Text: Shah Salimat
Photo: CNA
It has been barely a week since the video of 25-year-old Alex Ong pushing an elderly woman off a bus made its rounds on social media but already, there has been uproar over his actions. The police have classified the case as "voluntarily causing hurt" and have brought Mr Ong in for questioning.
Mr Ong released a note on his Facebook page on Tuesday, claiming that his reaction was due to his clinical depression, autism and a failure to complete secondary school. He said he "felt the need to defend myself" and asserted his stance that such situations caused him to be provoked easily.
Mr Ong explained: "When your life dreams are taken away right in front of you... the amount of rage that builds up inside you can only be immense. You feel vengeful against society. You can only resign yourself to the sad fact that this is your karma. You must have offended too many people in previous lives. No one really truly understands the pain I went through."
In a new Facebook note released Thursday, he expressed remorse for the elderly lady. Alex Ong also set up a blog where he stated that he had apologized to the lady after the incident and she accepted his apology. He added: "Quite unfortunately, my anger, which had nowhere to go, had to be released on an innocent old lady... I wish her no lasting harm." The blog has now been made private.
In response to Alex Ong's actions, YouTuber Noah Yap released a video blog, saying: "Why would you want to slap a defenseless, poor old lady (just) because she pressed the button? Slapping someone: no, not cool. At least you know your mistake, but I think that if anything happens to the old lady, you should be the one that is paying for your medical bills."
A Facebook post was released by Shawn Phang, who knows Alex from their shared love of the animated series My Little Pony and participation in the Singapore Bronies Society. Mr Phang noted Mr Ong's "socially awkward" idiosyncrasies and his "inability to see other people's point of view" due to his mild autism. However, Mr Phang was quick to jump to Alex Ong's defence and reminded the public to show sensitivity in this matter.
Mr Phang said, "He's still deeply remorseful over the incident and is still worrying for the auntie... I'm not trying to say that this justifies what he has already done. What I'm asking for from the people who view this is a sense of understanding for Mr Alex Ong; he did after all show remorse over the incident and is very apologetic."
The term "Alex Ong" has been trending on twitter since early Thursday afternoon, with Twitter users taking different sides on the matter. Blogger Xiaxue disliked Alex Ong's "self-righteous attitude" and artiste Melody Chen called his reasons as the "lamest excuse ever".
However, Twitter user @jugheadx, on the other hand, noted that the problem may not lie with Alex Ong, tweeting "some old aunties nowadays are also quote inconsiderate". @alvatronixx puts the matter into perspective by tweeting that Alex Ong's apology is "all that matters to me".
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Man filmed shoving elderly woman off public bus
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