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Mar 25, 2011
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Holland V radio caller sorry for taunting heartlanders
<!-- by line -->By Ashutosh Ravikrishnan
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A woman known only as Samantha on Friday apologised for calling heartlanders 'not cultured' on 91.3FM's The Married Men. -- PHOTO BY KENNETH KOH
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THE woman who pitted Holland Village against the heartlanders of Singapore has apologised on public radio.
She once again called 91.3FM's The Married Men on Friday morning and said that she wanted to retract her words expressed on radio in the above show, about the heartlanders of Singapore.
Known only as Samantha, she further explained that she was at a Starbucks outlet at Holland Village on Wednesday when she heard vulgarities from two men dressed in slippers and shorts.
She was ticked off by their actions and dressing and decided to call in to 91.3FM's The Married Men - on Wednesday - to rant.
It caused a stir online among netizens, and on Facebook too among friends who found links to the broadcast segment.
The show has a daily segment for Singaporeans to call in and air their grievances. Nothing is off limits as the station does not want to restrict its listeners.
Samantha began her rant about heartlanders and their alleged invasion of Holland Village.
'Oh gosh, I live in Holland Village and I just can't understand why people from the heartlands want to come here, because we people are cultured and you heartlanders are definitely not cultured.'
HEARTLANDERS
She went on to define heartlanders as people who lived in areas such as 'Ang Mo Kio, Yishun, Toa Payoh and 'the nearby Bukit Batok'.
When asked how she could tell that somebody was a heartlander, she cheekily said that heartlanders were easily identifiable. She said they had no manners, talked loudly and wore cheap clothes 'like those you buy off Bugis Street'.
One of her qualms with heartlanders was that they liked to 'shove and push' everybody. She added that some Caucasians along Orchard Road had also complained of the same thing.
91.3FM then opened the telephone lines once again and another woman, Maddy, called in to express her views.
She introduced herself as living in Bedok. To this, Samantha let out an audible 'Oh my God' in the phone exchange on radio.
The two argued for five minutes. Maddy defended heartlanders, stating that they are 'pretty much well-educated and pretty much carry themselves well'.
Samantha refused to give in and said that heartlanders needed to stay were they were.
Maddy asked her: 'Every heartlander earns their money, so why can't we go (to Holland Village)?'
To this, Samantha questioned heartlanders' ability to afford the things that people in Holland Village enjoyed, such as a bowl of laksa, which she claims is more expensive in Holland Village than in Bedok.
Deejay and host Rod Monteiro stopped the discussion due to time constraints, but that didn't stop other listeners from calling in throughout the day to express their amazement and anger at Samantha's comments. Not one caller supported Samantha and her comments in any way.
The blogosphere also reacted strongly to the stories and many outraged netizens began to attack Samantha and her opinions.
After a day of reflection, Samantha decided to make the public apology.
However, it seems that this isn't enough for some listeners, who later called in and complained about the insincerity of Samantha's apology.
Mr Monteiro admits that he was put off by Samantha's comments, but told The Straits Times Online that he did understand where she was coming from - a place of anger.
'Everybody says things they don't mean when they're angry...three hours later...they look back and ask themselves 'Did I really say that?' he added.
