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She has been dubbed "the most polite ah lian", generating a large amount of buzz both online and offline.
Young people hail her as a hero, while aunties speak of her in hushed tones.
On her Facebook wall, various users have posted their support for her.
Facebook user John Ho posted: "You are Singapore's pride. Awesome girl!"
Another user, Justin Lim, posted: "You are my super idol."
HardwareZone user rogerfederer posted: "Support ah lian. These old aunties need to be told off sometimes. Give them an inch and they want a yard."
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Another user, Justin Lim, posted: "You are my super idol."
HardwareZone user rogerfederer posted: "Support ah lian. These old aunties need to be told off sometimes. Give them an inch and they want a yard."
Another user, socade, posted: "I support you, you are being nice to just keep quiet when she kept shouting at you."
All because she gave up her seat to a disgruntled older woman and then stood her ground when the latter continued berating her.
While she may have become a cause celebre after her run-in with the older woman whom netizens have dubbed the "priority seat aunty", Ms Huina said: "I am no hero. There is nothing for me to be hero about."
Even after The New Paper tracked her down, it took several days before the 20-year-old retail assistant agreed to an interview.
Ms Huina, who declined to give her surname, was caught on video arguing with an older woman to whom she had given up a priority seat on a train heading towards Pasir Ris last Monday at about 6.30pm.
After taking the seat, the older woman, who gave the impression that she was entitled to the seat, said of Ms Huina: "So displeasing. Most probably you're from China. Ask you for the seat, keep on staring for how many hours? So rude."
Initially, she ignored the woman, but a heated argument then broke out, with both woman resorting to the use of profanity.
However, Ms Huina said "please" before letting fly with her string of vulgarities.
As a result of that and her giving up her seat, netizens called her a polite ah lian and labelled the older woman an ungrateful aunty.
Ms Huina told TNP: "Actually, I don't really like being called ah lian. But it's okay, I guess, because I'm already used to it."
But she added that she really likes the picture of the "polite ah lian" award, which has been making its rounds online.
"Where do you find a polite ah lian?" she said with a chuckle.
"I find all these images that people are making of me very creative. It's quite funny because I never expected it to be such a big deal."
A student, Mr Muhammad Khair, 21, had filmed the argument on his mobile phone camera and sent the video to citizen journalism website Stomp.
It was also uploaded on YouTube.
Asked if she knew that someone was taking a video of the exchange on the train, Ms Huina said: "I had no idea. When my friends told me I was on Stomp, I was quite shocked."
Her friends had called her up last Tuesday to ask if she had argued with an older woman on the train. They then told her about the video.Amused
She said: "I laughed when I saw the video. Because of the video, I now know what she had scolded me when I couldn't hear her."
When the older woman began berating her, Ms Huina was using her earphones.
She said: "I didn't hear the part about her saying I'm from China. I took out my earphones only after I saw her hand gestures and her fingers pointing at me."
Ms Huina said she had not alighted at Raffles Place station as many surmised from watching the video.
She had simply moved to another carriage in an attempt to avoid further conflict with the older woman, and got off only at Tanah Merah station.
She said: "I was standing all the way after that. But that doesn't bother me at all."
Asked if she usually sits on the reserved seats, she admitted to doing so most of the time.
"I usually do it because no one else sits on them," she said.
"But I do give them up when I notice someone in need, such as an elderly person or a pregnant lady."
According to SMRT, there is no rule under the Rapid Transit System regulations governing the use of reserved seats in the trains.
The reserved seat's signs serve only to remind commuters to be gracious and to give up their seats to those in need.
Ms Huina said she takes the train every day, but since the incident, she sometimes gets stares from other commuters.
She said: "People just look at me funny, they just stare. But besides my friends, no one else has come up to me and asked for a picture or an autograph."
Some of her friends had sent her text messages and posted on her Facebook wall calling her a "national icon" and saying that they were proud of her.
Despite all the hype, Ms Huina said: "I didn't do anything special to deserve all this. I'm just a normal person."
When asked what she thought of the older woman, she said: "She was ridiculous, and I scolded her only because she started scolding me."
She added that although the woman was unreasonable, it was probably an isolated incident.
"There are older people who are like that, but definitely not all," she said.
"I actually think it's just her."
One of Ms Huina's friends, who declined to be named, said: "The aunty is obviously at fault, that's why we are behind her (Ms Huina).
"But overall, we just find the whole thing quite funny."
Added Ms Huina: "I'm not angry at the aunty now, and even if I do see her again, I probably won't do anything unless she bothers me."
Attempts by TNP to track down the "priority seat aunty" were unsuccessful.
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