Addressing the incident that happened during his Clementi walkabout, presidential candidate Ng Kok Song assured Singaporeans that he was not hurt.
A young man in a red shirt had shouted Tan Kin Lian's name, hurled vulgarities, made threatening gestures, and followed Ng for a short distance during his walkabout in Clementi on Aug. 29.
Was focused on the people who wanted to meet him
At a media doorstop in Hougang on Aug. 30 morning, Ng shared that he was initially unaware of what was happening as he was focused on the supporters lined up to meet him.
"All I wanted to do was, when they came forward, I want to greet them. I want to smile at them, and then I want to concentrate on how we can take a nice photo together," Ng said.
He added that he was not "looking around" until he heard shouting and some commotion.
"It was at that point that my security people came forward and said, 'Kok Song, I think we have to stop the photographing because there's a commotion. We have to move you to safety.'
So that was my experience last night."
"I'm not hurt"
Ng explained that his main concern was the members of the public who lined up to have their photographs taken with him. He wanted to ensure that they were not hurt or frightened in any way.
"I was also concerned about my campaign staff, the photographers, the media, because they were concentrating on me when the disturbance happened," Ng added.
"As you can see, I'm alright. I'm not hurt.
I want to apologise to the many people who had lined up to have their photographs taken with me. Unfortunately, because of that incident, I was not able to have their photographs taken. So they might have gone home disappointed because they had lined up, some of them for more than 15 minutes.
So please help me to convey my apologies to them, that because of the incident, we couldn't have our photographs taken."
"Happy to hear" that the man is not one of Tan's supporters
Within a few hours of the incident, Tan Kin Lian told the media that the man who caused the commotion was not recognised as one of his regular supporters.
Tan also urged Ng to make a police report.
When asked what he thought about Tan's response, Ng said that he was "glad" and "happy to hear" that the man involved in the incident was not one of Tan's fans.
Ng also stated that the police came down after a member of public alerted them of the incident.
He added that some members of his campaign team have explained to the police what happened.
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