The 17-year-old slammed a chair against a glass door after meeting MP Cynthia Phua. It was their first meeting. -- PHOTO: THE NEW PAPER
A TEENAGER was arrested for creating a ruckus after meeting Member of Parliament Cynthia Phua at a Meet-The-People session on April 27.
The 17-year-old grabbed an aluminium chair along the corridor outside the interview room at Block 125, Serangoon North Avenue 1, and slammed it twice against a glass door.
Police were called in by grassroots leaders, and the boy was later arrested at his flat. He is now out on police bail, and is due to appear in court on May 12.
Police refused to disclose the boy's identity.
The incident took place about 10 minutes after the boy and his mother met Madam Phua, an MP for Aljunied GRC.
The boy was restrained by volunteers, who called the police.
Madam Phua, who was standing in for the ward's MP, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, was unhurt. Mrs Lim, who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, was overseas at the time.
Madam Phua told The Straits Times that it was the first time she had met the pair. She said: 'I was asking the son about his employment. My intention was just to see how we could help him with work arrangements.'
At the time, the room was busy and filled with the chatter of other residents being interviewed by grassroots volunteers.
The boy's mother, 53, had asked the MP for help as the Housing Board was in the midst of repossessing her three-room flat and had given her a rental unit in a nearby housing estate.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
