OPINION: Vigilantes are taking it upon themselves to harass those who flout safe distancing measures in Singapore. This is not only unhelpful, but also disrespectful.

• People who do not abide by safe distancing measures are flouting the law. They also potentially put others at risk because of their actions.

• However, those who respond by verbally assaulting and harassing the offenders are not treating them with basic respect.

• We can afford to extend more kindness and empathy to others. Covid-19 is an opportunity for Singaporeans to emerge from the crisis as better versions of ourselves.

It's been three months since Singapore reported its first case of Covid-19.

While we have heard stories of warmth and kindness, we've also seen many instances of the "Ugly Singaporean".

Instances of Ugly Singaporeans

Unscrupulous scalpers made use of the nationwide mask shortage to jack up prices of surgical masks, reselling boxes of masks for up to S$288.

Shoppers raided supermarket shelves for food and toilet paper in a bout of panic buying.

In some cases, baskets filled with groceries were left abandoned because after storming the supermarkets to get their hands on "absolutely essential" items, some people decided it simply wasn't worth their time to queue.

Then, the Circuit Breaker hit and along with it, a group of people who, despite multiple pleas from the government, are still flouting regulations for whatever reasons.

Some were flouting safe distancing measures, like

• The woman who chose not to wear a mask on her visit to the market.
• Or the group of youths who filmed themselves shouting "F**k the Circuit Breaker!" while gyrating (???) on a bridge (they were caught and fined between S$600 and S$2,000, by the way).
• And another who insisted on having her kway chap at the hawker centre.

Others, more disappointingly, were plain uncooperative (and in some cases, aggressive) when approached by the authorities.

"If I die, it's my problem!" One of them lashed out at an enforcement officer.

Some have also responded aggressively, with enforcement officers have been head-butted, punched, and slapped, according to the authorities.

Pautoh kias

In response to this,  good number of Singaporeans have channeled their anger into something they are most familiar with — being pautoh kias vigilantes.

In fact, the government has capitalised on its citizens' propensity for tattle-taling by allowing them to submit reports on the OneService app.

Let's be clear, tattling is one thing.

But there are some who take their vigilantism, fuelled by self-righteous anger, to the extreme by shaming and, in some cases, verbally assaulting others.

In one disturbing video, a man, sans mask, was accosted by a cameraman who proceeded to shout at him:

"Do you want me to fine you S$300?"

"Unless you're running. You're walking, how can you don't put mask?"

"Are you educated?"

"You don't understand this. How much it cost our country to do this?"

"You don't owe me a living. We don't owe you a living."

As the cameraman continued with his verbal barrage, the man could only respond repeatedly with "sorry sir".

In another video, a man had followed a couple from a park and berated them during the entire time because they weren't wearing masks while walking.

"Be socially responsible!" he barked while threatening to send the clip to the police.

Of course, people who flout circuit breaker measures are at fault

It is true, people who flout circuit breaker measures are at fault, and such behaviour has very real consequences.

For one, it's illegal. You're breaking the law if you refuse to wear mask or maintain safe distancing outside.

But it goes beyond legality — people who refuse to comply with the circuit breaker measures are being socially irresponsible.

Their selfish actions might cause our collective circuit breaker efforts to go to waste, or worse, unwittingly infect others. This includes vulnerable segments of our population like the elderly, young children or people with compromised immune systems.

But please stop harassing them

It is truly frustrating to see people behaving selfishly with little to no regard for others.

Granted, you may be asking: why aren't people complying with the government's measures? Don't they deserve to be shamed for putting the community at risk?

But the more pressing question is: Shouldn't we also be treating someone with basic respect regardless of their crime or bad behaviour?

Basically, we shouldn't be treating others badly just because they behave badly.

Humiliating someone and filming it for the world to see is neither constructive nor respectful.

It does not change people's immediate behaviour not does it help with the situation.

It only serves to shame others and add to the pile of mindless visual stimulation in echo chambers.

Does that make our world a better place? I don't think so.

Extending a bit more empathy

What I'm saying is, we can afford to be more gracious, constructive, and empathetic in our responses.

There is a multitude of reasons why people flout circuit breaker measures. In fact, some may not even be aware that they're breaking the law.

Maybe they chose to go out because being cooped up at home all day had taken a toll on their mental health.

Maybe they didn't wear a mask because they can't breathe properly in it or because they had genuinely forgotten.

Maybe they are just ill-informed because they're not as woke as you are, or cannot appreciate the gravity of the situation. Because it's not easy to be invested in a fight against an enemy that is invisible.

Not that we should be making excuses for them, or giving them a free pass to do as they please.

But maybe we can try to understand others, and maybe even reach out politely instead of lashing out at them.

And if you really cannot tahan the sight of someone breathing in public without a mask, you could just send a report on the OneService app and let the enforcement officers do their job.

More than ever, this crisis is an opportunity for us to help one another, and fortunately, there are signs of this.

Singaporeans have taken to volunteering with their neighbourhood CC, donating to a worthy cause or tipping GrabFood riders working round the clock.

Others have preferred to spend some time writing a note to encourage essential workers.

By doing our best to help each other through this Covid-19 crisis, we can hopefully emerge from it as better versions of ourselves.

Top images via Facebook.