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MP Lily Neo remembers how she narrowly escaped knife attack in 2014
Jalan Besar GRC MP Lily Neo says she could have been attacked in 2014 by a man in a wheelchair waiting with a knife outside the lift she usually takes.
PUBLISHED
9 HOURS AGO
FACEBOOKTWITTER
Yasmine Yahya
Senior Political Correspondent
Memories of a near-knife attack came flooding back to Jalan Besar GRC MP Lily Neo yesterday when she heard about the attack on Jurong GRC MP Tan Wu Meng on Monday.
She recounted how, in 2014, a volunteer stopped her from entering the lift as she was about to attend a Meet-the-People Session in her Kreta Ayer ward. He insisted that they take the stairs to the third floor and enter the room via a back door.
Her volunteers had noticed a man in a wheelchair waiting outside the lift she usually takes, and he would reach for his pouch every time the lift doors opened, Dr Neo said.
They later realised the man, in his 50s, was holding a bag of urine and the handle of a knife was sticking out of his pouch.
The police were called in, and the man later confessed he was angry at the Government because he had not got a rental flat, and that there were voices in his head telling him to attack Dr Neo. His plan was to throw the urine in her face, then stab her with the 20-inch knife.
Dr Neo said it was his second attempt - he had planned to stab her at a reunion dinner for residents when she handed out hongbao at his table. But she gave out hongbao at only half the tables that night and he did not manage to get close to her.
"I was so shaken by the incident I couldn't sleep well for three weeks, and for a long time I could not take a lift by myself," she said.
Jurong GRC MP Tan Wu Meng attacked at Meet-the-People session, man arrested over incident[/paste:font]
She declined to press charges against the man, who was eventually placed in a nursing home. Now, residents going to her Meet-the People Sessions are asked to leave their bags outside the consultation room, to play safe.
When contacted, MPs Darryl David and Zaqy Mohamad said they did not plan to add security measures at their own Meet-the-People Sessions. MP Louis Ng said he would discuss the issue with his volunteers after his session next week.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 18, 2018, with the headline 'Lily Neo remembers how she narrowly escaped knife attack in 2014'. Print Edition | Subscribe
Jalan Besar GRC MP Lily Neo says she could have been attacked in 2014 by a man in a wheelchair waiting with a knife outside the lift she usually takes.
PUBLISHED
9 HOURS AGO
FACEBOOKTWITTER
Yasmine Yahya
Senior Political Correspondent
Memories of a near-knife attack came flooding back to Jalan Besar GRC MP Lily Neo yesterday when she heard about the attack on Jurong GRC MP Tan Wu Meng on Monday.
She recounted how, in 2014, a volunteer stopped her from entering the lift as she was about to attend a Meet-the-People Session in her Kreta Ayer ward. He insisted that they take the stairs to the third floor and enter the room via a back door.
Her volunteers had noticed a man in a wheelchair waiting outside the lift she usually takes, and he would reach for his pouch every time the lift doors opened, Dr Neo said.
They later realised the man, in his 50s, was holding a bag of urine and the handle of a knife was sticking out of his pouch.
The police were called in, and the man later confessed he was angry at the Government because he had not got a rental flat, and that there were voices in his head telling him to attack Dr Neo. His plan was to throw the urine in her face, then stab her with the 20-inch knife.
Dr Neo said it was his second attempt - he had planned to stab her at a reunion dinner for residents when she handed out hongbao at his table. But she gave out hongbao at only half the tables that night and he did not manage to get close to her.
"I was so shaken by the incident I couldn't sleep well for three weeks, and for a long time I could not take a lift by myself," she said.
Jurong GRC MP Tan Wu Meng attacked at Meet-the-People session, man arrested over incident[/paste:font]
She declined to press charges against the man, who was eventually placed in a nursing home. Now, residents going to her Meet-the People Sessions are asked to leave their bags outside the consultation room, to play safe.
When contacted, MPs Darryl David and Zaqy Mohamad said they did not plan to add security measures at their own Meet-the-People Sessions. MP Louis Ng said he would discuss the issue with his volunteers after his session next week.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 18, 2018, with the headline 'Lily Neo remembers how she narrowly escaped knife attack in 2014'. Print Edition | Subscribe
