Singaporeans urged to support Chee Soon Juan’s café despite their political preferences

SINGAPORE: A netizen posted a photo of Orange & Teal, the café of opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, and said in the caption that there seemed to be few diners at the eatery.

In a July 14 (Sunday) post on the Complaint Singapore page, Facebook user El Cheng wrote that she had passed by the café a number of times and saw that there weren’t many customers.

This made her wonder why there aren’t many people who patronize Orange & Teal, especially since other eateries in the vicinity “were almost fully packed.” Even Crave, located beside Dr Chee’s café, had more customers.

Read also: Chee Soon Juan to start his own dream cafe to support causes close to his heart

Dr Chee is the secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party. Amid the economic certainties of the pandemic, he fulfilled a lifelong dream of starting a café at Rochester Mall in 2021.

He opened a second Orange & Teal branch at Marina Square a year later.

Ms Cheng also added some remarks from passers-by about the opposition leader, which she summarized this way:

“Character is permanent. He got no proper job yet he could open his first café then now a second one. Where did his money come from? Talk about full transparency. Lol.”

She then added that despite what Dr Chee has said or done in the past, the workers in the Orange & Teal branches “are as Singaporean as me,” and wrote in a comment that she had seen the café staff working hard and they deserved to be paid well.

“Shouldn’t we be supporting each other at least? We don’t need to vote for CSJ but we can at least support the food that his staff has cooked,” wrote Ms Cheng.

Many commenters on her post tended to agree with her.

“You don’t patronise his shop because of political beliefs ? LoL, how more biased could you be? And most importantly divisive,” wrote one.

Several others added that the food at Orange & Teal is quite good.

“I patronize this cafe many times not because of his political status but (the) food. Food served there is tasty, with reasonable and affordable prices,” one chimed in.

One wrote that she liked eating at the café because it was quiet there.

Another praised Ms Cheng for the post, agreeing that the “past is past,” adding that as long as the food and service were good, recipes were well-prepared, and food was reasonably priced, “Who cares about political matters? Eat and enjoy life.”

Others said there were other customers when they went to Orange & Teal.

One suggested, however, that it would be better if there were no standee with Dr Chee’s figure on it in the café since these are absent at other eateries anyway. /TISG

Read also: Chee Soon Juan: From millionaires to cardboard collectors, everyone welcome at Orange & Teal