First Person Charged for Beaching SHN; He Took Public Transport & Delivered Newspaper

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Singaporeans constantly complained of long working hours, too many projects at school, and too many social gatherings.

“I just need some time for myself, where I can lie in bed all day and watch Netflix”, said Cheryl, a fictional journalist in my mind.

“If only I could work from home, then I could spend more time with my kids”, said Jason, a non-existent accountant of my imagination.

But then the Covid-19 virus started spreading in Singapore like a fake message on WhatsApp, and the government told everyone to stay at home as much as possible.

“BUT HOW COULD THEY EXPECT US TO STAY AT HOME WHEN WE WANT TO WORK AND BE WITH OUR FRIENDS?!”, both Cheryl and Jason shouted with tears in their eyes.

You see, dear reader, humans will always want what they can’t have.

And, most importantly, we can’t seem to follow simple instructions when it matters the most.

First Person Charged for Beaching SHN; He Took Public Transport & Delivered Newspaper

A man was charged on Tuesday (Apr 7) under new regulations for breaching his stay-home notice.

Palanivelu Ramasamy, 48, is the first man to be charged under such regulations.

Ramasamy was given a stay-home notice on 21 Mar this year by an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer.

But on 30 March, Ramasamy allegedly left his Block 105 Towner Road flat and then took public transport to travel to and from Goldhill Plaza where he delivered newspapers.

He is set to plead guilty later this month.

Now, you might be thinking: maybe this man was in dire need of cash and that’s why he delivered some newspapers?

Yes, but surely he knew about the hefty fine he’d be facing if he got caught, right?

For breaching a stay-home order under the Infectious Diseases (COVID-19 – Stay Orders) Regulations 2020, the man could be jailed for up to six months, fined a maximum S$10,000 or both.

Unless you’re Bill Gates or a professional footballer, you’re probably not making more than $10,000 a day, so it’s certainly not worth risking this fine and jail term for.

Stay-Home Notice Means Stay At Home

The Stay-Home notice (SHN) many residents here have received couldn’t be clearer in its instruction unless the text was accompanied by this gif:

If you’re issued an SHN, you’ll have to stay in your residence at all times throughout the 14-day period.

And if you think you can sneakily go out for some Bak Kut Teh and get back without the gahmen finding out, think again.

The authorities will check on you using text messages, GPS location via your mobile phones, random phone calls, and house visits.

If you do receive a phone call from them, it’s not to ask you for TV show recommendations on Netflix. They’ll ask you to take photos of your surroundings to verify your whereabouts.

You will also need to monitor your health closely, with temperature checks twice daily.

So please, if you’re issued an SHN, then STAY AT HOME. You’re issued the SHN because you might have the coronavirus and might infect others.

What can you do? Well, you can grab that dusty book you’ve been meaning to read, watch that show you’ve always wanted to watch, or just, I don’t know, nap or something.

As long as it’s indoors and not illegal, go for it.