S’poreans say report about men eating leftovers at Chinatown hawker centre has ‘no empathy’

SINGAPORE: Reports of older men going to a hawker centre in Chinatown and eating leftovers have been published in several news sites over the past few days.

The Chinese-language news Shin Min Daily News first reported on the incident earlier this week, followed by others, including The New Paper, AsiaOne, and Mothership.

The reports say that the men, either individually or in groups, have been eating leftover food on the tables or at the tray return areas of People’s Park Centre in Chinatown.

One of the men who spoke to Shin Min Daily News said that he goes to the hawker centre daily because it’s lively since a lot of people visit the area.

However, there are times when people order too much food and have a lot left over.

Sometimes, he added, the leftovers he picks up and eats are still warm.

He clarified, however, that he eats other people’s leftovers not because he lacks money to buy his own food, but because he does not want to see the food go to waste.

The reports warned, however, that eating others’ leftovers can lead to illnesses.

However, this is not a new issue and is known to have occurred at this hawker centre in the past.

When the report from The New Paper was shared on Reddit Singapore, commenters did not hold back from expressing their opinions.

“What is the point of the media reporting this? Just to embarrass him?” one asked.

Other commenters appeared to regard the piece as mere clickbait.

Another wrote that the way the headline is written seems to suggest that poverty is the reason why the elderly eat other people’s leftovers.

One Reddit user commenter wrote, “He may or may not be poor, but he certainly has his pride and it was mean to expose him.”

Another pointed out that the man may not be poor now, but people who grow up in poverty are often the most aware of food wastage.

A commenter pointed out that the media coverage of the incident had “totally no empathy”.

“I wish things like this doesn’t make him appear on a national newspaper and he can just be left alone,” wrote another.

However, another pointed out, “There’s a message cautioning people against doing this at the end of the article so maybe it’s to discourage others from doing the same.”

“Hey, if ppl can pick cardboard for execise, ppl can eat leftovers for fun,” one commented sarcastically. /TISG

Read also: Netizens express concern over elderly people seen eating leftovers at People’s Park Food Centre