In the wake of all the folderol concerning Mediacorp actress Rui En and her (allegedly) drink-driving mayhem in a Clementi carpark, her artiste management company has put out a statement on the incident.
Hype Records stated that the actress has parked at the carpark (Block 332 along Clementi Avenue 2) every day for many years, and that it was “due to some misjudgement” that she accidentally knocked over a stationary motorcycle.
The motorbike’s owner — 52-year-old Bahrom Sarmiten — witnessed the whole thing from afar and rushed over to Rui En’s car. According to him, she looked like she was driving in a drunken manner — after all, the black BMW was even on a kerb. He had to repeatedly bang on the boot of her car and chase it for a couple of metres before Rui En stopped. “I really thought she was going to run away,” he said to The New Paper.
Her management, however, scoffed at the claims. “To avoid congestion from oncoming traffic, she wanted to park her vehicle before addressing the matter, but was stopped by the owner (of the motorcyle),” they wrote, adding that Bahrom unfortunately misunderstood Rui En’s intentions.
They apologised for the inconvenience, noting that Bahrom was “understandably upset”. He should be — he just bought his yellow Bajaj RS200 motorbike for $13,300 three months ago. From the pictures of the accident, it looked like it might require more than the $2,000 Rui En initially offered to get everything fixed up.
“As with most reported cases, the police will look into the matter and revert upon their investigation,” wrote Hype Records.
Drunk-driving or not, vehicular accidents are inevitable, even for award-winning celebrities. What folks took issue with, however, was how Rui En seemed to have displayed a lack of tact. According to Bahrom, the first thing she said was “Do you know who I am?” to him when she got out her BMW. Unfortunately for her, he didn’t — and he assured her that he didn’t give a damn even if she was a “minister’s daughter”.
