TRISHAW UNCLE, 67, SAYS:
I didn't know they were MAKING FUN OF ME
By Elysa Chen, Liew Hanqing and Tan May Ping
November 01, 2007
THEY laughed at the trishaw uncle as he panted under their weight.
And when they got off, they refused to pay the elderly man the fare he was due.
Thinking it would make a funny video, three British tourists filmed their trishaw ride in Singapore about three months ago, then posted it online on YouTube last week.
The video's title: 'The Slowest Taxi in Southeast Asia'.
But the posting has backfired on them.
Within days, it was widely circulated among local Netizens, who were incensed at the way the trishaw rider was treated.
In the four-minute video, the three medium-built male tourists are seen squeezing onto the elderly rider's trishaw.
Struggling under their weight, he pedals at a snail's pace while his passengers taunt him for going slowly.
When they alight, the rider asks them for the $10 fare. One of the tourists flippantly says to another: 'Just give him $5.'
In the end, they simply hail a taxi and take off without paying the uncle a cent.
Though the original video was removed by the tourist who posted it, another user, likely a Singaporean, re-posted it on YouTube and retitled it: 'B*****ds bullying Singapore senior citizen...'
The video has also made its way to numerous blogs.
Since the video was re-posted on Saturday, it has been viewed more than 16,000 times.
Netizens - most of whom seem to be Singaporean - have posted more than 400 angry comments about the video, as well as directly on the tourist's YouTube profile page.
Many hurled expletives at the three tourists, calling them heartless bullies.
The New Paper tracked down the trishaw rider, Mr Lee Shee Lam, at Clarke Quay last night.
When approached, he said he had forgotten about the incident and was reluctant to talk about it at first.
He brushed it off as bad luck.
'It happened so long ago. Anyway, what could I have done?' said Mr Lee, 67, in Hokkien.
ANGRY
He later said that he was angry and frustrated when the tourists did not pay up.
'They refused to pay, then they flagged a taxi and left,' he said.
Before they got on his trishaw, Mr Lee claimed the three men had agreed to pay $15 for their ride.
'It was the first time it happened to me in my 15 years of riding,' said the burly Mr Lee, who walks with a slight limp.
He picked the men up at Clarke Quay and they got off at the Central Fire Station along Hill Street, about 10 minutes away.
Mr Lee, who does not understand English, said he was not aware they were making fun of him or that they were filming the journey.
He only knew that things had blown up when he was approached by reporters.
How does he feel being made fun of?
'It doesn't matter. I have already forgotten about it,' he said.
The good-natured man works every day from about 5pm to 3am, and sleeps the rest of the day.
On a good day, he earns about $30 but on most days, he pockets much less.
Asked if he has had a hard life, he said: 'There is no need to bring it up to other people. As long as I know, that's enough.
'Whether I am happy or not, I have been doing this for 15 years.'
Mr Lee was born without a right ear, and other than rheumatism in his legs, he does not suffer from other illnesses.
He lives with his wife and grown-up daughter in a Sembawang flat. His son, who is in his 30s, is married and living on his own.
Although his children give him money, he still needs to work.
He bought the trishaw for over $300 when he was 52.
He said: 'I had no choice. No one wants to employ you when you are old.'
Mr Lee was an odd-job labourer when he was younger, and proudly said: 'I also worked in construction sites. I had a lot of strength back then.'
He reckons he has two or three more years left in him as a trishaw rider.
He said: 'You need a lot of strength and I think I won't have enough strength by then.'
Another trishaw rider, Mr Ong Heng Bok, 60, who has known Mr Lee for six years, said he was not aware of the incident.
Said Mr Ong: 'He did not tell me anything. He probably thought it was a small matter.'
The New Paper also managed to track down, through a query sent through YouTube, the tourist who posted the original video.
Responding to our queries, Mr Bo Davis, 26, said he did not feel they were being bullies at all.
'I don't abide bullying,' he said.
UNEXPECTED RESPONSE
Mr Davis said the online responses he received were totally unexpected.
He said he had posted the video on YouTube to display on his personal Facebook account, and didn't think anybody else would look at it.
He said: 'I couldn't believe the comments - I was shocked by the threats.
'People's reactions were shocking but interesting at the same time.'
After the first wave of comments, Mr Davis apologised online for his behaviour and removed the original video.
'I am sorry for the offence caused, and for being disrespectful to the elderly. But I think it's been blown out of proportion,' he said.
On comments that his group had bullied Mr Lee, Mr Davis said: 'Looking back, I think we were insensitive. But bullies, no.'
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