Rui En is sorry; shares her side of the story

Television star, Rui En, 35, was recently hauled up by the local police in Singapore for her involvement in a traffic accident involving her BMW car and a stationary motorcycle.

Speaking to Lianhe Wanbao, the owner of the motorcycle, Bahrom Sarmiten, 52, said that Rui En smelled of alcohol and the first thing she said was: “Do you know who I am?”, after he confronted her for knocking into his vehicle.

This stirred up a lot of buzz online on her alleged arrogant attitude.

What really happened?

We have heard the story as told by Sarmiten. Here is Rui En’s side of her story, issued to us via her management agency, Hype Records:

There are various interpretations as to the conversation that took place between the motorcycle owner and myself.  To address the context of that conversation, I would like to share what I can without causing any interference to the ongoing investigation.

Tuesday, 12 Apr 2016. I was about to reach home. Upon driving into the open-air car park where I usually park, I misjudged a turn and accidentally knocked over a stationary motorcycle parked directly in front of a kerb. No other driver was involved during the incident.

I was very disappointed with myself for knocking down the motorcycle. My initial intention was to move my car to a traffic-free spot before addressing the matter.

I was subsequently stopped by a man. He continuously knocked on my car window while I was attempting to move my car. I later discovered that the man was the owner of the motorcycle.

I tried to signal to him to allow me to move my car first but he persistently hit my screen and gradually, his knocks got louder.

I got out of my car. I attempted to explain that I would take full responsibility. He probably had the impression that I looked like someone that would run away from the scene.

In my state of anxiety, I told him “Do you know who I am, I live upstairs and won’t run”

He appeared to be very angry. I was unsure what I said came out sounding entirely different from what I meant. I was simply trying to convey that I live here, people would know and recognise me if I ran away. On hindsight, my choice of words used were inappropriate and I agree that it caused unnecessary misunderstandings.

What was said next was a process similar to most traffic incidents.

I offered to compensate for the damages.

I offered him monetary compensation in the form of cash. He was not satisfied with the amount offered and asked for more.

By this time the police has been called in.

I would like to reiterate that it was a judgmental error on my part, there is absolutely no excuse on my careless driving and more importantly, I truly regretted it.

I will also like to take this opportunity to apologise to him for the inconveniences and distress caused.

Looking back I wished I handled the situation with more tact.

I sincerely apologise for the unnecessary inconveniences caused and I thank everyone again for your care and concern.

Yours sincerely
Rui En

What do you think? Whose story do you buy?

In any case, Rui En is not the first local celebrity to get into trouble behind the wheels. There were four others before her.