Thu, Aug 14, 2008
The New Paper
They make airport home
By Teh Jen Lee
SITTING at the coffee outlet with a trolley piled high with luggage bags, the pair look like any travelling couple at the airport.
But unlike the other travellers, the couple, who look like they are in their 50s, don't seem to be going anywhere.
Instead, they spend most of their time at the Starbucks outlet at Changi Airport's Terminal 2.
A closer look will reveal that they are no strangers.
2007 May: Mr King and Madam Wang are seen hanging around at the arrival hall of Terminal 1.
This is the same couple who, in 2005, were spotted spending most of their time at the Singapore General Hospital.
Last year, they had moved to the arrival hall at Terminal 1, again seemingly living at the airport.
Now, the same couple has raised many eyebrows by spending their days and nights at the Starbucks outlet on level 2 of Terminal 2.
Why are they doing this?
No one really knows, and when The New Paper approached them again this year, they refused to provide any answers to the mystery.
Airport users and staff have noticed them and are full of questions about who they are.
Mr Chris Curtis, an IT salesman in his mid-30s, said he first heard about them from a friend who pointed out the man and woman sitting in the departure hall near the entrance.
'When a friend told me that they lived there, I didn't believe her at first. Then the next night, they were still there. I saw them sitting on the same chairs, having coffee. Apparently they have been camping there for months,' he said.
2008 Aug: Mr Jason King and Madam Jenny Wang are spotted staying at the Starbucks in Terminal 2's departure hall
He observed that the couple has good rapport with the staff of the 24-hour Starbucks outlet.
The man carries a handphone while the woman wears Nike shoes and carries a Nike bag. They also appear affectionate towards each other. Once before she went to the toilet, the woman was seen whispering into the man's ear.
A trolley handler who gave his name as Mr Chia, 80, said the couple are often spotted at Starbucks in the wee hours of the morning.
'I see them sitting there when I start my shift at 4pm. When I finish at 1am, they are still there. They always push a trolley around wherever they go,' he said in Mandarin.
This is not the first time that they have aroused the curiosity of the public.
Three years ago, The New Paper reported on the man, who identified himself as Mr Jason King, 53, being a fixture at the Singapore General Hospital Block Two lobby.
For at least six months, Mr King, who claimed he had served 32 years in the Navy, was there every day, either reading on his favourite green sofa or chatting with patients.
He also spent a few nights a week there to keep Madam Jenny Wang, a friend with a heart condition, accompany. She would stay overnight whenever she had treatment because she was too tired to return to her Jurong home.
Then, Mr King had told us he had a four-room flat in Tampines but that it was being rented out to pay maintenance allowance to his wife, after they separated in 2003.
Last May, a taxi driver who wanted to be known only as Jerry called The New Paper about a man and woman living at the airport.
He described them sitting with their baggage at the Terminal 1 arrival hall, with a cardboard box which was used as a makeshift cupboard.
The couple turned out to be the same Mr King and Madam Wang.
But while Mr King had been willing to be interviewed in 2005, he only responded in monosyllables to our questions last year.
He even got angry at one point and shouted: 'You better get out of my sight now, before I get really, really violent.'
This time, the couple would not say anything at all when we approached them at Starbucks last Wednesday night.
A woman who was sitting with them said in a cold tone: 'What do you want? I don't think we have anything to do with you.'
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (Caas) had said in our report last year that it was 'all right' for people to stay overnight at the airport if 'they are not a nuisance to airport users'.
But in rare cases where vagrants are found staying at the airport for a long time, they will be referred to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. It is not known whether this is the case with Mr King and Madam Wang as Caas had not responded to our queries by press time
The New Paper
They make airport home
By Teh Jen Lee
SITTING at the coffee outlet with a trolley piled high with luggage bags, the pair look like any travelling couple at the airport.
But unlike the other travellers, the couple, who look like they are in their 50s, don't seem to be going anywhere.
Instead, they spend most of their time at the Starbucks outlet at Changi Airport's Terminal 2.
A closer look will reveal that they are no strangers.
2007 May: Mr King and Madam Wang are seen hanging around at the arrival hall of Terminal 1.
This is the same couple who, in 2005, were spotted spending most of their time at the Singapore General Hospital.
Last year, they had moved to the arrival hall at Terminal 1, again seemingly living at the airport.
Now, the same couple has raised many eyebrows by spending their days and nights at the Starbucks outlet on level 2 of Terminal 2.
Why are they doing this?
No one really knows, and when The New Paper approached them again this year, they refused to provide any answers to the mystery.
Airport users and staff have noticed them and are full of questions about who they are.
Mr Chris Curtis, an IT salesman in his mid-30s, said he first heard about them from a friend who pointed out the man and woman sitting in the departure hall near the entrance.
'When a friend told me that they lived there, I didn't believe her at first. Then the next night, they were still there. I saw them sitting on the same chairs, having coffee. Apparently they have been camping there for months,' he said.
2008 Aug: Mr Jason King and Madam Jenny Wang are spotted staying at the Starbucks in Terminal 2's departure hall
He observed that the couple has good rapport with the staff of the 24-hour Starbucks outlet.
The man carries a handphone while the woman wears Nike shoes and carries a Nike bag. They also appear affectionate towards each other. Once before she went to the toilet, the woman was seen whispering into the man's ear.
A trolley handler who gave his name as Mr Chia, 80, said the couple are often spotted at Starbucks in the wee hours of the morning.
'I see them sitting there when I start my shift at 4pm. When I finish at 1am, they are still there. They always push a trolley around wherever they go,' he said in Mandarin.
This is not the first time that they have aroused the curiosity of the public.
Three years ago, The New Paper reported on the man, who identified himself as Mr Jason King, 53, being a fixture at the Singapore General Hospital Block Two lobby.
For at least six months, Mr King, who claimed he had served 32 years in the Navy, was there every day, either reading on his favourite green sofa or chatting with patients.
He also spent a few nights a week there to keep Madam Jenny Wang, a friend with a heart condition, accompany. She would stay overnight whenever she had treatment because she was too tired to return to her Jurong home.
Then, Mr King had told us he had a four-room flat in Tampines but that it was being rented out to pay maintenance allowance to his wife, after they separated in 2003.
Last May, a taxi driver who wanted to be known only as Jerry called The New Paper about a man and woman living at the airport.
He described them sitting with their baggage at the Terminal 1 arrival hall, with a cardboard box which was used as a makeshift cupboard.
The couple turned out to be the same Mr King and Madam Wang.
But while Mr King had been willing to be interviewed in 2005, he only responded in monosyllables to our questions last year.
He even got angry at one point and shouted: 'You better get out of my sight now, before I get really, really violent.'
This time, the couple would not say anything at all when we approached them at Starbucks last Wednesday night.
A woman who was sitting with them said in a cold tone: 'What do you want? I don't think we have anything to do with you.'
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (Caas) had said in our report last year that it was 'all right' for people to stay overnight at the airport if 'they are not a nuisance to airport users'.
But in rare cases where vagrants are found staying at the airport for a long time, they will be referred to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. It is not known whether this is the case with Mr King and Madam Wang as Caas had not responded to our queries by press time
