Singaporeans are praising marathon runner Soh Rui Yong for his integrity, honesty and compassion after he returned a lost cheque that he stumbled upon to its rightful owner.
In a Facebook post published on Monday (3 Aug), Mr Soh recounted that he was walking home one night when he noticed a folded cheque on the ground. He picked it up and realised it was a cash cheque for $30,000.
Instead of cashing the cheque and walking away with a hefty sum in cash, Mr Soh sought to return the cheque to its rightful owner. Unsure of how to go about doing this, the Aljunied GRC resident reached out to his MP Pritam Singh for help. Revealing that Mr Pritam offered to assist, the athlete wrote:
“Was walking home at night when I stumbled across a folded cheque on the street. Picking it up I looked at the cheque: “Pay Cash, $30,000.”
“Never had I ever found a lost cheque before, much less one of this much value. Not sure what to do, I reached out to my MP Pritam Singh who very kindly offered to enlist help from our town council to find the owner.”
Before Mr Pritam could get back to him, Mr Soh managed to track down the owner of the cheque thanks to the power of the internet. A search of the cheque payee’s name online showed Mr Soh that he was the owner of 1A Crispy Puffs – a homegrown currypuff franchise that had its humble beginnings in Eunos Crescent, that is now within Aljunied GRC, back in 1991.
Explaining how he got in touch with the owner of 1A Crispy Puffs and returned the cheque, Mr Soh wrote online: “While waiting, I went on the internet and searched for the name on the cheque. Realised that he was the owner of 1A Crispy Puffs! And even better, I found a delivery number.
“Trying not to sound ridiculous, I wrote in to the number asking to speak with the owner of the business (lol) and they kindly obliged. Managed to be linked up and returned the cheque the next day to Mr Ow, who asked for my address and for a photo to be taken together to commemorate the occasion.”
Grateful to Mr Soh, the owner of 1A Crispy Puffs delivered a feast of currypuffs to his home the very next day. Sharing that he was surprised by the gesture, Mr Soh said: “Big surprise the following day. 2 boxes of curry puffs, sardine puffs, durian puffs, yam puffs and more sent to my place! Had an absolute feast and loved every minute of it. Highly recommend 1A Crispy Puffs to anyone looking for a tasty snack. 🙂
“Big thank you Mr Ow for your generosity and I’m blessed to live in a neighborhood where we look out for each other.”
Read the heartwarming post in full here:
https://www.facebook.com/sohruiyong/posts/3103846776357618?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBZrqgxWVj9zbqZtKyl8zuaH3k-lboFl6VtZkCvbBwk9DXmosg-yJXO1MGUtn4v2y1l0b6dUxwVa-DE6FVdvF080jV_C6pY_Ve1zyqyJ6BvhjkURXfTMCxFAU8wjkxDtqM8EQYNgGY__cG3l2P-f9OGQm9sZkjHIoOqyEnBqhdPU3LnZexs4R2y4GdUif8K4qcVFuAZBOwRjujoxTGsLezIcLyADshWNncmjBIljOKWzhTEIWmjJmYzBhPDoCluAaot8iPDbdGF5z2xJpud5avzz3GJV_Oyiw5S3Ev2YBvQgaKvLCvEb95kiPfE05fUuaJt7i1aJDCYHyBJon9ltN172A&__tn__=-R
28-year-old Mr Soh is a gold-medal winning athlete who won his first marathon gold at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games. He became the first Singaporean male marathoner to win back-to-back SEA Games titles when he won gold again at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games.
Aside from his career, Mr Soh is perhaps most well known for his outspoken nature. After winning his second marathon gold in 2017, he protested on having to donate 20 per cent of his S$10,000 Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme (MAP) prize money to Singapore Athletics (SA), as he said he retained his gold medal “without any coaching help from SA”.
In January 2019, Mr Soh set a new half marathon national record at the 2019 Aramco Houston Half Marathon and became the only Singapore man in history to concurrently hold the 10,000m and half marathon national records. Months later, in March, he broke the Singapore marathon record at the Seoul Marathon.