Singapore: In a heartwarming yet heated MRT moment, octogenarian Mr. Tan gripped his cherished transistor radio like a lifeline, crooning along to a 1970s Mandarin ballad at full blast. When SMRT staff politely urged him to dial it down amid the cabin’s hush, the silver-haired commuter shot back with a grin: “Music must be loud then nice lah! Otherwise, no soul one.” The exchange, captured in a 12-second TikTok clip by @yourgrandfather_logic on Nov 4, exploded to 145,700 views, igniting Singapore’s perennial tussle over public politeness.
Radio Rebellion
For Mr. Tan, a retired hawker who’s ridden the rails since the 1980s, the radio isn’t just nostalgia—it’s therapy. “After losing my wife last year, these songs keep her voice alive,” he later shared via a follow-up video. “Loud means I feel it in my bones, like young days dancing in kopitiams. Quiet? Just echoes.” His refusal, rooted in unyielding passion over fading hearing, echoes a deeper generational chasm: the young’s quest for serene commutes clashing with elders’ unfiltered zest for life.
Netizens split like a crowded carriage. Critics invoked Oct 14’s anti-disruption laws, fuming, “Quiet ride is basic respect post-work grind!” Yet defenders rallied: “Let ah gong savor his sunset years—he built this nation!” One quipped, “Blast heavy metal back; problem solved.”
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