Police arrest foreigner selling tissues and begging outside temple at Bugis

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean called the police on Tuesday (Dec 31) after seeing people give money to a man who was selling tissues outside Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple in Bugis.

The man is physically disabled. One of his legs is shorter than the other and he needs crutches to get around. He also has a sizable tumour on his face, according to a report in Shin Min Daily News.

Since he is familiar with people who frequent the area, the Singaporean who called the police, a 79-year-old man named Mr Deng, suspected that the man might be a foreigner. He also asked the police to allow the man to continue to earn his keep by selling tissue paper if he turned out to be a local.

“However, if he’s a foreigner begging for money illegally, then they should take action against him so as to deter others from doing the same,” Mr Deng was quoted as saying.

He added that he has seen foreigners selling tissues illegally, cutting into the earnings of Singaporeans who also sell tissues in the area. He added that he hoped the authorities could strengthen law enforcement against foreigners.

When the police arrived at the temple, they questioned the man. Upon asking him for an ID card, the man gave the police a passport that was said to be from China. After the officers questioned the man for some time, he got into the police car and was driven away.

The Shin Min Daily News report says that in the 10 minutes he was observed outside the temple, the man was able to make more than S$50 from people who gave him money but did not take any tissue packets from him.

The police confirmed to AsiaOne that a 42-year-old had been arrested in the area for being a prohibited immigrant under Section 8(3)(a) of the Immigration Act of 1959. The matter is now under investigation.

“Begging in Singapore is prohibited under the Destitute Persons Act. There is no licence for it,” the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said in 2023.

Selling tissue paper packets, however, when one has a licence to do so, is allowed under the Street Hawking Scheme, which is under the purview of the Singapore Food Agency.

Last May, some Singaporeans online raised concerns after observing that there seem to be “a lot of foreign beggars in Singapore now,”, especially at hawker centers.

The featured image of Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple in Bugis is from Google. /TISG

Read also: Singaporeans raise concern about ‘foreign beggars’ on the streets