Man from China allegedly films himself in detention in SG, uploads video on social media

SINGAPORE: According to a report on Wednesday (Jan 21) from Lianhe Zaobao, a man from China allegedly took a video at a restricted area at the Singapore and Malaysia border and uploaded it onto the social media app Douyin.

Filming videos, or even taking pictures, is largely forbidden in such areas for national security reasons. Altogether, videos and photos taken in these areas may also involve other travellers, as well as officials, whose privacy must be protected.

The report said the video was uploaded on Douyin on Jan 18 (Sunday) on the account of a user named “Hei Zai.” The title of the clip, which is less than half a minute long, is said to be “Detained in a small room by customs upon arrival in Singapore”.

The report describes the video as featuring the voice of a man laughing and saying that he had arrived in Singapore but that he had been detained by the city-state’s customs in a “small dark room.”

The interior of the room can also be seen in the video.

In the clip, the man eventually turns the camera to reveal himself. Also in the room are three women by a glass window and a man in a blue shirt, all engrossed in their phones. Signs on the walls and windows prohibit photography.

This was posted a few months after a Singaporean man named Wong Jeo Wah ran afoul of the law after taking to social media to complain about how he was allegedly treated by an ICA officer at a departure lane at Woodlands Checkpoint.

On Aug 15, two days after the incident, he was handed one count under the Infrastructure Protection Act of taking photos and videos without permission.  Under the act, unauthorised photography or videography in a protected area could land an offender up to two years in jail or cost them up to S$20,000 in fines. /TISG

Read related: New video of what really happened in Woodlands checkpoint incident of SG man who posted unauthorised photos & videos of ICA officer