3 stubborn villagers fined RM1,000 each for chatting under tree

Three neighbours from Kampung Lembah Raja in Pinang Tunggal near Butterworth were caught chatting under a tree for four days in a row. (Penang Tunggal Visit pic)

GEORGE TOWN: Police have defended summoning three villagers caught chatting under a tree outside their homes in a kampung near Butterworth, saying they were warned three days in a row for doing so.

North Seberang Perai district police chief Noorzainy Mohd Noor said an officer had told the trio gathered under a tree in Kampung Lembah Raja, Pinang Tunggal, to go home three times.

“On the fourth day, when the officer in charge of the station spotted the three men still chatting under the tree, they were arrested and brought to the station.

“They were then given a RM1,000 summons each for violating the movement control order,” he said.

The men comprised two farmers and a factory operator, aged 50, 53, and 72.

The Facebook post by one of the men. (PDRM pic)

Noorzainy was responding to a Facebook post by one of the men showing the summons with the caption “Chatting with my neighbours under the tree across my house, get fined RM1,000” in Mandarin. - FMT