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Jem foodcourt cleaner no longer affected by shouting incident: Tan Chuan-Jin

June 10, 2016

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Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin has visited the deaf and mute foodcourt cleaner who was yelled at by an angry patron last Friday (June 3).

Mr Tan said in a Facebook post on Friday (June 10) that Mr Png Lye Heng was “in good spirits and gestured to me that he was no longer bothered by the incident”.

The minister said he told Mr Png that he was impressed with his positive spirit.

He added that he managed to communicate with Mr Png by writing questions in Chinese on paper, while the latter used hand gestures to respond.

“We can all still learn to treat Singaporeans with special needs and disabilities with more empathy,” wrote the minister in his Facebook post.

He also thanked employers who hired individuals with disabilities such as Mr Png, and hoped that they would carry on doing so.

Mr Png, 64, who works at the foodcourt in Jem mall, was yelled at by a patron who was upset he had cleared away her food, even though she had told him not to do so.

Woman loses cool at deaf and mute cleaner at Jem food court

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:

Facebook video screengrabs, The New Paper

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The woman, later identified as Ms Alice Fong, was caught on video angrily shouting at the foodcourt manager, who tried to placate her. After she was told the cleaner was deaf, she said: “Just ask the Government to feed him, go and be a beggar! I don’t care, he took my food!”

The incident was filmed by a foodcourt patron and uploaded online.

Ms Fong later apologised for her behaviour, but that did not stop the online vitriol against her from spreading.

After the video went viral, netizens circulated photos of her online, and even publicised her phone number as well as her husband’s.

xiuhuil@sph.com.sg