Candid
camera snaps litterbug
Hong Kong Standard. April 6, 2000
OFFICIALS in Singapore, known for its strict laws and tight social controls, have taken things a step further by secretly aiming a video camera at a suspected litterbug's apartment.
A suburban town council trained the camera on the apartment after neighbours complained that its occupants were littering, Eddie Lim, manager of the Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council, said yesterday.
The camera was mounted on the roof of an apartment block facing the suspected litterbug's 23rd-floor unit, Mr Lim said.
``The whole idea was to catch the culprit, nothing else,'' Mr Lim said. The tape showed someone from the apartment littering, he said.
The apartment's owner, Wong Y, 30, was outraged when he and his family spotted the camera last week, The Straits Times reported.
``Who are viewing these tapes, and what right do they have? What if my wife was changing in the room?'' the newspaper quoted him as saying.
But Mr Lim said the camera only viewed the external wall of Mr Wong's apartment. ``It could not see inside at all,'' he said, adding that the tape was viewed only by senior town council officials.
The council gave Mr Wong ``verbal advice'' to stop littering, but would not move to prosecute him, Mr Lim said.
Social controls are a sensitive issue in the wealthy city-state, where failure to flush public toilets carries a fine, and home TV satellite antennae are outlawed.
Mr Wong could not be reached for comment. - Associated Press.