Singapore supermarket apologises for shooing off Indian Muslim couple from tasting free Ramzan snacks

Singapore, April 11 (PTI) A leading supermarket here has apologised after stopping an Indian-origin Muslim couple from tasting its complimentary snacks provided during Ramzan by saying that those were only for Malays, according to a media report.

Jahabar Shalih, 36, and his wife Farah Nadya, 35, said a male employee at the supermarket run by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) on April 9 “shooed” them away from the snack stand when they were doing their usual grocery shopping with their two young children, Channel News Asia reported on Monday.

While Jahabar is Indian, his wife Farah is Indian-Malay.

Farah had on Sunday recounted the “distasteful” encounter in a Facebook post, which has garnered more than 500 reactions.

Jahabar told the Channel on Monday that he had decided to check out the Iftar Bites station’ in the supermarket after his wife alerted him to the initiative.

FairPrice Group rolled out its Iftar Bites station on March 23, offering complimentary beverages with snacks or dates at 60 of its outlets to Muslim customers during the month-long Ramzan period.

As part of the initiative, Muslim customers are given refreshments, such as canned drinks, 30 minutes before and after Iftar, and the meal taken after evening prayers during Ramzan.

These are placed on tables in the supermarkets, with a sign to Muslim shoppers to help themselves as they break their fast.

“I walked over just to read what was on the board because I thought it was generally a nice gesture by NTUC and it is. As I started reading it this staff from NTUC approached me and he told me ‘no India’ … and I was like ‘what’?,” Jahabar said.

“He said ‘No India, only Malay’ and I was like ‘that’s strange’,” he was further quoted as saying in the report.

When Jahabar asked the male employee what he meant, the man, who was not identified, only repeated that “Indians cannot take”.

Jahabar then tried to explain that Muslims could come from the Indian community, and the staff member replied that he has received instructions from “people at the top”.

“I just walked off, pretty frustrated, I continued shopping,” he said, adding that his wife really felt that the incident should be brought up.

The FairPrice shop said it is aware of the post on social media, adding that it has engaged the couple “to address their concerns” and has closed the matter “amicably”.

“We take this matter seriously and would like to apologise for the incident. We have since also counselled our employee accordingly.

“We would like to clarify that Iftar Packs are offered free of charge to all Muslim customers during the month-long Ramzan period,” the supermarket was quoted as saying.