We got in touch with Janice Lim, identified via her Facebook comments on the viral video to be a credible first person witness when the pushing incident happened at Toa Payoh Lor 8 Market and Food Centre last night.
In the video, a well-dressed lady is seen arguing with an old man over the seats at a round table in the hawker centre. She called someone for help and an equally well-dressed young man came to her rescue, shoving the old man from behind, causing him to fall forward:
Janice recounted the whole incident to us from the beginning. She said the incident happened at around 8.45pm. The hawker centre was very crowded and the table which caused the incident was the only available table where no one was seated.
When the old man approached the table with his tray of food, there was no one seated at the table. However, there was a folded purple umbrella placed on the table, presumably to chope the seat.
The young woman then confronted the old man and shouted at him rudely and loudly, spewing a slew of vulgarities which was what caught Janice’s attention.
Janice said that the old man was polite throughout his verbal exchange with the lady. He had said that he only needed one seat and politely asked if all the seats were taken, questioning how many seats did the lady need exactly. The lady did not reply directly. Instead, she insisted that the table was reserved and the old man has no right to occupy a seat. She kept cursing the old man before calling her friend on her mobile to get help.
The young man then came from behind, pushing the old man, causing him to fall forward. What happened from this point is captured on video.
Janice said that after the pushing, another kind gentleman came over and offered for the old man to sit with him at his table (don’t say Singaporeans are all selfish). Someone should identify this good guy and buy him a beer or something!
Janice said that the well-dressed couple did not eat anything, but they ordered many takeouts and continued to occupy the table. There were no other people who came to join them at the table either.
Janice also shared that another guy went over to the young man and told him that he should not have pushed the old man. In agitation, the young man pushed and shoved all the used plates and utensils on the floor in a fit of rage.
Janice concluded the interview saying that she was shocked by the behaviour of the well-dressed couple and that this is the one of the worst manifestation of the ‘chope’ culture that we have in Singapore.
Hopefully, this interview with Janice cleared the air on what actually transpired, providing the context to the video.
Rilek1Corner
Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com
