69YO S’porean Arrested for Urinating at Religious Spot in Johor CIQ Complex

It seems that urinating in random places situated within the Johor immigration complex is becoming increasingly commonplace.

While the average person would hold their pee in for as long as possible to look for a toilet, some people thought they could get away with peeing in hidden corners of the complex.

And it gets more outrageous each time.

Just recently, a video surfaced of a 69-year-old Singaporean man urinating in an area used for washing before Islamic prayers.

The Details

In the 11-second clip uploaded to Facebook by Team Cougar Bsi on Tuesday (9 May), the man was captured urinating in an area used for ablution before prayers at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex in Johor Bahru.

Another man’s voice was heard in the background throughout the video.

Ablution, also known as wudhu in Islam, is the process of washing certain body parts in preparation for prayer. It must be fulfilled for the prayer to be considered valid.

The other man, who is not seen throughout the video, lamented, “You can read, right? This is a place for people to pray.”

“You don’t have respect, you know?” he later added.

The man urinating spoke up, but the video was cut off before his full response could be heard.

The caption highlighted that Singaporeans were getting ruder as the man even had the nerve to urinate at the wudhu area.

Amid the vitriol that the video was met with by netizens, Johor Chief Minister Onn Hafiz confirmed in the comments that police had detained the man under Section 295 of Malaysia’s penal code.

Section 295 applies to those who have destroyed, defiled or damaged any place of worship or sacred objects with the intentional insult to religion or knowledge that the action would insult the religion.

He may face a prison term of up to two years and/or a fine.

The New Straits Times mentioned that the man had tested negative for drugs but had a previous criminal record.

Netizens’ Reactions

Singaporeans and Malaysians have a rivalry and usually spar over things like where hawker centres originated.

But this particular incident did not rub well with Malaysians, and many had more serious criticisms about us.

Our ability to comprehend rules is questionable as this wasn’t the first time a Singaporean had urinated in a place that wasn’t a toilet in Malaysia.

This commenter pointed out that the man came from a flourishing country but was still unhygienic.

This one suggested that the man doesn’t need to go to prison but should be punished for having to clean toilets at all mosques and prayer rooms.

Another Woman Caught Recently

Just last week, on 5 May, a video was uploaded of a woman urinating in another area at the CIQ complex.

Staff found her to be urinating behind an immigration counter closed for upgrading works.

Although the staff yelled at her to clean up after her mess, she just walked off and apologised.

Two Singaporean men were also caught in June last year urinating at a tree in front of the immigration complex, but it is unknown whether police eventually found them.

Clearer Signs

In light of these incidents, there will be clearer signs for public toilets at the CIQ complex, according to The Star.

Mohamad Fazli, state works, transportation and infrastructure committee chairman, stated that while travellers are discouraged from using the toilet at the immigration complex as it is a high-security area, they should still be able to do so before a long trip.

They will work towards putting up signs with more comprehensible directions to public toilets.

Following the incident involving the woman urinating behind the counter, he said this was a one-off occurrence and witnessed most travellers visiting the public toilets.