The boss of The Yang’s Traditional Hainanese Chicken Rice, Gary Lim, has offered an apology for his offensive remarks against a taxi driver, as well as offering to give 200 packets of rice to other taxi drivers.
In a video posted by a Facebook user Yan Tin Ong, Mr Lim was seen blocking the taxi driver from closing the door of his taxi.
The taxi driver asked Mr Lim to move away since he had kept his money in the side compartment.
However, Mr Lim did not move away. He said, “You want to close (the door), then just close,” while he continued blocking the way.
The driver again asked Mr Lim to move away, but Mr Lim responded by saying, “Wah so much money, how much money, Tell me. Wah seh, so much money. I’ve never seen so much money, brother.”
The stall owner then took out multiple $1,000 notes and started counting his cash, all the while flaunting it and ignoring the driver’s repeated requests for Mr Lim to move away.
Mr Lim then said, “You want to close then just close it daringly. Be a man. Must have guts to slam the door. Don’t be like a chao ah gua, people stand there and block your way, you can’t achieve great things.”
“Do you know why you are a taxi driver today? Because you can’t achieve great things,” he stated.
Mr Lim then reached inside the taxi and tried to touch the driver’s mobile phone from which he was recording the incident.
The driver avoided his grip and said, “I’m not close to you, please do not touch my things.”
Mr Lim has approached Shin Min Daily News, asking them to arrange for an meeting with the taxi driver, Mr Sun, so that he would be able to apologise personally.
However, as Mr Sun was busy working on Saturday evening, the daily news arranged for a phone call instead.
Speaking in Mandarin, Mr Lim told Mr Sun, “I want to apologise. I drank too much and said some senseless things. But I had no intention of harming you. Frankly, I was quite rash, I said things I shouldn’t have said, and hope you can accept my apology.”
Mr Sun then responded, “I feel this apology isn’t an issue, in fact, I didn’t take (the incident) to heart. I’m already at peace. But before I formally accept your apology, I want to let you know that no matter what problem a person faces in life, he should not vent his anger on others.”
“You are a grown man, not a child. So I hope you’ll treat this as a lesson, keep moving forward, become more amicable, and not look down on other people’s jobs. Whether you are a cleaner or a big boss, I feel this is a question of basic respect towards others,” Mr Sun added.
To express his sincerity, Mr Lim offered to prepare 200 packets of chicken rice to taxi drivers between 3pm and 5pm on Tuesday (2 May) at his chicken rice outlets at 8 Braddell Road and 562 Serangoon Road.
Lim Lian Chin William, a taxi driver, created a poll on Singapore Taxi Driver Facebook group, asking for other taxi drivers within the Facebook group to vote on whether they would take up the offer.
More than 75 percent of the taxi drivers who voted stated that they would not take the offer.
However, in a recent move, Singapore Taxi Driver wrote another post stating that “from the media report, it had shown that Mr Lim is insincere apologising for the remarks against taxi drivers”.
As a result, Singapore Taxi Driver group demanded for Mr Lim to do the specific options stated by the group to show his sincerity.
“We had leave off the option of donating cash or chicken rice to needy people as this is only hurting his pocket. Rather, we want him to learn his painful lesson,” it added.
In a most recent update, taxi drivers in Singapore banded together to show their disapproval over the apology. A post from Facebook page Mustsharenews.com showed the scene at The Yang’s Traditional Hainanese Chicken Rice stall on Tuesday, 2 May. Only two packets out of the 200 offered has been given to taxi drivers.
