| THEY are neighbours who live in facing flats, but they cannot stand each other.
And when they do come face to face, they usually erupt into a bitter war of words. For months, in an HDB block in Bukit Purmei, two families - the Zhangs, an elderly couple, and the Chias, a middle-aged couple - have been at loggerheads. Most of the time, the feud has been confined to petty antics and vulgarities spewed across the common corridor that separates their four-room flats on the 11th storey. But on 14 Sep, the conflict reached boiling point and things turned violent.  | | Mrs Chia compiles pictures and documents as 'proof' of her neighbours' ( the Zhangs) bad behaviour--Pictures: Mohd Ishak, Chong Jun Liang | That day, at 10pm, a resident, who lives on the same floor, stopped by Mr Chia's house for a chat. The two men were standing outside the flat. When Mr Zhang, 79, saw them, he came out of his flat and shouted vulgarities at Mr Chia, the resident, who declined to be named, told The New Paper on Sunday. Mr Chia, 48, an operations executive, retailated, and started scolding the old man too. He said: 'I was just talking to another neighbour and the old man started scolding me. So I scolded back.' At this point, the resident said, the old man's 71-year-old wife rushed over to grab Mr Chia's crotch. 'He reacted and pushed her. She fell,' he added. Mr Chia recalled: 'She tried to grab my crotch. Luckily, she missed and got my thigh instead.' The old woman suffered a bruise on her face from the fall. But she claimed she was punched, though the resident said Mr Chia did not hit her. POLICE CALLED In the end, the police was called in. Police spokesman ASP Victor Keong confirmed that a call was made to them that evening, and that the two sides have lodged reports previously. He added that police are looking into the matter. But how did the two families end up feuding? The Chias had moved into their flat with their two teenage daughters last November. They said they had earlier viewed the Zhangs' flat but decided to buy the opposite flat as they liked it better and it was also cheaper. But the Zhangs denied they ever put their flat up for sale. They have lived there for 22 years, and one of their rooms is rented out. Mrs Zhang said: 'We have no intention to sell our flat. 'We have stayed here so long. If they insist they came to view my flat, then they must have seen ghosts.' Asked if we could contact the property agent to verify that they had viewed the Zhangs' flat, Mrs Chia said: 'I wasn't interested in the flat so why would I keep the telephone number of the agent?' When we visited the two families separately last week, both gave different reasons for their animosity. The Zhangs claimed the younger couple sparked the dispute. Mr Zhang said in a mixture of Mandarin and Hokkien: 'All of a sudden, in May, they just kicked up a fuss and told us we couldn't do many things. 'They said we couldn't hang clothes in the corridor, couldn't hang lamps and wind chimes. 'So I told him he also couldn't put out his cigarettes on the wall.' The Zhangs accused the Chias of 'tormenting' them by deliberately making noise in the day. Mrs Zhang said: 'We old people sometimes take naps in the afternoon, but we hear things being thrown around, how to sleep like that?' OLD-TIMERS Mr Zhang, a retiree, said: 'We've lived here since 1984 and never had any problems. '(The Chias) said we couldn't put up the wind chimes because they make too much noise. We took them down. 'Then one day, we found one of our potted plants broken.' Over at the Chias, the couple refuted their neighbours' claims. They said their first run-in with the elderly couple was over Mr Chia's smoking. But Mr Chia claimed the Zhangs were already unhappy with him and his wife when they chose their current flat over the latter's. Mr Chia admitted that he sometimes smokes in the corridor, but refuted the Zhangs' claim that he dirtied the walls by stubbing out his cigarettes on them. He said he put out his cigarettes in the small drain, in the corridor. He added: 'The old man said I can't smoke outside because it's his territory.' As for the Zhangs' broken plant, the Chias said they are plant lovers and would never break their neighbours' plant. PHOTO WAR Apart from the allegations, the warring neighbours have also resorted to snapping photographs of each other. Mrs Chia, 39, a senior advertising account executive, said: 'When I came back from work one day, the old man took a photo of me. I was so angry that I took my daughter's camera and took pictures of him too.' Mr Zhang is also airing his grievances in public. Using chalk, he wrote in Chinese on a wooden cabinet outside his flat, implying that the Chias bully the elderly and do not respect others' property. Both sides also engage in childish acts to annoy each other. For instance, Mrs Chia claimed that once, Mr Zhang wore a scary-faced mask and stood by his window as she walked past, giving her a shock. Another time, the Chias claimed, the old man used a plastic stick to hit the window when their family walked past their flat. On his part, Mr Chia admitted that he once tried to scare Mr Zhang by stamping his foot as he walked behind the old man. But Mr Zhang claimed Mr Chia actually 'jumped' behind him. Mr Zhang said: 'He tried to scare my family so many times. I scared him only once.' Will this bitter feud ever come to an end? Mr Chia said he is so fed-up that he wants to move away once his loan lock-in period is up in a year. However, his wife is reluctant. She said: 'I spent so much money and effort on the renovations, I don't want to move.' The Zhangs, too, have no intention of moving. So for now, the war in Bukit Purmei continues.
Spat is talk of the block THE dispute between the Zhangs and the Chias has been the talk of the block for months. Residents The New Paper on Sunday spoke to said they have either heard the two sides quarrelling, or heard of the spat from other neighbours. They did not want to be named for fear of offending either party. A resident who lives on a different floor said that she often hears some commotion coming from the 11th storey, where the warring families live. CAN'T BE BULLIED She said of the Zhangs: 'They are not the kind to be bullied.' A few residents said that the people who used to live in the Chias' flat did not appear to have disputes with the elderly couple. But they did not talk to each other. Another resident, who lives a few storeys down and has known the Zhangs for a long time, said: 'They are not unfriendly to me. We greet each other when we see one another. Other than that, I don't interact with them much.' But the residents did not have much to say about the Chias. Most said they had only met them casually. | 
