Former actor-turned-hawker Huang Yiliang was taken by ambulance to Tan Tock Seng Hospital on the evening of May 10 after an incident at his stall, Old Fisherman, at Circuit Road Hawker Centre in Singapore.
A video by TikTok user @Pangco showed the 64-year-old, clad in a red polo T-shirt, seated at a table outside his stall and speaking to a police officer, while a paramedic attended to him.
Speaking to The Straits Times, Huang said he was preparing orders at his stall at about 6pm when tensions flared.
He said the woman who runs the Hainanese Chicken Rice stall next to his had called over his stall assistant to a table outside her stall, where her husband was waiting. Knowing that his assistant did not want to speak to the woman and her husband, Huang said he told his assistant to return to his stall to continue preparing food.
He alleged that the couple then started shouting in an attempt to disperse the crowd of customers queueing at his stall. Huang said he shouted back that his customers were not frightened off by their shouting.
When he stepped out of his stall, he said he felt someone hit him on his right ear from behind, causing him to fall forward. He alleged that the chicken rice stall owner’s husband had hit him.
“I was shocked and in pain,” said Huang, who added that some people helped him to a table outside the stall before an ambulance arrived and took him to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
He said there was no bleeding, but his right ear and jaw hurt. He was discharged at about 10pm and given three days of medical leave and painkillers.
In response to queries, the police said a 64-year-old man was assaulted by a 60-year-old man. The 60-year-old man is assisting with ongoing investigations.
Huang made headlines last week after a five-second video surfaced on May 6, showing a heated argument between him and the 50-year-old female owner of the neighbouring chicken rice stall.
Rumours led to argument
He alleged that the chicken rice stall owner had spread rumours about him having an improper relationship with his stall assistant.
“I definitely am not having an affair with her,” he said.
Speaking to The Straits Times, his 50-year-old part-time stall assistant, who declined to be named, said she started working for Huang in March, initially as a full-timer for two weeks.
As the stall is closed between 2 and 4pm, Huang had offered to let her rest in the living room of his flat nearby, which has air-conditioning. She would take a nap on the sofa while Huang rested in his room. They would then return to the stall to prepare for dinner service.
She said: “He was being kind and considerate, but I felt bad to impose on him.”
Not used to the heat and stress of working at a hawker stall full-time, she later quit and returned part-time, working mostly evenings and weekends. She said she no longer went to Huang’s home for afternoon breaks after that.
About a month ago, while she was eating chicken rice from the stall next door, the female owner struck up a conversation with her. The assistant mentioned that she had previously gone to Huang’s flat to rest in the afternoons.
The chicken rice stall owner then asked in Mandarin if she and Huang “had slept”. The assistant, assuming the question referred to whether they had taken a nap in the afternoon, replied “yes”.
Huang said other hawkers later told him that the chicken rice stall owner had alleged that he and his assistant had been “sleeping together”.
She said her family members were initially worried about her working for him, given his previous run-ins with the law. In 2021, Huang was sentenced to 10 months’ jail for assaulting a Bangladeshi worker he had hired.
But in the past few months, she said she found him to be a good boss.
“When I make mistakes, he will tell me off, but which boss wouldn’t? He gets along well with the other hawkers and also the cleaners.”
She added: “This job is stressful and the environment is hot. It is not easy working here, but he is still courteous and jovial with customers and the other hawkers.”
Friction from the start
Huang added that the chicken rice seller had not been welcoming towards him since he took over the stall next to hers and began renovation works. He said she had scolded him and his plumber for carrying out works, complaining that the dust affected her business. Even then, he said he tried to be cordial and greeted her whenever he saw her.
He said he tried to brush off the rumours initially and did not want to reveal what had led to the altercation shown in the five-second video shared on SingaporeSpeaks on May 6.
Huang added: “I did not want to embarrass the chicken rice stall owner since she has a husband.”
Before the heated argument, which occurred about three weeks ago, Huang alleged that the chicken rice stall owner had approached him on at least five occasions, saying she wanted to be his stall assistant.
He said: “I was so taken aback, I did not respond. The fifth time she asked me, I responded by asking her, ‘What about your own stall? How can you assist me since you are running your own stall alone?’”
Even then, he continued to greet her whenever he saw her, until he was told about the rumours she had allegedly spread about him and his stall assistant.
When approached by ST on the morning of May 11, the chicken rice stall owner declined to be interviewed, saying speaking to the media would cause more misunderstanding and that the case was under police investigation.
Refunds for Mother’s Day pre-orders
After the altercation on May 10, Huang said he asked his assistant to continue operating the stall on her own for the rest of the evening, even though she could prepare only steamed fish.
As he had to go to the hospital, he was unable to fulfil advanced orders for Mother’s Day, including those for his signature crab bee hoon.
He estimates his losses at several hundred dollars, as he will have to refund orders made in advance.
Meanwhile, the neighbouring chicken rice stall, also known as Enah Hainanese Chicken Rice on its Facebook page, has received a slew of one-star reviews on its Google page since four days ago, with some reviewers referring to the dispute.
One reviewer, CoOI, wrote: “Differences between stallholders are best resolved respectfully without unnecessary public escalation... I hope the owner of Enah Hainanese Chicken Rice can adopt kinder communication habits, reduce avoidable conflicts and uphold a spirit of mutual respect.” – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
