Sembawang resident hears ‘loud nice popping’, turns out to be man cracking whip
Here’s something you don’t see every day: A man cracking a whip by the roadside in Sembawang while his friend sits nearby.
Stomper Anonymous witnessed the unusual sight on March 22 at around 10pm. He was at home when he heard a “loud nice popping” sound that came from outside.
Feeling curious, he left his home to investigate the noise and found two men in front of Nordcorm 1, an industrial building at Gambas Crescent.
“I happened to see this guy standing by the roadside whipping something, swinging and spinning around,” said the Stomper.
The Stomper shared a video of two men, one of whom was on the grass patch while the other was on the road swinging a whip. Both men seemed to know each other, as they were chatting periodically in the video. Later in the clip, the man on the road is seen successfully cracking the whip several times.
The Stomper left shortly after without talking to the pair.
Anonymous said while the men were not engaging in illegal activity, he wanted to share the incident to highlight safety concerns.
“They shouldn’t stand by the roadside as it’s a dead end, cars always (drive by at) high speed, and (there are) loud echoes at night,” the Stomper explained.
Anonymous also noted that the man on the road was cracking the whip close to his friend, who might get hurt if the object grazed him by accident.
While it is not apparent what the man was doing, whips are known to be part of some cultural dances such as kuda kepang, or traditional hobby horse dance, which originated in Java, Indonesia. A Straits Times report followed one kuda kepang troupe as it prepared to perform at the Chingay parade in 2025.
According to the police’s guidelines on prohibited, controlled and non-regulated items, only Chinese whips and whip spears are considered Type 1 weapons, while blunted Chinese whips and whip spears are considered Type 2 weapons. Both require licenses. The whip in the video does not appear to be any of these whips.
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