SINGAPORE – The parkour enthusiast who filmed and posted a video of himself and a few others scaling the glass roof of a mall in Simei has said he deeply regrets his actions.
A police report has been lodged over the incident.
The video shows a group of young people performing various stunts, including climbing onto the glass dome roof of Eastpoint Mall and walking on top of the railings of a Pan-Island Expressway flyover.
The video was originally posted on Facebook and YouTube by 23-year-old Koh Chen Pin on Aug 16, The New Paper reported on Saturday.
he videos have since been taken down.
Mr Koh, who goes by alias Denester and whose Facebook page has more than 42,000 followers and likes, told The Straits Times on Saturday (Sept 2) that he was remorseful.
“I’m aware that some activities seen in the video are inappropriate and I deeply regret my actions,” he said.
The police confirmed with ST on Saturday that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing.
The East Coast-Fengshan Town Council had told TNP that it would be filing a police report against the group.
A spokesman for Eastpoint Mall told ST that the safety of its shoppers is paramount to them, and they take “a serious view against any acts of mischief that endanger the safety of those involved and others around them”.
“A police report was made and the incident is under investigation,” said the spokesman. “The roof area at Eastpoint Mall is not designed for carrying out any activities and it is strictly out of bounds to the public. We seek the cooperation of all visitors to act responsibly.”
The mall is reinforcing security measures to prevent other incidents of unauthorised access.
“Anyone caught trespassing into out-of-bounds areas will be handed over to the police,” said the spokesman.
The director of A2 Movements, said to be the first parkour academy in Singapore, told ST that he is well-acquainted with Mr Koh and he thinks it is a lesson to be learnt.
Mr Tan Chi Ying, 31, said: “Not all parkour practitioners go to rooftops and not all those who go to rooftops are practising parkour.”
Mr Tan, who has about 50 students in his academy, said Mr Koh belongs to the second generation of parkour enthusiasts in Singapore, where parkour has flourished for about 10 years.
“The first generation is us guys in their 30s. The second generation just crossed adulthood, so most of them are in their early 20s,” he said. “I think they are starting to understand responsibilities and how the adult world works. As young people, they tend to be a bit more thrill-seeking.”
Mr Tan said the second-generation parkour practitioners in Singapore are starting to form a committee to lay down guidelines on the “really reckless things they should avoid”.
Commenting on the latest incident, he said: “I think it’s a bit of trial by fire… doing parkour is not illegal but it is illegal to trespass.”‘
This is the latest in a series of reported risky behaviour. In late August, a Sengkang condominium issued advisories after pictures of students sitting on open ledges on its 16th floor went viral.
In February, 17-year-old Jonathan Chow Hua Guang died after falling to his death from the fourth-storey linkway of Orchard Central shopping mall.
