YOU see a man running amok, slapping and punching everyone within range.

What do you do?

Cleaner Soh K X had no doubts. After all, he had been hit as well.

So he hit back. Again and again and again. Until the man was subdued.

This drama unfolded yesterday at about 9.30am when many were tucking into their breakfast at the Ghim Moh market and food centre at Block 20 on Ghim Moh Road.

Now Mr Soh, 49, is a figure of controversy.

Some passers-by felt he had used excessive force because he was seen hitting the man repeatedly whenever the latter tried to break free.

And the volunteer cleaner looked intimidating at the time because he was not wearing a shirt, exposing his tattoo-covered torso.

The New Paper's projects editor, Mr J Rajendran, who was having breakfast at the time, said: 'The man may have done something criminal, but that's no reason to use excessive violence.

'Let's see things in perspective. He looked mentally ill and thin and was not carrying a weapon.

'Others could have helped restrain him until the police arrived.'

'A HERO'

But the stallholders disagreed that Mr Soh had gone overboard.

Instead they told The New Paper that he was 'a hero' for intervening.

A carrot cake stallowner, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, 30, said: 'What if the man had been carrying a weapon? He would have been more dangerous.'

Mr Soh maintained that he had done nothing wrong.

He said in Mandarin: 'Like I told the police, if the man had beaten up so many people and then he beats you, what would you have done?'

Mr Soh said that at one point, the man even went up to a baby in a stroller. Luckily, he only stroked the baby's cheek.

Mr Soh stressed that he had beaten the man only because he was violent and refused to stop hitting others.

He said of the man: 'He appears to be mentally ill. Even when we talked to him, he wouldn't listen. So I had to beat him to make him scared of me, then he would stop.

'What good would it do for us to beat him up? He may have hit so many people, but he's still human,' he said.

Another victim of the man, Madam Annie Lim, said in Mandarin: 'He (Mr Soh) came to help me and my daughter. There were so many people who just stood there.'

She said that those who criticised Mr Soh probably only witnessed the second half of the drama - when the three people were subduing the man were outside the hawker centre.

She said: 'If not for Mr Soh, I would have been in hospital now.'

Another stallholder, Madam Letchmi, 43, agreed. 'If not for him, there would have been more chaos. If no one had reacted, the man would have beaten up more people.

Madam Letchumi's sister, Ms Mala Veerapen, 36, added: '(Mr Soh) was just trying to stop him. The man still kept trying to hit people. To me, you have to stop him.'

Madam Lim, 45, said she was having breakfast with her daughter, Jolene Tan, 16, at their family's fishball noodle stall, when she first noticed the man.

She heard a slap, looked up and saw a man on a rampage, punching and slapping three men and a woman in her 50s near her.

'His hands were super fast, he just went slap, slap slap! He was like a mad man,' she said.

Before she could react, the man turned and tried to hit Jolene's head.

Luckily, Jolene raised her arm in time and blocked the blow.

Madam Lim then stood up and shouted at him in Hokkien: 'Why did you hit my daughter? Why did you hit these people?'

The man then turned and punched her in the stomach.

When her husband rushed out of the stall to help his wife and daughter, the man punched him in the chest.

Eyewitnesses said that the attacker was in his 40s and appeared to be mentally unstable.

Wearing a white polo T-shirt, shorts and slippers, he had been wandering around the centre from about 8am, staring and pointing at strangers, they said.

He even used his bare hands to eat other people's food.

At about 9.30am, he walked up to a middle-aged cleaner and punched him.

Next, he swung around and hit two delivery men beside him.

He then walked up to a female passer-by and slapped her in the right ear, causing it to swell and turn bright red.

Said Madam Koh, in her 50s: 'I was just walking through the food centre when he hit me very hard. Luckily he hit me only once, or else I might have fallen over.'

That was when the man attacked Madam Lim and her family.

TRIED TO SUBDUE HIM
Ms Mala said: 'He slapped whoever he saw.'

Seeing the commotion, Mr Soh rushed to subdue the man.

'I grabbed him and pushed him against the pillar. I put my hand on his throat and told him, 'You still hit people? Stop hitting them,' ' he said.

But the man struggled and lashed out, hitting Mr Soh on the forehead and the back of the neck.

Seeing that Mr Soh could not handle the man, Mr Tan rushed to help.

They pulled him away while Madam Lim called the police.

They repeatedly told the man to sit or lie down while waiting for the police to arrive.

But the man kept getting up. Once, he suddenly stood up and slapped an elderly woman who was passing by. He also kicked Mr Soh on the buttocks when he turned his back.

Mr Soh was punched twice in the stomach, while Mr Tan hurt his arm.

The man was hit several times. Mr Soh said he hit him on the back and slapped his face.

The man then calmed down and sat on the stone rest until the police arrived.

Police spokesman Victor Keong said that the police received a call at 9.40am about a man causing disturbance to the public.

The man was arrested and is in police custody. He has minor injuries.

When The New Paper arrived at the food centre, victims Madam Koh, Madam Lim and Jolene were giving their statements to the police.

Madam Lim showed us the red mark on her stomach where she was punched, while Mr Soh showed us the lump at the back of his neck, and the red marks on his forehead.

Mr Soh said he had earlier spoken to the man after a customer told him the man was disturbing people.

'I saw him going up to tables, pick up a bowl and drink the soup.

'He even used his bare hands to eat noodles from people's bowls and then pushed the bowls back to them.

'I told him if he wanted something to eat, I'd get it for him, but to stop eating other people's food. But he ignored me.'

---

Not a regular

THE man was creating a scene even before he went on his hitting spree, said thosai stallowner Mala Veerapen.

'He was disturbing my customers, asking them what they were eating. Then he came to my stall and said, 'I also want'.'

All the stallowners said it was the first time they had seen the man at the centre.

Miss Mala's sister, Madam Letchmi, 43, said: 'We have about two or three mentally ill people in Ghim Moh. We know them, they are regulars.

'They talk to themselves but they don't disturb anyone. This is the first time that such a thing has happened.'

She said that usually Mr Soh would take care of them by giving them food.

Mr Soh usually helps such people when they visit the food centre. He buys them food and sometimes gives them chores such as cleaning the altar.

The stallholders give him a hongbao every year in appreciation. He lived in the neighbourhood for more than 10 years before moving out seven years ago.