Singporeans are one of the most apathetic people around.
Today afternoon at 2.55pm I heard screaming. It sounded like a girl, and she was screaming screams of around 1s each, again and again. It was very loud and seemed to come from either my block or the condominium opposite my block; sounds echo here and it’s hard to tell. The screams lasted till 3.06pm. By then, the screamer was sounding exhausted, and the screams weren’t as high pitched.
Frankly, I was scared. What if it were some poor abused person in need of help? And if I didn’t call the police, would I be indirectly causing her undue abuse or even her death?
At the beginning it could be some kid screaming for fun or out of anger. But when it dragged on it was unnerving as the probability of someone needing help would have increased.
I checked the police website to see if this warranted a call. All their examples of what warranted a call were much serious than “screams”.
You should call 999 when you need immediate help in the following scenarios:
a) a crime is in progress
b) someone suspected of committing a crime is close by, or you know where the person is
c) a further crime might be committed
d) Someone has been seriously injured or is in danger.
e) When you observe suspicious characters, incidents or suspicious parcels left at public areas.
I couldn’t be sure of any of the above. And the penalty of the misuse of the hotline was staring at me. Plus what would people say if I had called and nothing crime-like was going on? I didn’t know the exact location, etc etc. My dad would be angry about me interfering in stuff like this.
I tried to look for an online place where I could report anonymously but there wasn’t one. I wanted to run downstairs to the public phone but I haven’t a phonecard. And my neighbours would see me go down or make the call and they’d tell.
Around 3.04pm, a rude kid in my block started screaming, imitating the screams and then screamed at the screamer to stop screaming. I wish I heard the parent or guardian give the kid a loud juicy smack.
I think if people had seen Mas Selamat, most wouldn’t have called the police. The only way they’d called is after checking his IC, personally asked him if that was him, just to be absolutely sure they would not be punished for making a false call.
One of my worst fears is being falsely accused. So I shouldn’t be playing Polar Bear.
