Many have been left outraged by the ongoing saga involving a Malay couple’s wedding photos used inappropriately and without consent for Hari Raya decorations by the People’s Association (PA).
When there’s a conflict between people, even babies know what the first step to solving it usually is communication, which for them involves sharing toys and giving puppy eyes.
Unfortunately, it seems like the parties involved in this incident won’t be getting much of it.
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PA Apologises
Let’s go back to where all of this started.
Ms Sarah Bagharib, the woman whose photos were used in the problematic decorative standee, aimed to bring attention to the culturally insensitive issue through a statement released on her Instagram account.
She had also contacted PA with hopes of discussing the matter with them.
PA then shared their statement on Facebook, apologising and claiming that their outsourced creative vendor Warabi Enterprise (Art Studio) was in charge of the decorations.
However, this did not sit well with Ms Sarah, who felt as if the PA was only trying to deflect the blame and took to Instagram again to respond to their public apology.
She also believed that the larger issue of being insensitive and culturally unaware of the Malay/Muslim community was not resolved.
Two weeks later, PA reached out to Ms Sarah, offering to have an in-person dialogue with the couple to apologise and speak about the incident.
Sadly, the bubble of this illusion was popped soon after.
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PA Withdraws Meeting
As quickly as they had extended this proposal, they withdrew it on the grounds that Ms Sarah had wrongfully labelled this “isolated incident” as racist.
They were also unhappy that she asked for members of the public to provide suggestions and topics for her to bring up with PA in the meeting, calling it “odd”.
“All these lead us to believe her purpose in agreeing to meet with us has gone far beyond the Radin Mas incident,” PA wrote.
Instead, they would be establishing a resource panel aimed at guiding their staff on cultural matters, and ensuring better training will be given to volunteers as well.
“Unfortunate”
It must get really frustrating when you’re trying to work things out with someone but they just never want to have a conversation with you, like some toxic exes.
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Uploading a third post on Instagram about the incident last night on Tuesday (15 Jun), Ms Sarah said that the meeting was supposed to take place that very morning at 10:00am.
View this post on Instagram
She expressed her disappointment that they did not go through with it, stating that she and her husband have always aimed to contribute into making Singapore a better and more inclusive society for their daughter.
This is despite having their privacy and intellectual property rights violated.
“We feel this is a missed opportunity for constructive dialogue; for thoughts and suggestions of members of the community to be relayed, and also for the PA to listen to the people’s voices,” she wrote.
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Ms Sarah said that it was “unfortunate” that PA had cancelled this meeting in light of the incident affecting the wider community that celebrates Hari Raya instead of just the couple themselves.
However, she promised that they would continue advocating for “deeper intercultural understanding” and “greater social cohesion” as Singaporeans.
Netizens have also been commenting on Ms Sarah’s post in support of the couple, echoing her sentiments of it being saddening that PA would reject such an opportunity to talk to the people.
Well, for an organisation called the People’s Association, they sure are on a different side than a large percentage of the people now.
It still remains to be seen whether the saga will end here, or if PA will speak out again.
Feature Image: Instagram (@sarahbagharib)
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