It was supposed to be an act to see if strangers would step in to break up a quarrel between a couple, which could have turned violent.

But the emotions that the two actors felt after participating in this social experiment were very real - especially when they realised that even though they were "fighting" in the middle of Orchard Road on a busy weekend, few people chose to intervene.

"There were definitely moments where people noticed the violence but didn't do anything to help me out," says Miss Santhiya Subramaniam, 22, an applied theatre practitioner.

"I personally felt very discouraged and hurt."

Adds Mr Eqtaffaq Saddam Hussain, 18: "People always noticed the abuse, and would sometimes stop and look on. Several people were visibly concerned."

Their experiment was conducted as part of the We Can! Singapore campaign, organised by the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) to end violence towards women.

It was captured on video and uploaded on the Internet on Nov 29. It had garnered over 77,000 views as of press time.

The pair staged their fight five times on one day of a weekend in various parts of Orchard Road.

In it, Mr Hussain scolds, shoves and tugs at the hand of Miss Subramaniam, who appears to be helpless in the face of his aggression.

In only three of the "fights" did someone step in.

Mr Hussain says that it took quite some time to get people to intervene, and in several runs, there was no response from passers-by at all.

"When we actually got someone to intervene, it gave us a jolt of motivation to carry on despite the challenging situation," he says.

Ms Jolene Tan, programmes and communications senior manager at Aware, says that Aware's video aims to focus on the people who intervened, to highlight the value of helping strangers and to encourage others to do the same when faced with such a situation.

"One of the messages of the campaign and the idea is that violence isn't always black and blue - it can take many forms and verbal abuse is often part of a broader pattern of abuse involving other kinds of violence," adds Ms Tan, in response to queries from The New Paper on Sunday.

She explains that one reason why the organisation focused on encouraging intervention is that many survivors of domestic violence cited a lack of support from family and friends as a major reason why they remained in an abusive situation.

The staged skits were based on real-life accounts of people who have encountered violence.

Despite the association's good intentions, the video has drawn flak from some netizens, who say focusing on violence towards women is skewed, since men also experience it.

In response to the criticism, Ms Tan states that while violence of any kind is deplorable, the gender attitudes that enable and excuse violence against women have many specific features which are unique, making it helpful to address them separately.

"Recent statistics released by Pave - an agency dealing with family violence - indicate that spousal abuse is the most common form of family violence and most victims of spousal abuse are women," she says.

Most Singaporeans did not intervene in staged public fight

Of the three people who intervened in the quarrel, two appeared to be foreigners.

Netizens picked up on this, and were quick to point the finger of blame at locals.

One netizen commented on the video: "Saw how foreigners stepped in and Singaporeans just looked on for show? This is how cheap most Singaporeans behave, they don't care as long as they are not affected.

Most Singaporeans have no social responsibility."

Sociologists and experts, however, say that the reason why so many walked by without stepping in has little to do with their nationality, but with what is known as the bystander effect.

The bystander effect is a concept in social psychology that refers to the tendency for people not to offer help to those in need when there are others around.

Ambiguity is also a factor which affects whether or not people step in to help, points out Dr Sundardas D. Annamalay, president of the Singapore Planned Parenthood Association.

Dr Annamalay, who has experience counselling troubled couples, says: "They are not sure what is going on and whether the woman wants help, since she was not clearly asking for it.

"Not intervening is normal behaviour, even if it is not the right behaviour."

Associate Professor of sociology Kwok Kian Woon from the National Technological University points out that it is unwise to jump to the conclusion that the people who observed and did not intervene were apathetic or uncaring.

"They could have gone through a moral reasoning process in their minds, having seen what happened, asked themselves what is happening and what they can do, or they could be unsure about how to intervene, instead of simply refusing to help," he says.

Explains Dr Annamalay: "If the woman is not explicitly communicating that she is being abused, and needs help, or is being injured, she might be communicating that what is happening to her is a private affair."

Assistant Professor of political science from Singapore Management University Song Jiyoung feels that it's not just in Singapore, but also in any modern capitalist society where individuals are isolated, that people do not want to engage in the private affairs of others.

While experts agree that some form of intervention is necessary, they differ in how it should be done.

The intervention of the Singaporean man in the video was praised by Prof Kwok, who called his example "entirely positive".

In the video, the man, who gave his name as Mohammad, went up to the aggressor and reminded him that the woman he was mistreating was not just a stranger, but "his girl".

Dr Annamalay has a different take. "I would film (the aggression), and inform the man that his actions are being recorded, and will be uploaded for public viewing. Shame works.

"Then, I would call the police," he says.

He cautions against getting involved in the scuffle physically.

"If the police are called, the woman could very well point the finger at the person who tried to help, saying that he is the abuser, while the partner was defending her. You wouldn't want to be caught in that situation," he says with a chuckle.

And while promoting intervention is a good step forward, it is equally important to educate women about issues of self-esteem and boundaries.

"Teaching women to protect themselves, to recognise what is healthy and what isn't, might be more useful," he says.

By the numbers

Are you aware of what constitutes violence? An Aware survey indicates most are, but more women are going to court for protection.

7/10 recognise nonphysical violence such as verbal abuse, threats, harassment, intimidation and controlling behaviour like limiting access to friends, relatives and finances

9/10 recognise physical violence

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