$1,000 fine each for woman and couple who fought over getai seats until her face was lacerated

Nadine Chua
The Straits Times
April 21, 2023

A married couple and a woman, who were caught on camera fighting over seats at a getai concert, were each fined $1,000.

On Friday, Neo Kway Chuan, 70, his wife Long Kai Buay, 66, and Ong Geok Sang, 71, each pleaded guilty to one count of affray after fighting in a public place.

A video of the scuffle, which was uploaded on Facebook, went viral in August 2022.

State Prosecuting Officer Lim Yeow Leong said that on Aug 10, at around 5.30pm, the three people were in a tentage area along Arumugam Road to watch a getai concert for the Hungry Ghost Festival.

Ong placed some slips of paper on a number of plastic chairs to reserve the seats for her friends, whom she was expecting to turn up later.

Neo removed the slips of paper and he and his wife occupied two of the chairs.

Ong confronted him and they argued, with Neo saying that she should not be hogging the seats. Ong then scolded the couple for taking up her reserved seats.

During the altercation, Ong and Neo both raised a plastic chair at each other. Ong threw the chair at Long and it missed her.

The two women got into a scuffle, and the couple then started throwing punches at Ong.

Staff and attendees at the getai event stepped in to separate the trio.

At around 6pm, Ong called the police and said she was “assaulted by a couple at the temple”. All three were arrested.

Ong was found to have suffered facial lacerations, while Neo had abrasions on his right hand. His wife did not have any injury.

Those convicted of affray may be jailed up to a year, or fined up to $5,000, or both.