'You fine me, I sue you': Hougang resident upset over town council asking him to remove plants from unit

For one green-thumbed man in Hougang, caring for his plants is a fulfilling hobby to pass the time. 

So, he was understandably furious when the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council allegedly asked him to remove the plants outside his unit.

"I used to have so many more plants here," elderly man told content creator Turf Wars in a TikTok video posted yesterday (Jan 19).

However, the sprightly man is unwilling to go down just like that. 

In retaliation to the town council's demands, he said on the video that he is giving them three options.

The first was to ask a reporter to publicise his case. 

"How come other people can grow plants but I can't? You don't have to walk very far to see," he said while gesturing at his neighbour's homes. 

The second option was that if the town council fines him, he said he'll sue them. 

"You fine me, I sue you. See you in court," he said fiercely. 

But despite the first two menacing-sounding options, his third was surprisingly a little tamer. 

"I'll stop growing plants," he simply said. 

"Forget it, anyway, it's just a casual hobby," he explained

In the TikTok comment thread, many netizens pointed out that as long as this man is able to keep his plants neatly, he should be allowed to do so. 

Some also said that his plants helped to "beautify the surroundings" too. 

Others were also amused by the contrast between the first two options and his last option. 

However, there were several who felt like the elderly man was being "entitled", with one saying that he was behaving as if he lives in a landed property. 

According to the Hougang Town Council's by-laws, residents are not allowed to obstruct or cause or permit the obstruction of the lawful use of any common property with any objects or fixtures. 

The town council is also allowed to remove any object, fixture or thing obstructing use of the common property. 

AsiaOne has reached out to Aljunied-Hougang Town Council and Turf Wars for more details. 

Town council trimmed his plants

In November last year, another man shared that the town council made him trim down the plants in his Jurong West HDB flat. 

The flat had been an attention-grabbing sight for years, due to the massively overgrown and unruly plants growing out of the unit's windows. 

This caused some displeasure with some of his neighbours and authorities stepped in to get workers to trim the overgrown plants. 

The job was completed after some six hours. 

Later on, the man admitted to a reporter from Shin Min Daily news that he was heartbroken when the authorities turned up to prune his beloved plants, but he didn't object as he did not want to start a conflict. 

ALSO READ: Neighbour says Pasir Ris flat owner causing fire hazard with her potted plants

melissateo@asiaone.com

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.