The police have arrested a Caucasian man who refused to wear a mask on the train.

The Singapore Police Force told Mothership:

“The Police confirm a report was lodged. On May 9, 2021, the Police arrested a 39-year-old man for allegedly causing public nuisance and flouting safe distancing measures in relation to the case.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Everyone should take the safe distancing measures seriously. The Police will not tolerate such blatant disregard of the law and wilful breaches of safe distancing measures.”

Those convicted of not wearing a mask in public can be jailed for up to six months, fined up to S$10,000 or both.

Background

According to Facebook user Keefe Chan who posted this video on May 8, the incident involving the Caucasian man happened on the evening of May 7 on a train that was headed towards Redhill, which is on the East West Line.

In the video, the man is seen talking to someone off-screen saying, “I will never wear a mask.”.

The man, who remained very calm throughout the video, then proceeds to sit on an empty seat — sans mask. His actions prompt an adjacent female commuter to get up.

The man goes on to say that he is “very religious”, “[loves] human beings” and “hates seeing [unclear] with the masks on”.

As he continues talking, another commuter on his left got up, and gestured to the person off-screen to stop because “you’re just giving him attention only”.

As the train picks up speed, the man asks if the person off-screen has done his research on a bizarre range of topics including, Bill Gates, Freemasons, Jesuits, and the United Nations.

“I’ve researched this quite a lot and it’s not good,” he says.

A chunk of the conversation cannot be heard clearly, but as he is talking, a person walks over to pass him a mask. The man makes a face and says: “I’m not going to f*cking put (unintelligible) on my face.”

The person off-screen then tells him that wearing a mask is actually quite comfortable, but the man appears unconvinced.

SMRT lodged police report

SMRT, the train operator which runs the East West Line, posted an update today (May 9) at around 2:45pm.

It said that whenever its staff are alerted to such incidents, they would request commuters to don their masks. Failure to comply would result in a TransCom activation.

SMRT also confirmed that it lodged a police report:

“We do not condone socially irresponsible behaviour that affects the safety of others, and strongly encourage our commuters to keep their mask on at all times and avoid talking on trains.”

Top image vis Keefe Chan/Facebook.