Yishun has been the subject of heated discussion of late, but why does this town – which seems like another ordinary neighbourhood with plenty of flats, parks, and is a hub of transport – have more than its fair share of news headlines?
It seems that this heartland district has been in the news since the 90s, with stories varying from murders and the occult, to animal cruelty and crazy individuals. Welcome to Yishun’s Thug Life.
Just when we thought Yishun stopped being in the headlines, four suspected drug offenders were arrested and about 970g of heroin worth more than S$68,000 seized in an operation by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) on March 1. This came less than a week after a 25 year-old Chinese language teacher was found dead in the bathroom of her flat at Yishun Street 81 over the weekend.
In January this year, Yishun made triple headlines, and all for different reasons. First up, there was a Yishun resident who was arrested in Australia for smuggling S$64.6 million worth of cocaine into Tasmania. Then 2 men in their 20s decided to use a stun gun to face police officers when they were caught trying to steal from a carpark. To end the month on a bizarre note, 2 cats were brutally killed, with their bodies slit. Cat killing isn’t new to Yishun – in 2015, 17 cats were killed – in one case, it was thrown off the 13th floor.
It seems even buildings were up to no good: 3 HDB flats along Yishun Ring Road had their ceilings collapse randomly when they turned 32 years old.
Perhaps more notably, there’s a high proportion of loonies and crazy incidents. Remember the man who went berserk at a convenience store when he was told they’d run out of spoons for his yoghurt? Or that crazy dude who stripped naked and played with his genitals on an MRT train at Yishun station?
In 2015 & 2016, this seemingly innocent heartland neighbourhood was also in the limelight for housing 2 famous pedophiles – one was wanted by the FBI, and the other was a gold-medal paralympic athlete. Then there was a mysterious man who went knocking on random doors of Yishun residents to ask for their children. Creepy.
Even the Land Transport Authority (LTA) went down the loony path: in 2014 they spent over 3 months constructing a bicycle lane near Yishun Central – hooray for being ‘green’ – but promptly demolished it the very next day. All because they wanted a bus stop there instead.
There’s even a website dedicated to Yishun’s newsworthy incidents, most of which seem to centre around Yishun Ring Road – or as the website yishun.town nicknames it, The Devil’s Ring.
Some say it may be cursed, but with help from social media these days, Yishun can only became more famous. To counter all this negativity, let it be known that Yishun is also famous for being a TOTO good luck spot: the 7-Eleven retail outlet in Yishun Avenue 5 has apparently given out 30 winning tickets so far.
Meanwhile, cats in Yishun should feel safer these days, thanks to the awareness that has been built around the recent cruelties. There’s even a Yishun Cat Patrol:
