MRT Graffiti

[Picanto]

Very nice piece of art.

 

 

he can do it on your car if you like

[Bystander50]

This is a very serious breach of security. Apart from the physical intrusion, there are so many cameras at the MRT stations and station staffs. Why didn't any of them spot the graffiti on the train from their console? Spotting this vandalised train is much more easier than spotting a terrorist within the crowd. Reading from the report, this train is heading east bound towards Pasir Ris and departed from Changi Depot, this train would have made a complete West to East round and passed by most of the stations twice. Why was it not spotted earlier? What are the cameras for then? Where are the marshalls?

 

[Tunge]

This type of painting is all over the place in Germany, underpass, bridge etc....

you need to be artistic to paint those drawing. That is why singapore is a boring country...

 

i think alot of people are missing the point here... the main problem here is not vandalism but the breach in security of the MRT depot. admist all the ongoing terrorism tension, and all the measures that have been metted out to prevent terrorist attacks, this incident just shows how vulnerable we still are. terrorist can easily break into the depot, plant a bomb, and that's it... it's scary

[Tunge]

Is it a "rotan-able" offence????

Or do rotans only apply to locals for such cases?

 

 

u obviously r not very in touch with the news or u r too young to know... heard of michael fay?

[Darthrevan]

This is a very serious breach of security. Apart from the physical intrusion, there are so many cameras at the MRT stations and station staffs. Why didn't any of them spot the graffiti on the train from their console? Spotting this vandalised train is much more easier than spotting a terrorist within the crowd. Reading from the report, this train is heading east bound towards Pasir Ris and departed from Changi Depot, this train would have made a complete West to East round and passed by most of the stations twice. Why was it not spotted earlier? What are the cameras for then? Where are the marshalls?

 

All looked like zombies when going to work, payday then got energy to go ATM check pay. Look at the security guards of condos and shopping malls at night, mostly sleeping! They don't take their job seriously

[Shanhz]

This type of painting is all over the place in Germany, underpass, bridge etc....

you need to be artistic to paint those drawing. That is why singapore is a boring country...

 

in fact most of europe. not just germany. if drawn nicely, i dun mind he draw my car with barney and winnie the pooh. my kids will love it.

[SimonTan]

Once again I have regained my confidence in the local police capabilities.

The ability to catch the perpetrator is amazing, given its dark and usually no finger prints left over marks.

 

I think the HP signals betray the perpetrator once again. I assumed the telco has records of ALL the HP(IMEI) that are registered at whatever cell area at any given time. So tracking the cell area records at the night of the graffiti act, should be able to identify the perpetrator!

 

I think next time criminals should not carry any HP they do crime!

 

 

[Mockngbrd]

really well done though. hah

[Jman888]

i think alot of people are missing the point here... the main problem here is not vandalism but the breach in security of the MRT depot. admist all the ongoing terrorism tension, and all the measures that have been metted out to prevent terrorist attacks, this incident just shows how vulnerable we still are. terrorist can easily break into the depot, plant a bomb, and that's it... it's scary

 

 

than we should reward this guy for volunteer himself to test the security system, and who is responsible for the security flaw??

[RadX]

than we should reward this guy for volunteer himself to test the security system, and who is responsible for the security flaw??

 

 

I thihnk they should make him hte Minister leh...he will give more insights cf the current one

[Davidcks]

Once again I have regained my confidence in the local police capabilities.

The ability to catch the perpetrator is amazing, given its dark and usually no finger prints left over marks.

 

I think the HP signals betray the perpetrator once again. I assumed the telco has records of ALL the HP(IMEI) that are registered at whatever cell area at any given time. So tracking the cell area records at the night of the graffiti act, should be able to identify the perpetrator!

 

I think next time criminals should not carry any HP they do crime!

 

 

Hmm, since u mention it.... that can be one of the reason why they can be caught sooo fast....

[Krado]

If he spray paint your car w/o informing you, you will also be du lan right?

 

Nope, in fact I'll look for him and thank him for making my car more swee for free. Of course lah if he dun spray nonsense like "your car sucks" or "Stupid Chink"..

 

There's a difference between:

 

and .

 

 

[Chewbacca]

Nope, in fact I'll look for him and thank him for making my car more swee for free. Of course lah if he dun spray nonsense like "your car sucks" or "Stupid Chink"..

 

There's a difference between:

 

and .

 

 

Agreed.

 

What Fay did was mindless damage and destruction.

 

This one...well, it's a bit on the line, but one can argue that it is art.

 

I hope he doesn't get caned.

 

 

[Ngck]

i think alot of people are missing the point here... the main problem here is not vandalism but the breach in security of the MRT depot. admist all the ongoing terrorism tension, and all the measures that have been metted out to prevent terrorist attacks, this incident just shows how vulnerable we still are. terrorist can easily break into the depot, plant a bomb, and that's it... it's scary

 

 

More than a decade ago, while travelling across Europe, I was struck by the amount of graffiti that covered the walls of building, walls and, yes, trains. This form of "vandalism-art" has swept across many countries and was a form of youth rebellion against authorities. When I heard about the MRT train getting spray painted with graffiti, I first thoughts were ...'finally this got to Singapore'. I saw it as a sign that there was one or two young Singaporeans brave enough, frustrated enough, idle enough and crazy enough to do this. For me, graffiti art represented a whole mix of good, bad and ugly things about society and youth. First, you don't get graffiti in a police state, say N. Korea, where they catch, jail and shoot people for it....so the existence of graffiti can represent a freer looser society - nobody dares to paint graffiti where there is fear of the authorities .... Graffiti also represents frustration among youths especially so in countries where unemployment is high and young people have nothing to do so they vandalise buildings for kicks. Graffiti is sometimes prevalent in parts of cities where crime rate is high and the police is caught up with other activities and has no time to catch people for the petty crime of painting buildings and trains.

 

When I heard the graffiti on MRT trains, I thought it was a little odd because we are not a country with characteristics that will produce graffiti artists motivated enough to breaking into the SMRT premises to practise his art form.

 

It turned out the artists were 2 foreign men - a British tourist who has gone home and a Swiss business consultant working here:

 

"Oliver Fricker, 32, was accused of committing trespass and vandalism in mid-May, and a district judge who described him as a flight risk set bail at $100,000. His passport was also impounded. A worried-looking Fricker told the judge he needed a lawyer and asked that bail be lowered to US$40,000. But the judge cut him short and rejected the bail request, stressing the seriousness of the offence. " - AsiaOne News[Link]

 

Unfortunately, for the young Swiss, this is a "serious offence" in Singapore. He has violated security, committed an act of trespass and vandalism. Breaking the law is always very serious in Singapore. Yes, he could have planted a b..mb or sarbotaged the train. See this is Singapore, this Swiss feller has to be made an example so that everyone understands the "seriouness" of the offence. The more he is punished the more people will understand the severity of the crime he has committed and it will be deeply etched in the minds of Singaporeans and all those who come here that what has been done to our MRT train is heinous crime that deserves heavy punishment. But what really has this young Swiss done???....

 

"The break-in, believed to have taken place before dawn on May 17, was not immediately detected and the train plied its route in full view of commuters, one of whom filmed it and posted a clip on video-sharing site Youtube. " - AsiaOne Report.

 

He exposed the security flaws in our MRT depots. All they needed to get in was to cut a hole in the fence to get in. Yes, it was too dark to see that "Protected Area" shoot on sight sign that would have struck fear and deterred any good Singaporean. He had about 20-30 minutes to paint undetected because nobody patrols the area or the area is not patrolled frequent enough - they were counting on that big red "Protected Area" sign for security that is a lot cheaper than putting human beings and monitoring systems in place.

 

There are many ways to look at this painting act. It can be seen as simply youthful mischief. The SMRT can take some free lessons learnt about its security 9r lack of security without paying security consultants millions and thank this Mr. Oliver Fricker. Some may view his art as something colorful and refreshing on our dodgy overcrowded trains.....how we view this act will say a lot about our society.

 

But let me ask you why do you think Oliver Fricker did it? ...Really why?... He is a business counsultant with a cushy job and one day he woke up and decided to commit a 'serious crime' against Singapore? I think it is more something like this. Oliver Fricker (perhaps aka FrikArtist in the Swiss graffiti circles) wakes up everyday to the MRT to work. The trains are packed like cattle and he like many Singaporeans was started to feel like cattle herded to work everyday. Sometimes the MRT train works more like a microwave when the aircon is turned down. When he goes to the train station everyday he is greeted by signs, "Don't Step over the Yellow Line", "Life is Precious", "Jumping onto the tracks is an Offence", "No Eating or Drinking"...and so on. Fricker feels like cattle - contrained by rules and yellow lines. Frustrated, tired and missing his "Swiss standard" of living, Mr. Fricker woke up one day and hatched what he thought would be a nice refreshing prank to color the train he takes to work and perhaps put a smile or two on the faces of his fellow cattle as they enter the train to be microwaved for the next half or one hour.

 

I really don't know what was on Fricker's mind when he committed his act. The story above is just one version. But there are many ways to interpret what he has done. Unfortunately Fricker was in Singapore when he committed his act and it will be seen through the eyes of Singapore authorities. He will be seen as a serious criminal committing a serious crime of vandalism and threspass deserving of serious punishment. He will be punished in a way that will instil fear in all those who think of committing the same act. Breaking rules in Singapore is always serious ...regardless of his intent. It is unlikely that Mr. Fricker perhaps woke up one day wanting to commit a serious crime, violate security and endanger Singapore....he most probably woke up one day to break the monotony of his life in Singapore by doing what he probably did many times back home in Switzerland as a teenager (from his art work, you can tell he is no first timer). His biggest mistake is to forget that Singapore is not Switzerland.....

 

From

http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/

[Blueray]

SMRT says staff mistook graffiti on train for advert

By Imelda Saad | Posted: 08 June 2010 1844 hrs

 

 

SINGAPORE: SMRT has explained why there was a lapse of two days before a police report was made about the train that was vandalised with graffiti.

 

The company said its staff noticed the graffiti on the train on 17 May but did not sound the alarm as it was done artistically and they mistook it for an advertisement.

 

The alarm was raised two days later on 19 May at 4pm by maintenance staff when the train was recalled to the workshop for scheduled maintenance.

 

A police report was made then and investigations led to a discovery of the security breach at Changi depot.

 

SMRT said it immediately reviewed security measures in all its depots. The number of security personnel and patrols at each depot has increased, and security personnel instructed to step up their vigilance.

 

Moving ahead, SMRT said it will improve visibility along the entire perimeter of the Changi depot, which spans 3 kilometres. The fence will also be reinforced with barbed coiled wires at the base.

 

The number of security cameras will also be more than doubled.

 

There will be additional cameras installed at areas where the trains are launched daily at the depot.

 

- CNA/ir

 

 

 

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1061853/1/.html

[Albeniz]

The artwork is so good that MRT staff mistook it for an advertisement.

 

But this is Singapore. The Swiss should respect the protocol here and go by the book.

He should fill up some forms, apply the necessary permits and then proceed with the artwork.

 

Wait a minute, for his submission to get approved, he needs to have a cert in spray-painting...

 

[Sosaria]

...Graffiti also represents frustration among youths especially so in countries where unemployment is high and young people have nothing to do so they vandalise buildings for kicks. Graffiti is sometimes prevalent in parts of cities where crime rate is high and the police is caught up with other activities and has no time to catch people for the petty crime of painting buildings and trains...

 

...

"Oliver Fricker, 32, was accused of committing trespass and vandalism in mid-May, and a district judge who described him as a flight risk set bail at $100,000. His passport was also impounded. A worried-looking Fricker told the judge he needed a lawyer and asked that bail be lowered to US$40,000. But the judge cut him short and rejected the bail request, stressing the seriousness of the offence. " - AsiaOne News[Link]

...

 

He exposed the security flaws in our MRT depots. All they needed to get in was to cut a hole in the fence to get in. Yes, it was too dark to see that "Protected Area" shoot on sight sign that would have struck fear and deterred any good Singaporean. He had about 20-30 minutes to paint undetected because nobody patrols the area or the area is not patrolled frequent enough - they were counting on that big red "Protected Area" sign for security that is a lot cheaper than putting human beings and monitoring systems in place.

...

http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/

 

First off, this guy is not a "youth" or teenager anymore so his act his kind of mind-boggling. Neither is he a delinquent as he obviously holds a professional job, which makes his act even more mind-boggling.

 

GOOD - At last the authorities are beginning to realize that foreigners are likely to just flee the country before the case even starts. So impounding the passport and setting big bail amounts is the right way to go.

 

Singaporeans are not afraid of big red signboards... rather they are afraid of having a criminal record. On this little island, that's pretty much the end of your career if you have a criminal record. For foreigners, in their larger countries and more open systems, committing and having a minor offence on record is not much of a big deal.

 

[Vroomtattat]

Is it a "rotan-able" offence????

Or do rotans only apply to locals for such cases?

 

Does Michael Fay ring a bell? Hmmm?