Little India riot: I've been hurt, says bus coordinator
HURT: Madam Grace Wong Geck Woon (left) was wounded on her forehead. Her left eye was swollen and she had bruises on her limbs. On the right, a worker tried to smash the bus.
Elizabeth LawThe New Paper
Thursday, Dec 12, 2013
SINGAPORE - She was in the eye of the storm, the target of scorn, the focus of fury.
But was what she did also the spark that lit the fuse that led to the riot in Little India? She is Madam Grace Wong Geck Woon, 38, who works as a bus coordinator.
Her job is to coordinate a fleet of buses ferrying foreign workers from their dormitories to Little India and back.
She also ensures that the buses leave on time. She has been doing this every Sunday for almost three years now.
But last Sunday, she was one of two under siege on a bus surrounded by a mob baying for blood.
The other was the bus driver who has been arrested for causing death by a negligent act following the death of an Indian national who was killed in the accident at the junction of Race Course Road and Tekka Lane.
The Indian national, who tried to board the bus, is believed to have been drunk, said police on Monday night. The bus was leaving for his dormitory at Jalan Papan in Tuas.
But Mr Sakthivel Kumaravelu, 33, was asked to get off because it was already full.
DRUNK
He was so drunk that at one point he took his trousers off while on the bus.
The bus driver could not handle him alone and called Madam Wong in. Madam Wong managed to get Mr Sakthivel to leave the bus before she sent it on its way.
She was waiting for the next batch of people when she heard a commotion.
While making a left turn from Tekka Lane into Race Course Road, the bus driver heard a bang. He had run into Mr Sakthivel, who was trapped under the left rear wheel.
By then, a crowd was starting to gather around the bus.
According to her bus driver husband, Mr Alan Wee, Madam Wong thought nothing of the commotion. It tends to get a little rowdy on Sundays when Little India gets more crowded.
Then, someone came up to her and said: "Your bus just knocked someone down."
MORE AGITATED
Mr Wee, who spoke to The New Paper early on Monday morning, said that when his wife rushed over, the crowd around the bus was getting increasingly agitated.
They were shouting for the bus driver to get off. They wanted to confront him, Madam Wong later told her husband. Then, suddenly, she heard the sound of glass bottles breaking and she saw objects flying through the air.
A group of South Asian nationals pushed her into the bus and the driver closed the door.
That only got the crowd more agitated. They began to shout.
They began throwing things at the bus, including concrete slabs, rocks and even dustbins, the police said in a media briefing on Monday afternoon.
Madam Wong was shocked. Mr Wee said she rushed to the back of the bus, crouched under some seats and called him.
"She told me when they managed to break the windows, the people outside hoisted each other up through them to get into the bus.
"They ripped out everything, all the wires and anything that could be broken," Mr Wee said.
Madam Wong told him she did not know how much time had passed before six police officers went on board and formed a human shield to escort her off the bus.
Mr Wee had just dropped off some tourists at a hotel near The Verge in Little India when he got the call from his wife.
She was sobbing into the phone. Her voice was trembling.
The angry crowd at Race Course Road were trying to smash the bus windows with whatever they could lay their hands on.
She said: "I've been hurt."
"I immediately knew I had to rush to her. So I turned my bus around and rushed to Race Course Road," Mr Wee, 50, told The New Paper in Mandarin.
"But when I got there, the roads were all blocked. So I parked my bus by the road and rushed to look for her."
By the time he got to Madam Wong nearly 30 minutes later, she had been escorted off the bus and was in a safe area. She was bleeding from a wound on the left side of her forehead. Her left eye was swollen and she had bruises on her limbs.
RELIEVED
Speaking to TNP outside Tan Tock Seng Hospital early on Monday morning, Mr Wee said he was relieved when he saw his wife alive.
When TNP visited the couple's Potong Pasir flat later on Monday morning, Mr Wee and his wife were out. Their four-year-old daughter was at a neighbour's home.
Neighbours said that Madam Wong was having her statement recorded at the police station.
The couple returned at about 2.30pm, but only came to the door after five minutes.
Madam Wong's wet hair was wrapped in a towel and her right hand was in a cast.
She said in Mandarin: "I'm sorry I can't tell you anything. I just had my statement recorded at the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) and they told me I can't speak to anyone because I'm a witness.
"I'm very tired now, I just took my medication, so I need to rest."
But she catalogued her injuries before shutting the door: She had been hit on the left side of her forehead and her eye was swollen, her right hand was fractured and she had lesions on her right leg and on the back of her left hand.
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HURT: Madam Grace Wong Geck Woon (left) was wounded on her forehead. Her left eye was swollen and she had bruises on her limbs. On the right, a worker tried to smash the bus.
Elizabeth LawThe New Paper
Thursday, Dec 12, 2013
SINGAPORE - She was in the eye of the storm, the target of scorn, the focus of fury.
But was what she did also the spark that lit the fuse that led to the riot in Little India? She is Madam Grace Wong Geck Woon, 38, who works as a bus coordinator.
Her job is to coordinate a fleet of buses ferrying foreign workers from their dormitories to Little India and back.
She also ensures that the buses leave on time. She has been doing this every Sunday for almost three years now.
But last Sunday, she was one of two under siege on a bus surrounded by a mob baying for blood.
The other was the bus driver who has been arrested for causing death by a negligent act following the death of an Indian national who was killed in the accident at the junction of Race Course Road and Tekka Lane.
The Indian national, who tried to board the bus, is believed to have been drunk, said police on Monday night. The bus was leaving for his dormitory at Jalan Papan in Tuas.
But Mr Sakthivel Kumaravelu, 33, was asked to get off because it was already full.
DRUNK
He was so drunk that at one point he took his trousers off while on the bus.
The bus driver could not handle him alone and called Madam Wong in. Madam Wong managed to get Mr Sakthivel to leave the bus before she sent it on its way.
She was waiting for the next batch of people when she heard a commotion.
While making a left turn from Tekka Lane into Race Course Road, the bus driver heard a bang. He had run into Mr Sakthivel, who was trapped under the left rear wheel.
By then, a crowd was starting to gather around the bus.
According to her bus driver husband, Mr Alan Wee, Madam Wong thought nothing of the commotion. It tends to get a little rowdy on Sundays when Little India gets more crowded.
Then, someone came up to her and said: "Your bus just knocked someone down."
MORE AGITATED
Mr Wee, who spoke to The New Paper early on Monday morning, said that when his wife rushed over, the crowd around the bus was getting increasingly agitated.
They were shouting for the bus driver to get off. They wanted to confront him, Madam Wong later told her husband. Then, suddenly, she heard the sound of glass bottles breaking and she saw objects flying through the air.
A group of South Asian nationals pushed her into the bus and the driver closed the door.
That only got the crowd more agitated. They began to shout.
They began throwing things at the bus, including concrete slabs, rocks and even dustbins, the police said in a media briefing on Monday afternoon.
Madam Wong was shocked. Mr Wee said she rushed to the back of the bus, crouched under some seats and called him.
"She told me when they managed to break the windows, the people outside hoisted each other up through them to get into the bus.
"They ripped out everything, all the wires and anything that could be broken," Mr Wee said.
Madam Wong told him she did not know how much time had passed before six police officers went on board and formed a human shield to escort her off the bus.
Mr Wee had just dropped off some tourists at a hotel near The Verge in Little India when he got the call from his wife.
She was sobbing into the phone. Her voice was trembling.
The angry crowd at Race Course Road were trying to smash the bus windows with whatever they could lay their hands on.
She said: "I've been hurt."
"I immediately knew I had to rush to her. So I turned my bus around and rushed to Race Course Road," Mr Wee, 50, told The New Paper in Mandarin.
"But when I got there, the roads were all blocked. So I parked my bus by the road and rushed to look for her."
By the time he got to Madam Wong nearly 30 minutes later, she had been escorted off the bus and was in a safe area. She was bleeding from a wound on the left side of her forehead. Her left eye was swollen and she had bruises on her limbs.
RELIEVED
Speaking to TNP outside Tan Tock Seng Hospital early on Monday morning, Mr Wee said he was relieved when he saw his wife alive.
When TNP visited the couple's Potong Pasir flat later on Monday morning, Mr Wee and his wife were out. Their four-year-old daughter was at a neighbour's home.
Neighbours said that Madam Wong was having her statement recorded at the police station.
The couple returned at about 2.30pm, but only came to the door after five minutes.
Madam Wong's wet hair was wrapped in a towel and her right hand was in a cast.
She said in Mandarin: "I'm sorry I can't tell you anything. I just had my statement recorded at the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) and they told me I can't speak to anyone because I'm a witness.
"I'm very tired now, I just took my medication, so I need to rest."
But she catalogued her injuries before shutting the door: She had been hit on the left side of her forehead and her eye was swollen, her right hand was fractured and she had lesions on her right leg and on the back of her left hand.
[email protected]
