COVID-19: Prosecution seeks jail for man who breached Stay-Home Notice to eat bak kut teh

SINGAPORE — The prosecution is seeking 10 to 12 weeks’ jail for the man who made headlines for eating bak kut teh while supposedly serving a Stay-Home Notice (SHN), after he admitted to his offence on Thursday (16 April).

Alan Tham Xiang Sheng, the first person to be dealt with under Section 21A(1) of the Infectious Diseases Act, had returned to Singapore from Myanmar on 23 March and was served with a 14-day SHN upon his return.

Instead of heading home, however, the 34-year-old had a meal at a food court in the airport, then visited a shopping centre before heading home. He then left his residence for dinner and to buy groceries, even as he was berated by friends for his actions.

The case is adjourned to 23 April after the judge asked the prosecution to clarify some points relating to sentencing.

Addressing the court on behalf of Tham, who is running an online sales business after losing his job as a Cisco secure logistics officer, his lawyers Josephus Tan and Cory Wong from Invictus Law Corporation asked for the court to place sentencing weight on Tham’s actions after he returned home.

The lawyers pointed out that while the SHN stated that Tham was required to remain in his place of residence, it did not say Tham had to return home immediately after receiving the SHN.

Not a ‘Go Home Notice’: Lawyer

“It is not a ‘Go Home Notice’,” noted Tan in court. The SHN did not restrict Tham’s movements before he reached home, a different situation from a person who left his home in breach of the SHN, according to Tan.

Furthermore, there were no protocols in place by 23 March – the day of Tham’s return from Myanmar – to isolate SHN recipients or escort them home in a controlled setting, noted the lawyers.

“Instead, the recipient is left to his own devices and the onus is on him to travel home himself by whatever means he pleases,” they added. “And if going home immediately to isolate oneself was such a critical aspect of the SHN, it is astoundingly dumbfounding that the SHN was completely silent about how the recipient should even go about making his own way home or if there were any movement-restrictions.”

The lawyers further noted that on 24 March, the government had announced that Singapore residents returning from Britain or the United States from 11.59pm on 25 March would be directly escorted from the airport to a designated hotel to serve their SHN. However no such protocol was in place for those returning from Myanmar.

Facebook post reference by Law Minister

Tham pleaded guilty to a single charge of exposing others to the risk of contracting COVID-19 by visiting public places despite knowing that he was a possible carrier of the virus and being placed on a SHN that was effective from 23 March to 6 April.

Tham first garnered public attention after he had dinner consisting of the pork broth dish, bak kut teh, on 23 March and posted photos of it on Facebook. His photos were picked up by Facebook friends, who advised him to comply with the SHN in another Facebook post dated 24 March.

The post was referenced by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who said in Parliament that he asked the authorities to investigate Tham.

On 25 March, a team of officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) conducted an enforcement check at Tham’s residence and Tham admitted that he had breached his SHN on 23 March to have dinner with his girlfriend. The Ministry of Health was notified and commenced investigations against him.

Investigations revealed that on 23 March, after arriving at Changi International Airport Terminal 3 and clearing customs at about 3.29pm, Tham was issued an SHN. The SHN was meant to take effect from the day of his return. Tham signed an acknowledgement of the SHN.

Went to Peninsula Plaza to change money

Some 10 minutes later, Tham met his girlfriend and proceeded to have a meal at the Kopitiam Food Court located at T3. The couple then booked a private-hire car to Peninsula Plaza, where Tham changed his leftover Myanmar currency to Singapore dollars.

The couple then returned to Tham’s home via another private-hire car, arriving at the residence at 6.35pm.

After taking a shower at home, Tham left for dinner with his girlfriend as he was craving bak kut teh. At 8.27pm, the couple boarded bus service No. 912 and proceeded to Kampung Admiralty located at Block 676 Woodlands Drive 71 where they ate bak kut teh at Foodfare Hawker Centre.

Tham’s photos of the meal on Facebook attracted his friends’ chastisement, but he did not immediately return home. He responded to his friends in the 45 minutes he was at the hawker centre before he headed to an NTUC FairPrice supermarket to purchase groceries.

He then returned home at about 10pm. Tham did not wear a face-mask or take any measures to reduce his exposure to members of the public.

Myanmar was accused’s ‘virgin flight’: Lawyer

Tham’s “blatantly irresponsible behaviour” warranted a jail term of at least 10 to 12 weeks’, said Deputy Public Prosecutors Kenneth Chin and Norman Yew.

Noting that this was an unprecedented breach of the Infectious Diseases Act, the prosecutors said that it was “imperative that the Courts send a deterrent message that there are serious repercussions for exposing others to the risk of infection by breaching SHN requirements.”

Tan however, sought the maximum $10,000 fine for Tham.

In mitigation, he argued that Tham should not be penalised heavily for his stays at Changi Airport T3 and Peninsula Plaza, as the amount of time spent at the two locations was reasonable and nothing aggravating of sorts.

“(Tham) was certainly not showing off or flaunting the fact that he was breaching the SHN. He was just excited about eating bak kut teh,” he said.

Tham’s solo trip to Myanmar from 20 to 24 March had been his “virgin flight out of Singapore”, said Tan. “Prior to that, he had never seen what it was like inside Changi Airport’s beautiful departure and arrival halls. He was also alien to all the processes at the immigration counters.”

Tham, a photography enthusiast, was fulfilling his lifelong dream to travel the world to capture beautiful scenes. Tham had also booked a solo-trip to Vietnam for 3 to 7 April 2020 for the same reason but had to cancel the trip after being served with the SHN.

For breaching the SHN, Tham could have been jailed up to six months, or fined up to $10,000, or both.

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