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SINGAPORE \u2013 When Osman Sidin and his wife first heard shouts coming from a distance outside The Clementi Mall on Aug 10, they thought it was an outdoor concert.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I could hear people shout, \u2018Run, run!\u2019\u201d said the 56-year-old cleaner, who was on his way to a medical appointment at about 12.15pm.<\/p>\n
Osman saw a knife-wielding man stabbing himself and, without hesitation, rushed forward to stop him after handing his belongings, including a guitar, to his wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were so many people running, including kids; I didn\u2019t want him to hurt them,\u201d he told The Straits Times in an interview on Aug 11.<\/p>\n
He managed to pin the man to the ground, and the knife, which appeared to be a durian chopper, fell some distance away from them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe man immediately said sorry to me, but by then, my shirt was all bloodied because he stabbed himself,\u201d Osman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept shouting, asking people to push the knife away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The police said they received a call for assistance at Block 441B Clementi Avenue 3 at about 12.20pm. A 34-year-old man was taken to hospital for treatment.<\/p>\n
Osman said his right wrist was injured during the incident, and his clothes were covered in blood. Bystanders later brought him clothes to change into.<\/p>\n
He received treatment in the hospital that day and was given medical leave, but decided to return to work the next day.<\/p>\n
Osman said he picked up martial arts during his time in prison about two decades ago. He declined to elaborate on his past offences.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used my martial arts training to tackle him and push away the knife,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Osman\u2019s wife, who also spoke to ST, said she was proud of her husband and did not stop him when he said he wanted to intervene.<\/p>\n
While they both work as daily-wage cleaners, Osman\u2019s wife said she wants him to rest and recover from his injuries before returning to work.<\/p>\n
The couple currently live in a rental flat in Clementi while waiting for their HDB flat.<\/p>\n
Osman said he brings his guitar with him everywhere. The former nightclub performer said his passions include singing, playing the guitar and drawing.<\/p>\n
After being released from prison, Osman said he tries to give back to society through charity work, including working with Jamiyah Singapore, a Muslim charity organisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis also feels like my payback time,\u201d he said, adding that he is not looking to be praised for his act.<\/p>\n
Osman, who is also part of the Yellow Ribbon Singapore community for former offenders, said he wants to contribute to society after he \u201cdid a lot of bad stuff\u201d in his younger days.<\/p>\n
Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC MP David Hoe, who posted about Osman on Facebook on Aug 10, told ST that the latter\u2019s act inspired him.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurning over a new leaf and stepping forward when help is needed is commendable,\u201d he said, adding that seeing neighbours looking out for each other is a heartening sight.<\/p>\n
On the evening of Aug 11, Hoe and a grassroots volunteer handed Osman and his wife a sum of cash contributed by 22 residents who wanted to support his daily living expenses should he have to take time off work to rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is our way of saying thanks and supporting Osman and his wife,\u201d said Hoe, who added that further assistance would be provided to Osman in the near future.<\/p>\n
He said his team will also arrange for a follow-up appointment for Osman to see a doctor for his injuries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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SINGAPORE \u2013 When Osman Sidin and his wife first heard shouts coming from a distance outside The Clementi Mall on Aug 10, they thought it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}