Singapore’s ‘white-elephant’ MRT station is opening, and after some clever investigative work, the Singapore Police have decided that a group of school girls selling T-shirts does not constitute a public disturbance.:
CONTROVERSY has trailed the Buangkok MRT station for the past two-and-a-half years - right up to its long-awaited opening day.
On Friday, while preparations went into overdrive for the carnival to celebrate the opening of the $80-million station on Sunday, drama knocked on its doors yet again. This time, it was over some "Save the White Elephants" T-shirts that former Raffles Girls’ School (RGS) students were planning to sell at the carnival.
That day, the students and Punggol South organisers received a reminder from the police that they needed a fund-raising permit before they could sell the T-shirts to the public, in line with existing regulations. The 27 students were also told that they might break the law if the T-shirts were worn "en masse".
The last minute reminder had apparently caught the 17-year-old students — who had created the T-shirts last year after the infamous white-elephant incident — off guard. When contacted, a police spokesperson confirmed that the advisory was sent out.
"In view of the nature of the event, we had advised the organisers that they should be aware that the wearing of T-shirts en masse may be misconstrued by some as an offence under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public & Order & Nuisance) (Assemblies & Processions) Rules. Should Police receive any report or complaints, we would have to look into the matter. This is consistent with all reports made to the Police," he told Today.
But the police have no objections to the fund-raising initiative per se, and are prepared to expedite the permit, which normally takes three days to process.
"In this case, we have made an exception for the students. We have communicated to the event organiser that the fundraisers can still apply for a permit on Saturday, as long as they are able to produce a memo of understanding with the charitable organisation," said the police spokesperson on Friday night.
It’s nice to see the boys in blue were hard at work. Wankers.
If any of the 60 unsold T-shirts are available AP is interested in buying.
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