Raw pork cuts hanging from HDB windowsill raise a stink with neighbours and netizens

Some dwellers of HDB apartments have had their fair share of issues with neighbours upstairs over dripping-wet clothes being hung out to dry — but the meat of this issue is a whole different thing altogether. 

A man took to the Complaint Singapore Facebook page on yesterday (Oct 11) to post a rather strange sight outside his kitchen window: the household on a floor above him had hung out seven cuts of pork belly from their window ledge.

It’s even stranger to see that the thick slabs of meat were hung alongside clothes drying on bamboo poles.

“My neighbours and I are speechless,” wrote the man. “Are they selling homemade bacon?” he questioned, calling the pork lovers “ridiculous, selfish and [unhygienic]” people. 

It’s not clear why anyone would want to hang raw meat outside HDB windows, but the closest guess is that they’re trying to make homemade preserved pork belly. Though all that would be for nought considering Singapore’s unpredictably humid conditions and exposure to insects might just cause the meat to spoil from bacteria growth. 

The incident made for a sizzling comments section filled with people calling the act unsanitary. Not to mention insensitive to Muslim neighbours who clearly won’t be chuffed with pork drippings on their laundry. 

This wouldn’t be the first time, too, that people have been caught hanging raw pork meat outside their HDB apartment window. Back in March, the Nee Soon Town Council had to compel a family in Yishun to stop hanging meat at their laundry rack, which raised a stink (both literally and figuratively) with their neighbour downstairs. 

"In view of public health and hygiene, we would also like to take the chance to remind residents not to hang any food items on the laundry rack,” said a Nee Soon Town Council spokesperson back then. 

ilyas@asiaone.com