A couple of weeks back, we decided to throw a small birthday surprise cum party for my dear housemie who turned 20 this year. She was rather busy catching up with her assignments and exams so we decided to make it quick and simple so she can get back to her work. I bought a Choco Banana from Secret Recipe after dinner and her elder sister reckon we should swing the party downstairs by the pool side due to the increasing number of crowd.
So everyone pretty much squash and squeeze themselves to camouflage into the wall so not to be seen because it is a surprise party after all. “Best if you guys can make yourselves invisible”, I told them. I wasn’t planning on hiding that much because I’m suppose to take photos of the party. So she made her entrance and was pretty much surprised, although it’s quite obvious since the other 3 housmies have gone missing from our comfy home.
As we were singing her a birthday song softly and flashes of lights from the camera took place at the same time, these fellow security guards from our residential area approached us and started making a big scene. We practically are familiar with the rules at the back of our heads that we’re not suppose to violate, eg: a ‘perfect’ birthday scam with uber loud screams and sinister laughter which often ends up inside the pool, both the bday boy/girl and the crowd. We have been kind and considerate enough to keep it clean and noise-free. We were only equipped with a box of cake, a camera and probably 15 people who have been told not to raise their voice so not to create unnecessary attention.
And yet these guards came to tell us off for celebrating birthday by the pool side and scolded me for taking photographs of the residence. Mike and I got really pissed. First for ruining the birthday surprise which will take no longer than 15 minutes, second for yelling at us for using the condo facilities which we obviously paid for and lastly which I think was most severe was “No photograph, please – rules.” I was obviously taking pictures of the bday girl and her friends and definitely not the residence, I can’t choose to erase the background can I?
This is getting a little too ridiculous for me after they started lecturing me of the laws, policies and regulations. I got so tired explaining to them that my object was the crowd and clearly not the background. Can somebody tell me why are these security guards so bloody concerned of me photographing the residence instead of carrying out their duties to prevent the condo theft rate which is increasingly scary these days. Just yesterday, two units of condo on the same floor in the neighbouring blocks were broken into and no serious action was taken by both the securities and the management.
Sometimes I wish Malaysians can come up with better set of rules and regulations for the good of our country, or at least practice better judgment on the already existing set of laws. We should all at least be able to receive instructions and to perceive it accordingly to the weight of an issue. In short, I meant to say to act smarter. I mean, there are more dead real issues out there that requires real attention instead of stopping a chap from taking photographs?
“The general rule in Australia about photographing in a public place seems to be that, unless there is a legal prohibition such as a statute or ordinance or a legally authorised sign indicating photography is not allowed, you can photograph virtually anything you wish.” – Quoted from a source.
Yes, I know we do not live in Australia. Some issues may sound really irrelevant but I thought I’d just rant what I feel is of significance to the matter.
