Assaulted at Fort Canning Park


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Singaporeans live in a sterile cocoon and are lulled into a false sense of security. While I have utmost sympathy for the TS, he should never have stopped in a lonely place to fiddle with his camera or mobile, oblivious to the environment around him.

I am an avid traveller and I almost never let my guard down. Even when I have to stop to sms or use my mobile on the streets (especially in China), I would find a safe place, eg in front of a bank with security guards or a police post, to do so. And I always look behind and around me to look out for suspicious characters. I have had many of these characters hurriedly walk past me, simply because I turned around to look at them hence they know that I am aware and it spoils their element of surprise.

These unfortunate incidents can happen to anyone but you can lessen the chances of it happening to you if you stay alert!

while i agree that one generally must be aware of the surroundings, it is a fallacy that stopping in front of guards or crowded place to fiddle with your gadget is safe. the would-be attackers may just tail u till an opportune time presents itself.

digital slrs, expensive lens and mobile phones are usually grabbed off individuals as opportune crimes. most ppl will not bother to tail u til an opportune time arise but some may just decide to tail u til u r at a deserted place.

where possible, avoid showing your expensive gears and do not attract attention like talking loudly, waving hands wildly, etc when using these gears. also, constantly looking around for suspicious characters that seem to be everywhere u go also lessens the probability that you are hit upon..(unless u glare in their direction and they decide to bash u for staring at them..)
 

Use gaffer tape

haha...to camo your gear against the forest? wear the new SAF pixelated uniform too....when encounter danger, jump into a bush and hope that the camo works....haha:bsmilie:
 

how about the idea of some CCTVs in national parks ? i guess it is time to do so.
 

Recently while taking photographs around Boat Quay area during the day (around the shop-houses and back lanes), I noticed that there were two men who kept appearing almost everywhere I went. And since it was during the public holidays, the place there was relatively deserted, which made me more aware of their presence. Thus, I decided to leave the back-lanes and head out towards the river area where there were more people, as a safety precaution (assuming that they wanted to do something).

IMO, it's kinda quite scary to hear of such an incident. Going in a group is a good choice but I know several of my photog. friends who love going out shooting alone (incl. me) at times. I guess, we've just got to keep our eyes wide-open and follow what our instinct tells us?

Low crime doesn't mean no crime :nono:
 

haha...to camo your gear against the forest? wear the new SAF pixelated uniform too....when encounter danger, jump into a bush and hope that the camo works....haha:bsmilie:

i shoot mostly in city, got pixelated no 4 for "fibua"?
 

i shoot mostly in city, got pixelated no 4 for "fibua"?

u just need a box and do this...

mgb.jpg
 

May you recover well and thank you for sharing ur story..
lets hope those gangsters all kena from the police and throw behind bars soon!
 

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Wha, u guys adult lei, i sec2 onli then i should more be careful liao lor
 

Wha, u guys adult lei, i sec2 onli then i should more be careful liao lor

But you can run faster than some uncles here I guess.....:bsmilie:
Better join groups bro, enjoyable, learn something and safer... ;)
Get out of your cage to grow!:cool:
 

But you can run faster than some uncles here I guess.....:bsmilie:
Better join groups bro, enjoyable, learn something and safer... ;)
Get out of your cage to grow!:cool:

young peps have a more sensitive hearing, from far hear liao, may not need to even run just walk oni. cool hor?! :cool:

oni dangerous people are put into cages! :devil:
 

Shocked by the audacity of the attackers. Hope TS has a speedy recovery and the thugs apprehanded ASAP.
 

hope you had a speedy recovery :)

but I'm not surprised to hear about the incident because I myself had 2 previous encounters but managed to get away unharmed.

On both incidents, I was shooting photographs of crowds/spectators of events. And before I knew, I was approached and man handled by a gang of 4-6 ah sengs.

On both incidents, they tried to snatch my camera from me but I put up a strong fight 'coz I quite big size.

And both incidents took place in broad day light, and mind you, with hundreds of onlookers but none came to aid me.

However, on both incidents, all those ah sengs wanted was to delete away photos containing their faces, which I did promptly.

On both incidents, I called the police but they turned up 40 minutes to 1 hour later which by then the ah sengs were long gone.

I also disagree for brandishing your "weapon" as a deterrent. This is because if you have, say a golf club, they will have to counter your "weapon" with either bigger or more lethal weapon, or they may need to resort to more brutal attack.

Imagine if their intention was to push you to the floor and run away with your camera. But suddenly, you display your monopod. Now they have to change their plan to either knock you unconscious on their first strike, or they need to have something bigger than your monopod. :(
 

Imagine if their intention was to push you to the floor and run away with your camera. But suddenly, you display your monopod. Now they have to change their plan to either knock you unconscious on their first strike, or they need to have something bigger than your monopod. :(

true lah, but if go out with khakis then the thugs will call for more bro to deal with the larger number of peps oso wad... :sweat:
 

But you can run faster than some uncles here I guess.....:bsmilie:
Better join groups bro, enjoyable, learn something and safer... ;)
Get out of your cage to grow!:cool:

Uncle like me also solo but now on try to go with younger boys if you don't mine 50+ uncle. But will definate carry Tripod Berno with ball head to hit theirs xxxx
 

Uncle like me also solo but now on try to go with younger boys if you don't mine 50+ uncle. But will definate carry Tripod Berno with ball head to hit theirs xxxx

Good thing about this hobby is theres no age limit, unless you can't press the shutter button.:bsmilie: Boys will be boys no matter what the age, common interest binds them all together, like when shooting XMM.;p:lovegrin:
 

This is scary. It is fortunate, nothing worst comes to you. Hope you will make full recovery soon.

I always go out alone for photo shooting, and I been to Fort Canning Park once. I do notice, it is very quiet place, and some area can be quite secluded. However, I never thought it can be so dangerous.

Hope those gangsters would be caught and let justice be served.
 

Hi all,

I'm very fine now, already got the stitches removed and the swollen is all gone.. only the scar, memory and of course the lesson to always grab a situation of my surronding remain. BTW the police call me a few days ago and told me that unfortunately there is no CCTV installed where the incident took place, and ask me whether i can recognize the attacker.. i answered honestly that i won't be able to recognize them because i didn't paid attention on them on the first place..

So what's important now is today and future.. past is past and we called it history..

---
Best regards,
Myself
 

Hi all,

I'm very fine now, already got the stitches removed and the swollen is all gone.. only the scar, memory and of course the lesson to always grab a situation of my surronding remain. BTW the police call me a few days ago and told me that unfortunately there is no CCTV installed where the incident took place, and ask me whether i can recognize the attacker.. i answered honestly that i won't be able to recognize them because i didn't paid attention on them on the first place..

So what's important now is today and future.. past is past and we called it history..

---
Best regards,
Myself

That is good to hear. take it as a mishap that probably had prevented a bigger mishap (chinese belief).

When yor ready, pick up the camera and spur yourself on. Enjoy photography as thats what you bought the gear for!
 

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