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A HDB flat on the seventh floor of Block 533 Upper Cross Street in Chinatown put up a message on its apartment's windows to complain about the cooking fumes emitted from a nearby restaurant.
via Google Maps
The message, written in legible, neon green Chinese characters, read, "Bullying the residents" and "Daily oily fumes".
The message in English appeared to be addressed to the authorities, as they read, "NEA", "SFA", "HDB" and "JBTC", which stand for National Environment Agency, Singapore Food Agency and Housing & Development Board, and Jalan Besar Town Council, respectively.
The big character message was spotted on Sep. 30 by a member of the public, who then alerted Shin Min Daily News to it.
Put up by resident
However, when a reporter from the Chinese media went to the flat to pay a visit to find out more about the situation, no one answered the door.
Other neighbours interviewed said the unit with the message on its windows was occupied by a middle-aged woman.
But they did not notice the message on the window until it was pointed out to them.
It was not known how long has the message been put up for.
The presence of cooking fumes is palpable enough though.
Another resident, who lived next door to the unit with the message on its window, claimed he would smell cooking fumes during lunch and dinner almost every day.
He deduced that because the restaurant downstairs has kitchen exhaust ventilation pipes that extend to the fourth floor, nearby residents often smelled the fumes emanating from the cooking when business was in operation.
Restaurant apologises
A person in charge of the Yan Palace restaurant located at ground floor of Block 531 told Shin Min that no complaints about cooking fumes have been received by them so far.
The restaurant will clean the exhaust ventilation pipes once every three months, it was added.
The person in charge said: "The authorities might have received complaints before, as they did send people to inspect the situation and asked us to reduce the emission of cooking fumes. Purifiers were installed in May."
The restaurant spokesperson added that it is inevitable that the smell of cooking fumes are released and apologised to the residents affected, but hoped that they can be more understanding now.
The restaurant spokesperson also said they were not aware of the unit in the nearby block that has put up big character posters at the window complaining about cooking fumes, but hoped that residents will report any concerns directly to the restaurant.
If the issue is found to be a problem after inspection, the restaurant will send someone to the unit to help solve it, the spokesperson said.
Top photo via Shin Min Daily News