Travel vlogger Nusseir Yassin of Nas Daily recently made an announcement on his Facebook page that he will be organising a fan meet up at the Botanic Gardens this Saturday (20 April) between 4pm to 6pm.
The exact location that the 27-year-old told his fans to gather is near the MRT exit at the lawn by Eco Lake, where a stage and sound system will be set up to feature a few special guest creators like Dear Alyne (Yassin’s girlfriend), Project Nightfall and Franco Dubini.
Just yesterday, the questions of whether permits for the event have been given or should have been given, were raised.
In response to the query if the vlogger has the permits to conduct the event, he told Channel NewsAsia (CNA) in a telephone interview that it has all been sorted.
“All the necessary permits have been granted. We’ve been speaking with the police and the Singapore Botanic Gardens, as we work to ensure a smooth running of the event.”
He added, “One of the reasons why I was attracted to Singapore, was because of how organised everything is here. And things have moved quickly and in organised fashion in time for the event on Saturday.”
However, he did not reveal which permits were granted when asked by CNA.
The Palestinian-Israeli who is well-known for travelling around the world making daily, 1-minute Facebook video, had revealed last month that he will be moving to Singapore along with his girlfriend and their video production first, Nas Daily Corporation.
The Facebook event page showed that the meet-up has more than 3, 200 people who have indicated they’re going and 10, 000 people showed their interest in attending.
“If 2,000 people turn up I would be happy, that’d be a success,” said Mr Yassin who arrived in the country on Wednesday (17 April) along with his girlfriend.
Although Mr Yassin claims that all the permits have been granted, but it still raised a few questions, mainly on the approval of the permit.
In 2017, there were changes made under the Public Order (Amendment) Bill on how large-scale events are to be secured.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that all event organisers will have to inform the police if they expect more than 5, 000 people attending a public event at any point in time, or 10,000 for private ones. In addition, organisers must also notify the police at least 28 days before the event is held and it will be an offence if they do not, the ministry said.
Now, this is where things get interesting as the vlogger did not confirm the exact location of the event to be held until recently. Before this, he had been contemplating an indoor venue and a ticketed event.
Even though Mr Yassin is expecting lesser than 5,000 fans to gather at his meet-up function, but there are about 10,000 people who showed their interest in attending the event. This would have meant, at least to the Police’s point of view, that he would need to inform the police to conduct such a large-scale event, and he has to do it 28 days prior.
If that is not all, the amended Bill also highlighted that the Commissioner of Police will decide if an event is labelled as a Special Event where the organisers have to work with the police to determine the security measures required, and it will be an offence if they do not implement the measures as required. MHA added that events that expected to attract large crowds will generally be declared as Special Event, which Mr Yassin’s event should be.
As for booking from the National Parks, the venue that Mr Yassin picked in Botanic Gardens (near the MRT exit at the garden by Eco Lake) to held his event is not a location that Botanic Gardens rents out. However, he could have made an application, at least 14 days ago, to the agency to get the approval.
Queries that TOC sent to the National Parks, Nas Daily’s contact person and the Singapore Police Force have all gone unanswered. CNA has also sent queries to the Police with no replies yet.
