Singapore may welcome you as a visitor , but for the Singaporean, we doesnt feel so. Tons of articles and feedback are writing the negative side of Britons. Because of 3 Britons , it affects the relationship of the 2 countries.

I believe that we need to stop this mockery. This may become a stand as “Singapore’s elder is easy to bully”. I think it sounds to my own stand, but we must understand why people feel angry. As a Singaporean do you want to feel as inferior to these caucasians? More over, the old man is riding with a mass of 4 people(including himself and the weight of trishaw). The feeling of working so hard(somemore 3 people), without being paid is melancholy. Like you worked in a Restaurant for 4hours paying you $4 an hour – and the manager is happy not to give you money, you will not feel fair after working so hard. Even if they doesn’t want to pay, they should not make a mockery out of the old man. They will only understand if they are treated the same way.

Like the school, bullying is an offence. Same goes to the law. The 3 Young Man have not been through how this old man felt, I would have gave them a tight slap if I were their parents.

To some people may view it as ” why is it so expensive? “. Of course, if you were the one taking it you will not want to pay too right? Ironically. But as what some of reviewers stated “since the price was already mentioned in advance, why should they still board it?” Elderly too, is a source of man power for the country, if they are still fit. They help to bring in revenue, even though very small amount, but will still attract more people to come and take the ride(since their hometown doesn’t have it and it may seem worthwhile for them to come and take a ride).

I think that the old man is not wrong. Just that I hope the 3 Young Man will apologise and compensate him.

when I meant ‘pointless’, I meant that nothing would happen unless we go further than just writing angry insults and screaming for justice. In my opinion, that is pointless. If a person is truly angry at something, then he ought to take action about it instead of just complaining. Instead of just shouting and screaming, he should attack the root of the problem, and effect the change he’d like to see. So, instead of just expressing displeasure, organise. Take action. The Government won’t do anything by itself to truly help the people unless we ask it to. Petition whomever you need to petition,talk to whomever you need to talk to, think about what you need to do, and do what you feel what you have to do.

But don’t vent your anger and leave it at that. The trail would die before anything happens.

That was what I meant.

I agree with you that it’s unfair to judge other races or nations so harshly for the incredibly thoughtless and heartless acts by 3 of its members.

However, it’s emotionally painful and heartbreaking to see an elderly person so valiantly doing his job only to be humiliated, dismissed as incompetent and made to ask for his rightful pay.

There are some foreign sites where people brought up the subject of unsatisfactory service and thus incomplete payment (in this case, non-existent payment). Everyone is entitled to have personal opinions about competence, but not paying the agreed amount for a product or service rendered is akin to theft and should be dealt with as such.

For those who have not come across this, i think the following link highlight Mr Lee’s wonderful work ethics, already in evidence from 2004. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sallyanderson/2935225/

“Venting outrage at Caucasians, bemoaning the plight of the elderly, condemning this act, berating Vincent, and inciting nationalist feelings may prove cathartic, but it’s ultimately pointless.”

Perhaps not ultimately pointless if Singaporeans become more aware of the indignities, injustices and low standard of living that some elderly suffer from. Hopefully awareness leads to understanding and perhaps action. The government might be galvanized into action to support the aged with public funds eventually!

sure you have a right to anger. Every human being is free to decide how to react to a given situation. But I do not believe that condemning an entire nation for the acts of three of its citizens is justified. Those three men are not ambassadors. They do not represent their country. From a rational approach, it’s impossible to postulate that one can logically infer the behaviour of the British people from three Britons. It is akin to calling everybody you meet a fool after interacting with just one imbecile. Submit to illogic and emotion if you like; I cannot bring myself to do so.

However, Vincent, I seriously think you’re quite naive and ignorant. Trishaw rides are not to be taken as transportation from one place to another. It’s purely for tourists to grasp a feel of how olden singapore was like, to let them experience. It’s a tourist attraction, and tourist attractions ARE expensive. Moreover, they agreed on the price, what other argumentative grounds do they have?

Yes, there’s no point debating, insulting, criticising on the net, but what can we do? How else are we to show our anger, our disgust at this kind of morally inept behaviour? Those bastards had already scampered back to their homeland, to the government, this case is near close. Do you think they are going to haul their arses back here and create appeasement of this situation? Nah. I highly doubt so.

All that aside, I was really appalled at what they did. It was excruciating watching Mr Lee pedal so vigorously to lug that 3 hoodlums around yet being oblivious to the mockery and insults thrown at him. They bring disgrace to not only their country, but to the human population.

First thing first are you sure that you are a SINGAPOREAN? Have you not taken a taxi before in your entire life? Or isit the last time you took a cab was 50years ago? Please from pasir ris to aljunied cost about 11bucks and if its at night aft 11.30 it will probably cost more than 15bucks for the midnight charges.

The brits are horrible ( for the 3 of them ) i don’t blame the Singaporeans who have now put the Brits on Hate list. ( somehow its only right )

But i know its UNFAIR but HEY LIFE IS UNFAIR ANYWAY
AND IF IT WAS US IN THE SCENARIO, Our flags would have probably be burned!

I must admit i do have much hatred for ALL BRITS. Mostly the 3 As*hole,
i think that there is nothing the 3 brits can do to redeem for the childish and bully behaviour they have pulled

i prefer them to be treated this way or even WORSE countless time over and over and over again, till they finally know how it feels to be treated this way since obviously they are not remorsed at all judging by how their so-not-be-bothered and apologised-for-the-sake-of apologising apology.

There is a phrase call worse than dogs/pigs.. blah blah blah
well all i can say they cannot be compared to anything at all.
COS everything in the WORLD be it living or non-living are way better to be put on the same pedestal as them.

They should be torture slowly and painfully to death man.
Excuse my rage. . . because i am imagining that old man to be my grandfather it sure hurts worse than hell.
and that 3 men deserve nothing lesser than hell treatment.

TO VINCENT AGAIN – I HOPE THAT YOUR PARENTS GET THAT KIND OF TREATMENT FROM THE BRITS AND I HOPE YOU TOO. you don’t get the points we are fighting for right here then i see no point in trying to give you the respect here.

To Benjamin Cheah – i read ur post, i know what you are trying to bring here, but i would like to say that 3 brits being out of their COUNTRY and in another do represent their country, same as like us if i were to go oversea be it a trip or on business, in the eyes of the locals there whatever i do represent nothing but the country i am from.

I won’t blame them if they hate the entire Singapore if its vice versa. I will be utterly ashame of myself and my country.

But i do agree to what you are saying or trying to bring here but i still think that we have every right to be angry and furious at them over this incident

Venting outrage at Caucasians, bemoaning the plight of the elderly, condemning this act, berating Vincent, and inciting nationalist feelings may prove cathartic, but it’s ultimately pointless. Pronouncing sharp moral judgments laced with fury and thunder would not serve to determine the root of this problem. I, for one, see no reason to give myself high blood pressure for a matter as relatively trivial as this.

So, what do we have? This is a case of three British tourists mocking a senior citizen while he was pedalling them to a particular location, then refusing to pay him for services rendered and escaping in a taxi. I freely admit that I do not know if this could rightfully be considered a crime, given the courts’ legalistic interpretation of the law, and that I am unable to find a term that can capture the non-payment of services rendered. But, quite clearly, it is decidedly unjust to refuse to pay for services (here, the trishaw ride), especially if the price has been agreed beforehand, as that act implicitly suggests that the contracting party (the British toursits) is willing to pay to begin with. If anything, this is theft of labour value.

After this, we now come to the mockery. That in itself should surely deserve moral condemnation by most people’s standards, given that the intent was probably to make fun of the trishaw operator, and that the end result, after he learnt of it, was his recognising the emotional harm that the tourists intended to cause him. That is, of course, in addition to the hurt already caused by their non-payment for the ride. It is here where moral justification ends and illogic begins.

There exists no reason to condemn the United Kingdom here. Three Britons on foreign soil do not represent Britain, much less the UK. If they must embody something, then they take on egocentrism, injustice, cultural supremacy and/or relativism, and other assorted vile properties — which are not hallmarks of British society alone. You can find incidences of this everywhere in the world, including Singapore. In the absence of a relvant difference, we merely find a steorotype. People latch on to it because the first thing we notice is not the mockery, not the inherent injustice of the act, but the difference in race, nationality and numbers. But race and nationality is an irrelevant factor, because anybody, be he Asian or African, could quite have easily committed the same act these Britishers have committed. If you wish to condemn something from a macro perspective, then condemn the human race: we among all other animals are most capable of perpetuating such deeds. There exists no basis for nationalism nor stereotyping against Britain, or the Caucasian people. There is no need to extend the actions and properties of three men to a nation.

Where Vincent is concerned, we have a person who, through his words, does not appear to understand the basis of this report. To this, I have an analogy. It is akin to getting angry at a fool for not comprehending something beyond his ability. The proper approach is simply to cure his unwisdom, by pointing him in the right direction and teaching him what to look for and think about. The issue is not the fifteen-dollar fare. The issue is the fact that the Britons mocked the old man and refused to pay him. Thus, the points here are morality and injustice. The consumerist approach of questioning the price is a non-issue, for all the reasons given by previous comments.

I see no reason for anger against the British, so-called outsiders, or even Vincent. So douse your fiery passions in cold reason, and direct the embers to a more useful purpose.