quite serious, if you need skin grafting....anyone who is a medical expert on burns and skin grafting.. pls comment.
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MP FOR Yio Chu Kang Seng Han Thong is being treated at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) for burns after a man poured liquid thinner on him and set him alight.
Mr Seng who sustained nearly 15 per cent burn injuries on his face and body, is under sedation in an intensive care unit, and may need skin graft.
The suspect, an elderly resident of the area, is believed to have poured the flammable liquid on Mr Seng, 58, while he was at a grassroots event at Yio Chu Kang community club at about 11.45 am on Sunday.
Another man, Mr Aw Chui Seng, chairman of the nearby Chu Sheng Temple on Ang Mo Kio Street 61, was also burnt and sent to SGH.
The condition of both Mr Seng and Mr Aw is said to be stable.
More than 200 residents and senior citizens, who were having lunch at the community event, watched in horror as the suspect rushed up to Mr Seng with a bottle of liquid and poured it on the MP's back. He then set the MP alight with a lighter.
The fire also caught Mr Seng's hair. The temple chairman, who was standing close to the MP, quickly pushed the assailant away and was himself burnt on the neck and back.
The suspect tried to flee but was pinned down by several people and handed over to the police.
Mr Seng had just given out Edusave bursaries to students and 'hongbao' to needy elderly and was joining the gathering for lunch when he was attacked by the man, who is said to be in his late 60s, and an ex-inmate of the Institute of Mental Health.
Temple devotees said he was upset for not being eligible for the hongbao and had carried out the act against the MP as 'a revenge'.
The attacker is known to Mr Seng and had met the MP on several occasions.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Ho Ching, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng and Senior Minister of State Sadasivan Balaji were among a string of Ministers and MPs who visited Mr Seng at the hospital.
SGH specialists will decide on Monday if Mr Seng would need skin grafting after they have examined him.
Mr Seng had been attacked before in July 2006 when he was punched in the face by an irate former cabby.
That previous incident took place during a Meet-the-People session at a PAP Community Foundation kindergarten at Block 644, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4. Mr Seng was assaulted by a 74-year-old man who was angry with the MP for not helping him to get his revoked taxi licence reinstated.
