No have $5 to spend on fruit.
http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,207099,00.html?
Woman was spotted about 6m up in tree at Bishan without safety measures
By Benson Ang
July 07, 2009 Print Ready Email Article
IT'S the rambutan season, and they're going cheap. You can get 3kg of the fruit for as low as $5.
Click to see larger image
CHEAPER: Mr Ng sells rambutans for $2 per kg at Toa Payoh Central.
But some people are still risking life and limb for free rambutans - by climbing roadside trees in the heartlands.
On 28 Jun, a young woman and two children were seen getting rambutans from a tree in Bishan.
The tree is near the junction of Bishan Street 14 and Bishan Road.
The young woman, who was barefoot and wearing a red T-shirt and black shorts, climbed to a height of about 6m, which is more than two storeys of an HDB block.
She did not appear to be too concerned for her own safety, as she had no harness or security rope.
Click to see larger image
DANGEROUS: A maid (in red, high up in the tree), is shaking the branches so that rambutans would fall and be picked up by two waiting children. TNP PICTURES: BENSON ANG
One of the children said she was their maid.
She shook the branches so the rambutans would fall from the tree.
The children, a boy and a girl who seemed to be under 10 years old, waited at the bottom of the tree with empty bags.
They collected the rambutans which fell to ground, filling the bags. They did this for 10-15 minutes.
When The New Paper asked what they were doing, the girl said: 'Taking lor.'
She said she lived in Bishan.
But when asked for her name and age, and how often she did this, the girl said 'I don't know' repeatedly.
She and the children declined to answer any more questions, and walked away with the fruit soon after.
Not legal
Click to see larger image
The maid climbing down to safety.
A young man who passed by saw them and said: 'I didn't know in Singapore you can do that.'
And no, it isn't legal.
Lawyer Edmond Pereira, 59, said: 'The fruits belong to the land on which the tree is grown. Fruits from trees by the road are owned by the state.'
In March 1998, a 45-year-old man was jailed three months for plucking 19 mangoes from a tree in Race Course Road.
The man said then that he thought anyone could pluck mangoes from a tree in an open area near a public road.
The odd-job worker, who had previous convictions for armed robbery, housebreaking, theft, drug consumption and disorderly behaviour, could have been jailed for up to three years and fined.
Mr Pritam Singh, another lawyer, said the law can get vague if people only pick up fruit found lying on the ground.
The New Paper spent three days tracking down the owner of the tree in Bishan - the Singapore Sports Council (SSC). The town council, National Parks Board and HDB said they don't own it.
The tree is on a slope near the Bishan Swimming Complex, which is managed by the SSC, a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
Trees along the roads are managed by NParks, which is under the Ministry of National Development. HDB, another statutory board under the same ministry, is in charge of trees grown on some plots of state land.
Some trees in Bishan, Toa Payoh and Thomson are also under the purview of the Bishan-Toa Payoh town council.
An SSC spokesman said: 'We would advise the public not to do anything such as climbing up a tree that may endanger their own safety.'
http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,207099,00.html?
Woman was spotted about 6m up in tree at Bishan without safety measures
By Benson Ang
July 07, 2009 Print Ready Email Article
IT'S the rambutan season, and they're going cheap. You can get 3kg of the fruit for as low as $5.
Click to see larger image
CHEAPER: Mr Ng sells rambutans for $2 per kg at Toa Payoh Central.
But some people are still risking life and limb for free rambutans - by climbing roadside trees in the heartlands.
On 28 Jun, a young woman and two children were seen getting rambutans from a tree in Bishan.
The tree is near the junction of Bishan Street 14 and Bishan Road.
The young woman, who was barefoot and wearing a red T-shirt and black shorts, climbed to a height of about 6m, which is more than two storeys of an HDB block.
She did not appear to be too concerned for her own safety, as she had no harness or security rope.
Click to see larger image
DANGEROUS: A maid (in red, high up in the tree), is shaking the branches so that rambutans would fall and be picked up by two waiting children. TNP PICTURES: BENSON ANG
One of the children said she was their maid.
She shook the branches so the rambutans would fall from the tree.
The children, a boy and a girl who seemed to be under 10 years old, waited at the bottom of the tree with empty bags.
They collected the rambutans which fell to ground, filling the bags. They did this for 10-15 minutes.
When The New Paper asked what they were doing, the girl said: 'Taking lor.'
She said she lived in Bishan.
But when asked for her name and age, and how often she did this, the girl said 'I don't know' repeatedly.
She and the children declined to answer any more questions, and walked away with the fruit soon after.
Not legal
Click to see larger image
The maid climbing down to safety.
A young man who passed by saw them and said: 'I didn't know in Singapore you can do that.'
And no, it isn't legal.
Lawyer Edmond Pereira, 59, said: 'The fruits belong to the land on which the tree is grown. Fruits from trees by the road are owned by the state.'
In March 1998, a 45-year-old man was jailed three months for plucking 19 mangoes from a tree in Race Course Road.
The man said then that he thought anyone could pluck mangoes from a tree in an open area near a public road.
The odd-job worker, who had previous convictions for armed robbery, housebreaking, theft, drug consumption and disorderly behaviour, could have been jailed for up to three years and fined.
Mr Pritam Singh, another lawyer, said the law can get vague if people only pick up fruit found lying on the ground.
The New Paper spent three days tracking down the owner of the tree in Bishan - the Singapore Sports Council (SSC). The town council, National Parks Board and HDB said they don't own it.
The tree is on a slope near the Bishan Swimming Complex, which is managed by the SSC, a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
Trees along the roads are managed by NParks, which is under the Ministry of National Development. HDB, another statutory board under the same ministry, is in charge of trees grown on some plots of state land.
Some trees in Bishan, Toa Payoh and Thomson are also under the purview of the Bishan-Toa Payoh town council.
An SSC spokesman said: 'We would advise the public not to do anything such as climbing up a tree that may endanger their own safety.'
