Recently, there was the Sim Lim saga where the boss of a certain shop cheated a poor Vietnamese tourist resulting in the latter begging on his knees only to be laughed at and taunted further. Apparently that news went viral in Vietnam and it left a poor taste to many Vietnamese about Singaporeans (although it was really heartening that many Singaporeans pooled together to raise S$12k for the poor man).. I’m writing this because i’m in Vietnam right now and something “similar happened today.. something involving both Vietnamese and Singaporeans.. something that showed the ugly side of humanity but it ended rather beautifully. So this incident happened this morning up on the highlands of Dalat (i’m here leading a group of Singaporean secondary school students around Vietnam).. we were making our way back to Saigon along the windy highland roads when at one of the bends, a speeding incoming motorcyclist crashed head on to the front of the bus. The motorcyclist laid by the side of the road bleeding (but that lucky bastard only had minor superficial scratches on his feet - I know because I attended to him immediately after the collision happened. Thank God for training and Road Traffic Accidents experiences with SCDF). Anyway, thing was.. this guy (i’m going to call him “bloody bastard”), who was speeding over the limit round the bend on a highland road and crashed head-on to our bus, was damn lucky to even walk away with just a few scratches, but he decided to play it up instead acting like he lost his limbs or something. I was initially convinced and worried for him but after what happened over the next few hours, I would’ve given that bastard an Oscar award for best acting followed by a slap to his face there and then. See, there were two options to settle the matter.. the first was to wait for the local police to arrive at scene to handle the case or the second option was to settle the matter mutually between the two involved in the accident - the motorist and the bus driver. Both parties wanted to avoid the first option because it would’ve been a hassle waiting for the police to arrive, take statements, etc etc.. and the bus driver had all the students best interest at heart wanting to reach Saigon on time (because there was still 4+ hours of driving to go and we had a schedule to keep up with) so he wanted to settle the matter quickly without the long wait and work involving the police. And then the money talk began.. The bloody bastard initially demanded “compensation” of 2 million vietnamese dong. Now, here’s the thing.. the bloody bastard had no right to make any demands whatsoever because.. Firstly, he was speeding recklessly. Secondly, HE lost control and crashed head-on to the bus. NOT the bus hitting him. Thirdly, he didn’t even have a licence to ride a motorbike to begin with. As both the bloody bastard and bus driver agreed not to involve the police.. the bus driver sent his 17 year old son (who is the bus assistant on the bus) to accompany the bloody motorist to the nearest hospital and hopefully come to a mutual compensation agreement (which was already really gracious on the part of the driver). That settled, the group of students i’m with continued our way to the next stop.. But drama continued.. The bloody bastard started calling up every tom, dick, harry he knew to show up and back him up as he now wanted more money (even though it was HIS fault). Initial 2 million became 3 million. Then 4 million dong. And it didn’t stop there.. Bloody bastard sent his gangster brother down to settle the “compensation” with the bus driver. In normal circumstance, had the police been called in, the bloody motorist would’ve been completely in the wrong and received no money + consequences. But bloody bastard and his cocky asshole gangster brother knew they had the upper hand because the bus driver had the best interest of the students on board the bus, wanting to get them to Saigon sooner rather than later and so he (the bus driver) was sort of at the mercy of the bloody bastards’ demands. The bus driver and his son were pressured and very stress at this point because bastards’ demands kept escalating and they were holding us up, making us lose precious time on the road.. The reason why the driver and his son were so affected? Because firstly, they weren’t even in the wrong at all (they just wanted to settle it quickly so as not to affect the journey or the students) and secondly, they earn a mere 5 million dong a month driving the bus.. and these bloody bastards were totally milking it demanding 5 million dong (by this point).. because “maybe the motorist incurred internal injury that would require future hospital visits” and all that bullshit. That’s an entire month’s salary for poor father and son to pay bloody scheming bastards who were manipulating the situation (which was entirely their own fault) into a profitable outcome for them! It was a tense negotiation affair with the poor bus driver and his son trying, almost pleading desperately to bring down the monetary demands while the bloody bastards kept raising it even higher. The poor driver didn’t even have enough money with him to pay off the bastards so I gave him 2 million dong to add on to whatever he had but bloody bastards now wanted 6 million! All of this (from the time of accident right up to the tense compensation negotiation) was witnessed by the group of Singaporean students i’m with.. and long ugly story cut short to the heartwarming end.. The bunch of 16 year old Singaporeans who witnessed and were fully aware of the entire situation, decided to help out the poor bus driver and his son (who eventually “lost” a month’s worth of salary settling with those bloody bastards) and on their own accord and goodness of their heart, pooled together an equal sum of money for the driver and his son to cover their loss. - Some may people think or say that Singaporeans (and especially our youths) are a heartless, unhappy, ungracious, bubble-wrapped, selfish lot.. to me, I’d like to think that regardless of whichever country, there will always be the heartless bastards.. but there will also always be the beautiful angels in disguise. I’m really really heartened to know and to have witnessed a bunch of 16 year olds, the generation of tomorrow, stepping up on their own in another country (not for the sake of a tv show or CIP obligation), to show empathy and heart, to help another when they can, in ways that they can, because they genuinely care.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:14:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015