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  Today Online 5 Nov 05
Keeping the squatters away
New scheme calls for weekday campers to be registered
Loh Chee Kong

Channel NewsAsia 4 Nov 05
Weekday campers at 5 parks must now get permits: NParks
 By Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : Permits will now be required for camping at the five designated parks on weekdays.

NParks said the measure was being put in place in response to squatters living at the Changi Beach in the last few months. The squatters have since been evicted.

Litter everywhere and rows of squatters cluttered on the beach: this was the scene at Changi just a month back.

Kong Yit San, Director, Parks Division, NParks Board, said: "In the exercise that we did a month ago, we detected 70 overstayers. Most of them were actually requiring assistance of some form. For those that required assistance, we referred them to agencies or ministries.

To prevent overstaying, NParks announced that from the 7th of November, permits will now be required for camping on weekdays at the 5 designated parks at West Coast, East Coast, Sembawang, Changi and Paris Ris.

Weekend campers however still do not need permits.

To police this new regulation, park rangers will approach campers to scan a verification slip, which is supposed to be attached to the tent. A different coloured slip will be issued everyday.

Jackey Ong, Camper, said: "I think it is a good measure because if anything were to happen to the camper, the reaction time will be faster on the part of NParks. "It is also a measure for them to identify who are the overstayers so in a way. It keeps the place safer for everyone and frees up the space for campers like us."

Fee Mei Feng, Camper, said: "You never know what kind of people camp here. There may be some people doing illegal things like maybe illegal workers. I'm not sure what people come out to camp. So for us genuine campers, it will be good, safer for us because we know that somebody knows we are here."

No additional manpower will be employed by NParks for this. Enforcement work will be carried out by the 16 park rangers currently employed in the 5 designated parks.

The number of campers between December last year and May this year increased almost 8 times from 1,000 to 7,800. On a weekday, one can find about 160 campers in the public parks.

Squatters can be fined up to S$2000.

Today Online 5 Nov 05
Keeping the squatters away
New scheme calls for weekday campers to be registered
Loh Chee Kong

Two months ago, the National Parks Board (NParks), together with the police and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), embarked on an exercise to clear beaches of people who had been living in tents for months, even years.

And now, to keep squatters away for good, it will launch a registration process.

Starting from Monday, permits will be required for camping at the NParks' five designated parks — Pasir Ris, Changi Beach, East Coast, West Coast and Sembawang — on weekdays.

Campers will be asked by park rangers on patrol to produce their identification cards (ICs) so that their particulars may be recorded. No permits are needed on weekends and public holidays.

Said NParks' Parks Division director Kong Yit San: "We decided on this registration process … as the targeted approach ensures optimum effectiveness in discouraging overstayers, with negligible inconvenience to the genuine campers."

Last December, in its bid to promote camping and outdoor activities at the parks, NParks abolished its earlier system in which campers had to apply for a permit beforehand. Six months later, the number of campers had ballooned from 1,000 to 7,800 per month.

With this explosion also came the problem of squatters, and in September, NParks started a month-long operation to clear them out. Some 70 "overstayers", most at Changi beach, were asked to leave. Twelve were referred to MCYS for assistance and the last squatter left on Oct 7, Mr Kong said.

Squatters may be fined up to $2,000, but he added that this would be the "last resort" and it has "not been imposed so far".

Said Mr Kong: "These people are usually poor and there's no use fining them. We will keep persuading them to leave and at the same time, we will work with the MCYS and refer them to available help."

Under the new registration process, camping will be limited to specific areas at the five parks. Park rangers from Changi Beach and East Coast Park, on their daily rounds from 2pm to 10pm, will scan campers' ICs with their tablet PCs. Only one person in a group needs to register.

Rangers from the other three parks will record the particulars manually and upload them to a shared database back in their offices. A verification slip — randomly colour-coded for each day of the week — will also be issued. Campers will have to hang it outside their tents.

According to NParks' communications manager Jacqueline Tan, each IC can be used to register for a stay of five weekdays. Campers who wish to stay longer will be allowed to do so on a "case-by-case basis".

The database will help NParks identify and track potential squatters even if they shift between the five parks. Park rangers will also be alerted should any group try to use different ICs and overstay.

On average, there are 32 campers each weekday at each park — a "manageable" number for NPark's 16 park rangers to cope with, said Ms Tan.

As for why permits are needed only on weekdays, Ms Tan said: "Weekends and public holidays are when families come to enjoy our parks and we don't want the public to misinterpret that we are discouraging them from camping here."

Campers Today spoke to welcomed the system. Said sales manager Jackey Ong, 34: "It will make the place safer and free up sites for others. And it's not a hassle, as everyone is supposed to have their ICs with them."
links
NParks relaxes rules on camping permits Channel NewsAsia 26 Nov 04
Campers complain of overcrowding, littering after lifting of camping permits by Ken Teh Channel NewsAsia, 18 Dec 04
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