Witness says woman in table dispute at Singapore hawker centre swore at elderly man
SINGAPORE: An elderly man who was abused by a couple at a Toa Payoh hawker centre in a video that has gone viral was calm and polite, said an eyewitness.
A video that shows a young man shoving an elderly man from behind at Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Market & Food Centre was shared extensively on Facebook since it was posted around midnight on Sunday.
A woman in white, his companion, was earlier seen shouting at the elderly man, apparently in a dispute over sharing the table.
Many Facebook users were horrified at the young couple's behaviour.
Janice Lim, who was having dinner at the hawker centre on Friday, said she was sitting at a nearby table when the incident happened at around 8.45pm.
It was very crowded, and the table in dispute was the only available one in the area at the time, she said.
She looked over when she heard a woman shouting, Lim, 50, told The Straits Times on Sunday.
The elderly man, who was holding a tray of food, was asking the woman how many people were sitting at the table.
The woman's irritated reply was "can't you see it's reserved", Lim said, adding that there was a small foldable umbrella on the table, which was filled with dishes and leftover food from previous patrons.
The elderly man said he could not, and repeated a few times that he just needed one seat, but did not raise his voice, she said.
He also asked the woman what she meant by "reserve", as the hawker centre was a public place, Lim recounted.
The woman continued to say loudly things like "you don't understand the word reservation?", and called him a "bl**dy old man" and "f******* old man", according to Lim.
The angry young woman then called her companion, and told him that the elderly man was trying to take their table.
Shortly after that, the young man came and shoved the old man from behind, as seen in the video posted on a few Facebook accounts, including The Local Society. That video has been viewed 1.3 million times as of 3pm on Sunday.
The elderly man nearly lost his balance from the shove, but managed to stay on his feet by holding onto the table.
The young man then asked him: "Why you disturb her?"
Lim said that at this point a few people started to approach the couple and the elderly man, including herself.
A man in black, seen in the video, was the first to reach them. He was sitting at a table beside them, which had one seat left. He offered the elderly man the seat and he went to join them, Lim said.
Later, Lim also saw another patron tell the young man he should not have pushed the elderly man.
The young man then pushed the plates and bowls on the table onto the floor in anger, leaving a mess for the cleaners, Lim said.
"This is the worst manifestation of our seat choping culture," Lim added.
On Sunday evening, in response to online rumour that the two young people worked at UOB, the bank posted two Facebook updates.
The first post at about 8.30pm, which was shared more than 800 times, stated that the bank was looking into whether the two were members of the bank's staff at the Toa Payoh branch. - The Straits Times/Asia News Network
Civil action for old man against young couple in Toa Payoh hawker https://www.change.org/p/ministry-of-social-and-family-development-civil-action-for-old-man-against-young-couple-in-toa-payoh-hawker
"This is the worst manifestation of our seat choping culture,"
kalau omputih baca ni mesti dia ingat orang Singapore resort to memotong/menebang kerusi albeit with a wrong spelling sebab dah tak ada pokok nak ditebang...
Post time 24-4-2017 10:26 PMFrom the mobile phone|Show all posts
Edited by lostfaith at 24-4-2017 10:29 PM
Kalu korang dah duduk kat satu table sementara tunggu kawan kawan yg lain beli makanan lepas tu ada yg buat tak reti bahasa nak duduk jugak kat situ camana rasa...
Cuma dlm kes ini orang tuh warga emas....aku kalu orang tua memang aku mengalah jer sebab some of them dah perangai cam bebudak balik aka tak berapa reti bahasa dah ..so tak guna dilawan. Baik mengalah jer....
Dlm kes ini couple nih bongok n bodoh sebab tak memasal pukul orang orang tua sebab kes meja...
Post time 25-4-2017 06:08 AMFrom the mobile phone|Show all posts
saladin780 replied at 24-4-2017 03:52 PM
Kt youtube berlambak kot video singaporean bergasak...paling byk atas bas/ dalam mrt...yg terbaru ni ...
Stress nok foreign talent banyak nau bakal berlaku la kat negara kita ni ke dah berlaku pun.depa pun prc ramai masuk sana buat hal.depa bukan suka sangat walaupun sesama cina.
Jadi kat kami di rnr seremban toward kl.. Saya beli mknan en suami duduk. Dtg dua org india tua ni duduk terus meja kami. Tapi tak delah nak halau share jelah. Masalahnya banyak je table lain available haha this happened on the 20 april, sabtu pas tu, 21 april, mkn kat nz wangsa maju, elok jugalah couple india tua ni duduk juga dgn kami hahaha.. Tanya in suami apa attraction kita sampai pak cik n mak cik india suka share table ngan kita? Redho jelah..
Post time 24-4-2017 09:21 PM
变色卡
