Toa Payoh residents are sick and tired of exhorting a woman, believed to be from China, that it is wrong to bring her grandson out to pee and poop every day in public – especially at coffeeshops where people are eating.
Sharing a photo of the woman and her grandson, netizen Sonia revealed that this has been going on for months. The Chinese woman would apparently bring her grandson to urinate and defecate at the garden area in front of Blk 17 Toa Payoh Lorong 7 before they move into the coffeeshops in Blk 18 Toa Payoh Lorong 7 to finish his business.
According to Sonia, Toa Payoh residents have told the woman multiple times that it is not right for her to bring her grandson to pee and poop in public. Despite this, Sonia says that the brazen woman “refuses to listen and will scold us back. She says it is normal in China and tells us to mind our own business.”
Sonia appealed on social media: “I think this is too much. Can the authorities do something about this? The residents in this area have SUFFERED for a few months already and she continues to do that EVERY SINGLE DAY.”
In the picture Sonia shared, the woman’s grandson appears to be wearing open-crotch pants. Also known as “poop pants” or “split pants”, these trousers that feature an open space for the child’s buttocks are worn by toddlers throughout mainland China.
Often made of thick fabric, they are designed with either an unsewn seam over the buttocks and crotch or a hole over the central buttocks. Both allow children to urinate and defecate without the pants being lowered. The child simply squats, or is held by the parent, eliminating the need for diapers.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, “kaidangku, the split pants that allow this anytime/anywhere release, are as much a sign of China as Chairman Mao’s portrait looming over Tiananmen Square.”
According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), urinating or defecating in public is an offence under the Environmental Public Health Act and offenders are liable to a maximum fine of S$1,000 for the first conviction.
Netizens responding to Sonia’s story excoriated the Chinese woman for her defense that this is normal in China:
Read Sonia’s post in full here:
In case you cannot read the above:
“This PRC auntie brings her grandson to pee and poop in public everyday, including inside coffeeshops where people are eating. Look at how she cut his pants!
“They are always at the small garden/park in front of Blk 17 Toa Payoh Lorong 7, and then they will go into the coffeeshops in Blk 18 Toa Payoh Lorong 7.
“The people in Toa Payoh have told her multiple times not to do it but she refuses to listen and will scold us back. She says it is normal in China and tells us to mind our own business.
“I think this is too much. Can the authorities do something about this? The residents in this area have SUFFERED for a few months already and she continues to do that EVERY SINGLE DAY.”