Living together in close proximity means that we have to be considerate and thoughtful towards one another.
But not everyone may instinctively do so, as some residents at Compassvale in Sengkang found out. According to them, loud chants have been playing around the clock in their estate daily for nearly a month.
The noise is apparently so bad that some residents have left notes to criticise and shame the inconsiderate behaviour.
On Tuesday (24 Jan), a Sengkang resident revealed the predicament he was facing in the Complaint Singapore Facebook group.
In the post, the OP shared that there has been incessant e-chanting in his estate.
Despite the absence of a physical wake in the area, the chanting had been going on for days, he claimed.
Unable to stand the noise any longer, he decided to call the police. The OP reported the incident twice but was apparently told to refer the case to the Housing & Development Board (HDB) instead.
He was evidently not the only one feeling exasperated, as another resident left a withering note to the culprit.
The note was apparently written at 11.30pm on 21 Jan.
In the note, the resident described the chanting as “annoying” and “causing noise pollution”.
Through “meaningless e-chanting”, they declared that the culprit “won’t find inner peace”.
The resident continued to criticise the culprit, saying that those disturbed by the noise would “keep putting a curse on you”, which inadvertently blocked their own blessings.
To top it all off, they commented that the chanting was shameful to Buddhism, and reminded the culprit to lower their volume and close their windows.
The resident ended the note by providing the Institute of Mental Health’s (IMH) hotline in case the neighbour “need[s] enlightenment” or is “facing a mental health crisis”.
Shin Min Daily News spoke to a resident of the estate at Block 201C Compassvale Drive, who claimed that the sound came from the block opposite her home.
The sound, which reportedly plays all day long, is especially loud at midnight and has gotten louder in the past three weeks.
The resident, Ms Li, believed that the noise started sometime on 2 Jan.
Unable to take it anymore, she gathered her daughters and another neighbour to find the source of the sound on Thursday (26 Jan).
When they went downstairs, more than 10 other people were allegedly wandering around trying to find where the sound was coming from too.
Despite going door-to-door over a period of two hours, however, they couldn’t locate the source.
In the comments, the Facebook OP stated that he had never encountered such a situation in his 20 years of living in the estate.
Another user who has been facing a similar problem said that the noise pollution was affecting other residents’ quality of life. It’s unclear if the user lives in the same neighbourhood as the OP.
On the other hand, some netizens pointed out that the culprit could be old or hard of hearing, so neighbours should try to reach out to them directly instead of calling the police.
Others suggested translating the note into other languages too, in case the possibly elderly culprit does not understand it.
If this issue has indeed been going on since the start of the year, one can understand why residents in the area are frustrated.
Hopefully, they’ll be able to find a resolution soon, perhaps with some assistance from the Town Council if need be.
MS News has reached out to the OP for more information regarding the matter. We’ll update the article if he gets back.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.
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