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CORRECTION NOTICE: An earlier post (dated 12 Dec 2024, that has since been deleted) communicated false statements of fact.

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By: Forever Vagabond

In the last few days, online netizens have been heavily criticising a woman who verbally abused a deaf and dumb cleaner in JEM. The incident was captured on video and reported by a netizen (https://sg.news.yahoo.com/singaporean-woman-berated-deaf-dumb-064925057.html).
The netizen commented about the woman, “In a nutshell, her saying that old and disabled people should not be given employment nor forgiven for their mistakes. And that they should just be beggars and wait for the government to feed them. I cannot understand how such an evil being can exist. She should start looking out for the Karma bus whenever she crosses the road.”
Her identity has now been finally confirmed by mainstream media to be Alice Fong, an active grassroots participant in PAP MP Lee Bee Wah’s constituency (http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/woman-apologises-scolding-deaf-and-mute-cleaner-says-she-was-ill-time).
When news came out that the woman may be involved with grassroots RC, another PAP MP quickly came out to question the identity of the woman and said that she has nothing to do with Nee Soon Central Zone 1 RC (https://theindependent.sg.sg/rc-denies-affiliation-with-woman-who-berated-dumb-cleaner-at-jem-but-fb-shows-she-was-an-active-rc-participant).
PAP MP Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim said, “No one has verified that the lady in the video is the same as the person on the (Facebook) photos. What’s a fact however, is that the lady in the photograph is not a member of Nee Soon Central Zone 1 RC or a grassroots leader in Nee Soon Central. She’s a Nee Soon resident who has taken part in events organised for her community.”
But other postings suggest that she did more than just “taking part” in grassroots events. She has volunteered to make dumplings at a recent grassroots event, which MP Lee Bee Wah tasted. The followings were posted by Lee Bee Wah on 29 May with a photo album titled, “Breakfast with Palms NC volunteers”. Lee Bee Wah thanked Alice Fong for her nice “yummy” dumplings:
melonsanAlso, in an interview with mainstream media, Alice Fong disclosed that she made dumplings for the elderly to eat at grassroots events (https://theindependent.sg.sg/alice-fong-threatens-to-sue-netizens-who-make-disparaging-comments-about-her) but she denied she is a volunteer.
Perhaps she is not a general grassroots volunteer per se but nevertheless, can be considered a volunteer “dumpling maker” for grassroots events. Still, at the height of PRC Yang Yin’s incident in 2014, PAP MP Intan had said that she considers all grassroots volunteers “grassroots leaders” (http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/mp-intan-azura-mokhtar-says-she-does-not-know-yang-yin-personally).
So, going by Dr Intan’s argument, perhaps we can also consider Alice Fong a “grassroots leaders” of sort, supposedly out to help the weak and the old in our society, just like PRC Yang Yin was supposed to do.
In any case, mainstream media further reported that Alice Fong was not apologising for the incident and that she was not to be blamed (http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/woman-who-verbally-abused-deaf-mute-cleaner-was-alleged-property-scammer).
After taking into considerations what Alice Fong said about deaf and dumb people, that they should “just be beggars and wait for the government to feed them”, should MP Lee Bee Wah continue to allow her to make dumplings for the elderly in her constituency?

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If MP Lee Bee Wah continues to engage such an unapologetic “volunteer dumpling maker”, would Ms Lee’s actions be considered hypocritical?

ByThe Independent