If there’s one thing that you should know about a country if you live in it, it’s the law.
And in addition to just knowing it, you should probably abide by it too, unless you want to get yourself in trouble.
But it seems like neither of these things might have been the case for a man who was recently caught spewing racist remarks and questioning officers from the National Environment Agency (NEA) when they tried to stop him from smoking at the void deck of an HDB block.
Man Filmed NEA Officers Telling Him to Stop Smoking at Void Deck
On 23 June, the @wadsial.sg page on Instagram posted a video of a man and two NEA officers engaging in a confrontation, with the video being taken from the man’s point of view.
The video was later reposted by @sgnewsdaily, which stated that the man had been caught by the NEA officers after smoking at a void deck.
The man began the video by showing both officers’ faces while airing his grievances that he was told to stop smoking at the void deck.
Said “Indian from India” Wants to Catch People Towards Malaysian Officer
In the clip, the man starts by saying “Anyway got one Singaporean, and ah, got one Indian, India from India, NEA officer, want to catch people.”
“This Indian guy want to catch Singaporean, it’s okay, no worry,” he added in a sarcastic manner.
The officer clarified later on in the video that he is Malaysian.
Man Constantly Interrupted Officers and Demanded to Know Why He Cannot Smoke
After the Chinese officer that the man referred to as the Singaporean ended a phone call, the man turns the camera back to him and asks, “Oi, so?”
He then proceeded to interrupt the officer repeatedly, even when the officer warned him that he should not post the video on social media.
After cutting off the officer’s instructions, he questioned the officer by asking why he cannot smoke at the void deck, because it definitely wasn’t obvious enough.
In response, the officer tried to tell him that smoking at the HDB void deck is against the law, but the man wasn’t satisfied with that answer.
Instead, he proceeded to ask him even more questions regarding why the law is structured in such a manner, and that he wants to understand the reason behind the law.
The NEA officer, left with no choice, attempted to reason with the man, but was soon cut off by the man again.
This time, the man tried to defend himself by saying that the void deck “is for everybody”.
Continued Spewing Racist Comments at Malaysian Officer
After grilling the Chinese officer through a series of questions, the man took it one step further by switching to targeting the other officer instead.
This time, he tried to attack him by rudely asking if he is from India, to which the officer replied that he is from Malaysia.
After hearing that, the man retorted by saying, “You Malaysian, right? You go one side.”
And even after saying that, the man continued to contradict himself by throwing various questions at the same officer, such as asking why he cannot smoke under the block.
The other officer tried to interject in the conversation, but the man replied by telling him to keep quiet instead.
The officer of Indian descent ended up not replying the man as he threw the questions at him, probably to refrain from agitating him further.
Netizens’ Reactions
After watching the video, many netizens criticised the man’s actions and words towards the officers.
Which was probably the opposite of what the man had intended, for he probably filmed the video to try and expose the officers’ actions towards him.
But as we all know, smoking is clearly not allowed at HDB block void decks in Singapore under the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Regulations.
And it seems like this man might be the only person in this situation who isn’t aware of the rules, especially from the comments section.
As one commenter put it, “this law [already] come out [a] long time ago”, and the man should probably direct his questions to the government instead if he would like to know why individuals are not allowed to smoke at the void decks.
Netizens also called the man out for his racist remarks that were clearly uncalled for, and one Instagram user even wrote jokingly that the man forgot about the law due to the nicotine that he had inhaled.
NEA’s Response: Police Has Been Informed
When speaking to MSNews, an NEA spokesperson shared that NEA has been informed of the incident and has lodged a police report due to the abusive language that the man used towards the officers.
The spokesperson also revealed that the incident took place at Block 908 Jurong West Street 91 earlier this month on 22 June.
Apart from that, the man has also been charged for smoking at the void deck as well, and he will be appearing in court in due time.
Featured Image: Instagram (@wadsial.sg)