A 71-year-old struggling cobbler has been served a termination notice by the management of Katong Plaza to not conduct his business at the precinct after 11 years. According to Katong Plaza, there was a drunkard sleeping outside his rental stall and smoked in a non-smoking area. Katong Plaza then claimed that the cobbler know the drunkard as CCTV shows them conversing regularly.
This excuse however has been met with backlash by customers and friends of the elderly cobbler, Ng Ah Bah. The cobbler earns about S$1,000 a month after paying S$300 in rental to Katong Plaza. His wife is a stroke patient who is currently immobile. The poor man made headline news in 2014 when he was seen wheeling his immobile wife to work everyday so he could care for her while he work. His wife is currently in a nursing home with a monthly medical fees of more than his monthly salary.
The chairman of Katong Plaza management, Tang, claimed that he has been very sympathetic and even gave him a rent discount from S$600 to S$300 a month but the drunk man issue was the last straw.