There is truly no end to the nation's suppression of the arts. A Facebook post by user Zarina Jaffar has raised the ire of netizens all over — an SMRT staff has been repeatedly harassing a blind busker even though he has no jurisdiction to chase him away.
A regular mainstay at Woodlands, prolific '80s musician and licensed busker Suhaime Roa has been performing along Causeway Point shopping mall and the Civic Centre for years. In the past couple of years, the visually handicapped busker has been facing harassment by a particular Woodlands MRT staff by the name of Edmund Chong Kong Lum, who seems to have taken a special dislike to Suhaime by constantly stopping him from performing in the vicinity of the train station.
Chong holds no authority over him as Suhaime has not broken any rules — he has not been playing on SMRT premise boundaries.
The unhappy Chong even called the auxiliary police and the police on the busker, but in both times the lawmen have maintained that Suhaime has neither encroached nor violated any statutes, maintaining that he has been performing outside the MRT compound.
One picture posted by Zarina even shows the lengths Chong would go to harass the handicapped busker, includind placing a plastic traffic barrier right in front of Suhaime while he plays his music.
SMRT on their hand have posted a clarification over the incident, insisting that they do support buskers at MRT stations. However, buskers are only allowed to perform at selected MRT stations, namely Raffles Place, City Hall, Jurong East, Eunos and Bukit Batok. "It is unfortunate that Woodlands is not part of the current trial," they posted on Facebook earlier on Monday.
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Post by SMRT.
Both Zarina and SMRT are currently in correspondence in the hopes to find a mutually beneficial solution.
Photo: Zarina Jaffar Facebook page
There is truly no end to the nation's suppression of the arts. A Facebook post by user Zarina Jaffar has raised the ire of netizens all over — an SMRT staff has been repeatedly harassing a blind busker even though he has no jurisdiction to chase him away.
A regular mainstay at Woodlands, prolific '80s musician and licensed busker Suhaime Roa has been performing along Causeway Point shopping mall and the Civic Centre for years. In the past couple of years, the visually handicapped busker has been facing harassment by a particular Woodlands MRT staff by the name of Edmund Chong Kong Lum, who seems to have taken a special dislike to Suhaime by constantly stopping him from performing in the vicinity of the train station.
Chong holds no authority over him as Suhaime has not broken any rules — he has not been playing on SMRT premise boundaries.
The unhappy Chong even called the auxiliary police and the police on the busker, but in both times the lawmen have maintained that Suhaime has neither encroached nor violated any statutes, maintaining that he has been performing outside the MRT compound.
One picture posted by Zarina even shows the lengths Chong would go to harass the handicapped busker, includind placing a plastic traffic barrier right in front of Suhaime while he plays his music.
SMRT on their hand have posted a clarification over the incident, insisting that they do support buskers at MRT stations. However, buskers are only allowed to perform at selected MRT stations, namely Raffles Place, City Hall, Jurong East, Eunos and Bukit Batok. "It is unfortunate that Woodlands is not part of the current trial," they posted on Facebook earlier on Monday.
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Post by SMRT.
Both Zarina and SMRT are currently in correspondence in the hopes to find a mutually beneficial solution.
Photo: Zarina Jaffar Facebook page