude, the Nation with be in ruin soon.
A very objective and appropriate article by Gangasudhan. The TC and HDB should have taken proactive actions months ago rather than waiting for some serious incidents to happen.
You have made a good point. The Town Councils really should have been more pro-active to act against such incidents of killer-litter.
Remember now, we are REQUIRED to pay fees to the town councils. So, they’re really our service-providers. They ought to start acting like we’re the customers, instead of supplicants.
However, just a thought, maybe we citizens ought to become more pro-active too? Like that case at Compassvale? Apparently the neighbours were already aware of the poor woman’s mental condition and what she has been doing. Should they not have done something about it?
THis brings me to the point again that instead of always looking to the government, we ought to do something ourselves sometimes. If you want the culture to change, step one starts with you (or me).
Many of my friends tell me that they may be flooded by crowds wherever they go, but they have never felt more LONELY. This is the state of sg today, where people lead isolated lives and dare not raise an issue when it’s the right thing to do. In sg, those who make noise about problems are seen as ‘rocking the boat’…. in the US they will be appreciated.
@19) kiasu n kiasi on December 20th, 2009 10.53 pm
>>Don’t know who are the ones speaking in this forum. WAKE UP!
If all residents are considerate, the town will be safe.
Agree with you.. If pap government is also considerate and takes care of singaporeans first, singapore will be a nice place to call home, and worth defending..
So, it all starts from the top, the self-proclaimed elites, please lead by example…
sign.. it is my upstairs neighbours who are throwing things down… btw FT by my govt defination.
complain.. also like that.. so…
good article.
if only this article can reach the eyes of the majority.
sigh.
nothing new lah.
my block is like disneyland. mickey mouse and his whole family runs all over the place.
when i called town council to get rid of them because it carries disease like rabies. their reply “no choice, very difficult to get rid. we tried our best”
my qn is: is that my problem? this kind of answer also can?
if i tell my boss “no choice, customer very difficult, i tried my best”, you think i will still have my job?
they have to wait until somebody dies from rabies then they will act.
so, tell me, what is new about this ‘flower pot’ throwing case?
my block, since 2006 until now, is still like disneyland. now better, looneytunes also have with sylvester and friends added into it.
anyone keen to share, in a private estate which i stay it is worse. there is no law at all. fist and punches wins the game. better have more sworn brothers. back to the 60′s.