Uncle continues to report litterbugs in Tampines despite harassment

Uncle continues to report litterbugs in Tampines despite harassment
PHOTO: Shin Min Daily News

Nothing can get in the way of justice for this 62-year-old man, not even an angry mob.

Through day and night, whenever the retiree had spare time, he'd park himself by a window that faced an open-air carpark in Tampines, ready to snap a photo of anyone who stepped out of line.

In a month, he reported nearly 80 offenders — many of whom were littering or spitting in public — to the authorities, reported Shin Min Daily News.

A video of him, along with his block number at Tampines Street 83, was posted onto Facebook on Oct 28 by a netizen. The post allegedly detailed how this uncle would record every single instance of littering, as well as the offender's car plate number, and hand the information over to the National Environment Agency (NEA).

According to the Chinese evening daily, the post sparked unhappy sentiments. Some of those who were reported even went to his flat to confront him but he didn't open the door for them.

He's aware that a video of him was circulating on social media and said that he felt wronged and angry.

"I know a lot of people are unhappy about being reported, that's why they exposed me online. But what I'm photographing is a public space, and what I photographed are violations [of the regulations]," he told the paper. "I just don't want them to be litterbugs and damage the environment."

He picked up the unconventional 'hobby' back in 2017, though he had only intended on getting evidence of his neighbours' feeding the pigeons then. He realised that there were many litterbugs at the carpark, and began recording them so he could report their actions to the NEA.

Despite his age, his vision hasn't faltered. In fact, he regularly reports between 70 to 80 offenders in a month — so much so that the NEA had given him a form to record his findings, the uncle said.

However, the sight of a man holding a camera by his window every day would seem peculiar to others.

He once opened his door to find the police standing there. It turned out, a woman from opposite his block had mistaken him for a peeping tom and reported him to the police.

"But they cleared me of wrongdoing after they inspected my camera," he said.

rainercheung@asiaone.com

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