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Case of Storm in a Chinese Restaurant Teacup
- Thread starter kelvin
- Start date
A QUARREL between a Chinatown restaurant waitress and the owner of a nearby hawker stall blew up into a larger dispute when cops were called in.
UNHAPPY: Mr Koh and Miss Liang Bo. TNP PICTURE: NG TZE YONG
Oddly, the upshot of all this is a complaint lodged against the two police officers who responded to a call about the earlier spat.
The complaint was made by the owner of the Smith Street restaurant, who alleged that the police officers were too strict in their manner when they asked for identification of the waitress and restaurant boss.
Mr Roger Koh, the 48-year-old boss of La Zi Ji restaurant wrote a letter which he sent to the police.
The 10-page letter, which reads almost like a movie script, meticulously described the events and dialogue that he claimed took place from 7.30pm last Thursday, after the two policemen showed up at his restaurant.
In response to a query from The New Paper, a police spokesman said the 'police were called in to attend to a dispute between the staff of Chen Fu Ji and another restaurant on 12 Mar at about 7.40pm'.
La Zi Ji is part of the Chen Fu Ji group.
The police at first interviewed the feuding parties outside the restaurant.
'Uncooperative'
But when they asked for the particulars of one of Mr Koh's female workers, who was involved in the dispute, 'she went inside the restaurant but did not return'.
So, the officers entered the restaurant 'which was empty at that time to look for her'.
The spokesman added: 'The female subject was uncooperative at first but eventually produced her long-term pass.
'While the long-term pass is a personal employment pass, the pass by itself is not valid as proof of identity.
'It was thus necessary to verify her identity by counter-checking against other valid photo ID, i.e. her passport.'
Mr Koh claimed the whole episode took place over almost three hours.
His version is that there were about six diners in the restaurant at the time.
'They all ate in silence, probably wondering what was happening,' said Mr Koh.
'The atmosphere was tense.'
So, why didn't the waitress produce the documents sought by the police and settle the matter quickly?
The 26-year-old waitress, Miss Liang Bo, had quarrelled with a hawker for allegedly insulting her.
She declined to say what the insult was, but said that she had told him not to think that she could be bullied so easily.
Instead of giving her particulars to the police when asked, she walked away from them and called Mr Koh who was in his office upstairs.
He told her over the phone to show them her employment pass.
Pass problem
But when she produced her Q1 employment pass (for those earning a fixed monthly salary of more than $2,500), she claimed the police accused her of not holding a valid work permit.
'I told them that, yes, this is not a work permit, it is an employment pass,' said Miss Liang, who is originally from Beijing and joined the restaurant 14 months ago.
She offered to return home to get her passport for the policemen, but she was not allowed to leave the premises at that point, she claimed.
Producing identification was also an issue with Mr Koh.
The chief executive officer of Chen Fu Ji International F&B Group, which owns eight restaurants in Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong, claimed the policemen refused to take his name card when he offered it.
Instead, they asked for his IC.
Mr Koh claimed he had left it in his car at his Changi home and offered to provide his IC number.
He then decided to call his wife to bring his IC to the restaurant.
Because of the stand-off, the cops called their supervisor, claimed Mr Koh, and more officers arrived.
Mr Koh then went upstairs with them to show his list of employees and their records. He printed out Miss Liang's employment pass approval form.
He claimed the policemen took with them the printed forms and the incident ended.
But the matter didn't end there for Mr Koh.
He took issue with the conduct of the policemen in his police complaint. He alleged that he and Miss Liang were threatened with arrest when they offered to leave the premises to get identification.
The restaurant man's complaint gives an account of how the cops restricted the movements of Miss Liang, and of how the policemen allegedly couldn't tell a work permit from an employment pass.
In response to these claims, the police spokesman said: 'Police are looking into the other allegations raised by Mr Koh and will follow up with him accordingly'.
Additional reporting by Amanda Yong
UNHAPPY: Mr Koh and Miss Liang Bo. TNP PICTURE: NG TZE YONG
Oddly, the upshot of all this is a complaint lodged against the two police officers who responded to a call about the earlier spat.
The complaint was made by the owner of the Smith Street restaurant, who alleged that the police officers were too strict in their manner when they asked for identification of the waitress and restaurant boss.
Mr Roger Koh, the 48-year-old boss of La Zi Ji restaurant wrote a letter which he sent to the police.
The 10-page letter, which reads almost like a movie script, meticulously described the events and dialogue that he claimed took place from 7.30pm last Thursday, after the two policemen showed up at his restaurant.
In response to a query from The New Paper, a police spokesman said the 'police were called in to attend to a dispute between the staff of Chen Fu Ji and another restaurant on 12 Mar at about 7.40pm'.
La Zi Ji is part of the Chen Fu Ji group.
The police at first interviewed the feuding parties outside the restaurant.
'Uncooperative'
But when they asked for the particulars of one of Mr Koh's female workers, who was involved in the dispute, 'she went inside the restaurant but did not return'.
So, the officers entered the restaurant 'which was empty at that time to look for her'.
The spokesman added: 'The female subject was uncooperative at first but eventually produced her long-term pass.
'While the long-term pass is a personal employment pass, the pass by itself is not valid as proof of identity.
'It was thus necessary to verify her identity by counter-checking against other valid photo ID, i.e. her passport.'
Mr Koh claimed the whole episode took place over almost three hours.
His version is that there were about six diners in the restaurant at the time.
'They all ate in silence, probably wondering what was happening,' said Mr Koh.
'The atmosphere was tense.'
So, why didn't the waitress produce the documents sought by the police and settle the matter quickly?
The 26-year-old waitress, Miss Liang Bo, had quarrelled with a hawker for allegedly insulting her.
She declined to say what the insult was, but said that she had told him not to think that she could be bullied so easily.
Instead of giving her particulars to the police when asked, she walked away from them and called Mr Koh who was in his office upstairs.
He told her over the phone to show them her employment pass.
Pass problem
But when she produced her Q1 employment pass (for those earning a fixed monthly salary of more than $2,500), she claimed the police accused her of not holding a valid work permit.
'I told them that, yes, this is not a work permit, it is an employment pass,' said Miss Liang, who is originally from Beijing and joined the restaurant 14 months ago.
She offered to return home to get her passport for the policemen, but she was not allowed to leave the premises at that point, she claimed.
Producing identification was also an issue with Mr Koh.
The chief executive officer of Chen Fu Ji International F&B Group, which owns eight restaurants in Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong, claimed the policemen refused to take his name card when he offered it.
Instead, they asked for his IC.
Mr Koh claimed he had left it in his car at his Changi home and offered to provide his IC number.
He then decided to call his wife to bring his IC to the restaurant.
Because of the stand-off, the cops called their supervisor, claimed Mr Koh, and more officers arrived.
Mr Koh then went upstairs with them to show his list of employees and their records. He printed out Miss Liang's employment pass approval form.
He claimed the policemen took with them the printed forms and the incident ended.
But the matter didn't end there for Mr Koh.
He took issue with the conduct of the policemen in his police complaint. He alleged that he and Miss Liang were threatened with arrest when they offered to leave the premises to get identification.
The restaurant man's complaint gives an account of how the cops restricted the movements of Miss Liang, and of how the policemen allegedly couldn't tell a work permit from an employment pass.
In response to these claims, the police spokesman said: 'Police are looking into the other allegations raised by Mr Koh and will follow up with him accordingly'.
Additional reporting by Amanda Yong
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