> Fire station initiation: Stripped naked, tied and tarred with shoe polish

Some kind of welcome this is for this SCDF personnel, who gets stripped naked in a toilet, has his hands tied with a rope, and tarred with shoe polish in this hazing ceremony.

The polishing extended to the pubic regions of the tied-up personnel, and whilst this was in progress, cheers of encouragement could be heard in the background.

And boy makan was appalled by what was going on, as the newest staff to this fire station in Singapore was subject to such treatment, albeit in the name of fun.

Worse, the ceremony was recorded and posted on the internet.

The clip of the hazing, which according to Wikipedia, means ‘a ritualistic test and a task involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a gang, club, military organization or other group,’ was posted up in a video channel before it was taken down.

Said boy makan:

“Is this what our young S’porean/future fighters of Singapore has become? By ‘polishing ‘ the new private with Kiwi polish?

“Has our Civil Defence boys become this low?

“Shouldn’t they welcome him with a handshake instead of tying him in the toilet, polishing him and spraying him with water?

“And shouldn’t National Service teach young ones to be responsible men, to bond with his fellow cadets?”

Says the Singapore Civil Defence Force in an email to STOMP about this incident:

“Preliminary investigation shows that this incident had happened sometime last year when a small group of NSFs newly posted to one of our fire stations were involved in a prank during non-active duty period .

“The matter was not brought to the attention of their supervisors.

“The SCDF takes a serious view and do not condone such acts.

“We have a directive issued to our personnel against conducting or participating in any form of ragging activities in the Force; and there are provisions for punishment to be meted out to offenders.

“All our regular and NSF personnel have also been briefed on this as well. We are conducting a full investigation into this case. Strong disciplinary action will be taken against those involved. “

Censored Video link

Fire station ‘welcomes’ recruit

A video of a new fire fighter stripped naked with his hands tied up in the toilet of Ang Mo Kio Fire Station was posted online on Nov 6.

The video of a blanket party – posted on LiveLeak.com – came with a short comment “This is a welcoming/blanket party for a new Firefighter guy inside toilet. That black thing is Kiwi polish shoe”.

The video was also posted on YouTube but was removed due to “violation of terms of use”.

The newbie is being hosed with water and tarred with shoe polish at the same time by enthusiastic “tormentors”.

The videographer even films close up shots of the newbie’s crotch several times. You can also hear taunts and cat-calling from other firefighters in the background.

The “victim” himself, trying to take the ragging good-naturedly, smiles and even waves at the camera.

While such initiation rites are common in schools and the military, there have been deaths and injuries caused by hazing or ragging, and concerns that it may go too far.

Several US states have anti-hazing legislation and, in France, hazing can result in up to six months in jail or a fine.