Update 18 Jun 2021: PA's photo blunder: Woman says she raised issue to make Singapore 'more inclusive', after accusations of broader agenda
A woman said that her wedding photograph was used without her permission as a standee for Hari Raya Puasa decorations (pictured) in Tiong Bahru housing estate in May 2021
The couple whose wedding photograph was misused by the People's Association (PA) said that their intention in bringing the matter to light was to be “active citizens” and this was “clear from the start”.
Their statement to TODAY came a day after PA cancelled a meeting with them, suggesting that the wife had a broader agenda.
Ms Sarah Bagharib and her husband also said that they wanted to "positively contribute to making Singapore a better, more inclusive home for our daughter”.
“This incident didn’t just affect my husband and I through the ‘culturally insensitive’ depiction of Hari Raya celebrations, but also the wider community that celebrates Hari Raya. We are all equal stakeholders in the work that the PA does.”
Woman in Hari Raya wedding photo controversy responds to PA's cancellation of planned meeting
Sarah Bagharib and her husband's wedding photo had been used by a vendor to create a standee alongside a decorative platform. PHOTOS: SARAH BAGHARIB / INSTAGRAM, PEOPLE'S ASSOCIATION
In a statement on Tuesday (June 15), communications specialist Sarah Bagharib, 30, said it was disappointing that the PA has decided to cancel the meeting with her and her husband that was meant to take place at 10am on Tuesday.
"While there was an infringement of our privacy and intellectual property rights, our intentions have always been clear from the start - to be active citizens and to positively contribute to making Singapore a better, more inclusive home for our daughter," she said.
PA says use of woman's wedding photo for Hari Raya decor not racist; cancels meeting with her
A woman said that her wedding photograph was used without her permission as a standee for Hari Raya Puasa decorations (pictured) in Tiong Bahru housing estate in May 2021
The People’s Association (PA) has rejected accusations that an incident where a woman’s wedding photo was used for a Hari Raya Puasa occasion without her permission was “racist”.
In a statement posted on Facebook on Monday (June 14), PA also said that it saw “no point” in proceeding with a meeting it had planned with the woman, Ms Sarah Bagharib, because she wanted to use the meeting to share views of “persons unrelated to the incident”.
Ms Sarah had taken to Instagram on May 28 to voice her displeasure after finding out that PA had used her wedding photograph as a standee for Hari Raya decorations at the Tiong Bahru Orchid public housing estate, without her permission.
TODAY 6h
“While the error was culturally insensitive, it was certainly not racist. It is not right to raise the allegation of racism, without basis, to stoke emotions and sentiments,” PA said.
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People's Association apologises after wedding photo of couple used as Hari Raya standee without their permission
A couple's wedding photo with their faces cut out was used as a standee for Hari Raya decorations at a Tiong Bahru housing estate. (Photo: Sarah Bagharib)
The People's Association (PA) has apologised after a wedding photo of a couple was used as a standee for Hari Raya decorations in Radin Mas Single Member Constituency (SMC) without the couple's permission.
Ms Sarah Bagharib, 30, said in an Instagram post on Friday (May 28) that she wrote a letter to the authorities after realising that her wedding photo had been made into a standee and was used as Hari Raya decor at a Tiong Bahru housing estate.
"A few days ago, I discovered much to my dismay the use of my and my husband’s wedding photograph at Tiong Bahru Orchid (Jalan Bukit Merah) in celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri this year," she wrote:
"Using a wedding photo to depict Malays/Singaporean Muslims celebrating Hari Raya is inappropriate. Using my wedding photo without my consent is unwarranted. Using my wedding photo as a caricature of Malay people is unacceptable."
PA’s public apology sheds light on its “superficial understanding of the gravity of the issue”
The People’s Association (PA)’s public apology has shed light on “glaring gaps” that reflect a “very superficial understanding of the gravity of the issue”, said communications specialist Sarah Bagharib, whose wedding photograph was used, without permission, as a prop in the People’s Association (PA)’s display at an HDB estate in Tiong Bahru for the recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations this year.
The photograph was enlarged into a life-size standee — which has since been removed — and was placed near a banner with an image of Melvin Yong, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Radin Mas SMC. The banner also carried Mr Yong’s Hari Raya wishes to residents. While Ms Sarah said that she acknowledges and appreciates PA’s public apology, she also urged PA to offer “greater transparency about the lapses”. “You mentioned that this incident goes “against the policies which have been put in place” — what are these policies and how have they failed and resulted in the infringement of my IP rights and offending the Malay/Muslim community?” She questioned, addressing the PA in an Instagram post on Tuesday (1 June).
Ms Sarah also noted that PA’s “hastiness in sharing the name of the vendor behind the display reads like an attempt to distance and deflect blame” from its own role in approving the concept.
PA sorry for using couple's photo
The standee, which has since been removed, appeared in a Tiong Bahru estate alongside a platform and banner depicting Radin Mas MP Melvin Yong and his Hari Raya wishes. Mr Yong has apologised.PHOTOS: SARAH BAGHARIB/INSTAGRAM
The People's Association (PA) has apologised for using a wedding photograph of a Malay/Muslim couple as a standee for Hari Raya decorations at an HDB estate in Tiong Bahru, without permission.
It has removed the standee.
The photo - of the couple wearing traditional Malay garb with elements of wedding symbols - was used to create a standee alongside a decorative platform and banner depicting Mr Melvin Yong, MP for Radin Mas, and his Hari Raya wishes for residents.
Singapore Matters 2hr
It is of course wrong to use other people's photo without permission. That's a copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is just that - copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is not racism. It's being unprofessional.
We agree with the comment that getting the costume wrong is a case of cultural ignorance. What do you do with ignorance? You can get angry with ignorance or you can turn ignorance into a teaching moment to enlighten people.
Back in September 2019, a social media influencer's post calling two men wearing turbans "huge obstructions" to her view at the Singapore Grand Prix went viral. Some among the Sikh community felt uncomfortable.
Suhaimi Yusof uploads funny meme on Malay costumes in wake of Hari Raya standee saga
Instagram/suhaimiyusof_official
The controversy surrounding the People’s Association (PA) continues to simmer online as local actor-comedian Suhaimi Yusof posted on Instagram on Monday (May 31) a funny meme of himself wearing different Malay costumes.
Recently, PA apologised for using a wedding photograph of a Malay-Muslim couple as a standee without permission – which was part of Hari Raya decorations at a Tiong Bahru Housing Board estate.
While some netizens have raised this lack of cultural sensitivity of mistakenly using a wedding costume for Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations, Suhaimi's post suggested that it was simply the use of a "wrong costume for the wrong occasion".
Couple dismayed by PA’s use of wedding photo as Hari Raya standee without permission; PA apologises, but continues to receive backlash from netizens
A couple was met with a rude shock after discovering that their wedding photograph was used, without their permission, as a prop in the People’s Association (PA)’s display at an HDB estate in Tiong Bahru for the recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations this year. The photograph was enlarged into a life-size standee — which has since been removed — and was placed near a banner with an image of Melvin Yong, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Radin Mas SMC. The banner also carried Mr Yong’s Hari Raya wishes to residents.
30-year-old Sarah Bagharib, a communications specialist, said in an Instagram post on Friday (28 May) that “neither the photographer” nor herself and her husband were at any point “approached to give consent for the use of our photograph for this purpose”. “This incident certainly does not display the proper regard towards copyright laws that are essential to our community’s civil society,” she said.
What she and her husband found most disturbing, said Ms Sarah, was how their wedding portrait “was used as a theatrical device for residents of Radin Mas SMC to portray a caricature of Malays/Singaporean Muslims celebrating Hari Raya”. This is particularly because such photographs are “taken within a celebratory context and a marker of personal memory”, she said.
Singaporean Malay woman says stat board fell short in apology over stolen wedding photo
Photos from the Hari Raya Aidilfitri event at Jalan Bukit Merah. Photo: Sarah Bagharib/Instagram
A Singaporean woman hit back at a statutory board’s apology for blowing up her wedding photo for an event without her consent last month that she deemed a “caricature” of Malay people.
Sarah Bagharib, 30, responded to an apology from the People’s Association yesterday by accusing it of violating her privacy and deflecting blame in its response to her complaints about her wedding photo being used without her knowledge as a standee at a public event in Jalan Bukit Merah. “I acknowledge and appreciate your public apology. However, there are glaring gaps that indicate a very superficial understanding of the gravity of the issue. While this is indeed an infringement of my personal data protection privacy and my inherent Intellectual Property rights relating to my and my husband’s photograph, there is a larger issue affecting the wider Malay/Muslim community,” she wrote yesterday.
Bagharib had complained Friday that using their traditional Malay wedding for a Hari Raya Aidilfitri event at Tiong Bahru Orchid estate “reflects the superficial understanding of Malay/Singaporean Muslim culture” and was “inappropriate” given it was for an unrelated cultural event. Using my wedding photo as a caricature of Malay people is unacceptable,” she added.
S'pore couple 'taken aback' to find wedding photo used as Hari Raya standee in Bukit Merah
Radin Mas SMC MP Melvin Yong has apologised and the standee has been removed
A Singaporean couple was taken aback to find their wedding photo being used as part of the Hari Raya decorations at Tiong Bahru Orchid estate in Bukit Merah recently. Speaking to Mothership, Sarah Bagharib said that she was informed of the decorations by a friend who saw the standee on Instagram and recognised it as her wedding photo, even though the faces were cut out.
The friend saw the standee from another friend's Instagram Story who is a stranger to Sarah. "I was honestly taken aback when I first saw it," said Sarah. "It’s one thing to have my photo used without my permission for a government-related 'celebration' and another to have our faces cut out for other people to put theirs through and take photographs of?"
"We definitely did not consent to our images being made into theatrical elements for clownery and amusement," Sarah added. She then wrote about the incident on Instagram on May 28.
sarahbagharib
A few days ago, I discovered much to my dismay the use of my and my husband’s wedding photograph at Tiong Bahru Orchid (Jalan Bukit Merah) in celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri this year.
Using a wedding photo to depict Malays/Singaporean Muslims celebrating Hari Raya is inappropriate. Using my wedding photo without my consent is unwarranted. Using my wedding photo as a caricature of Malay people is unacceptable.
I have brought this matter to the attention of the relevant parties. Please swipe to read my letter and understand why this is wrong.
Hari Raya Aidilfitri Puasa 2021
This week, Singaporeans were met with the news that the country would be going back into Phase 2 and that more restrictions would be imposed till May 30 in an attempt to contain a recent outbreak of community Covid-19 cases.
At the press conference, which was held on May 4, the multi-ministry task force announced that social gatherings would be reduced from groups of eight people to five from May 8. They also required more people to work from home, put new limits on religious services and closed all indoor gyms and fitness centres.
This may be disappointing for Singaporeans considering that how a number of celebrations such as Mother's Day, Hari Raya Puasa and Vesak Day are around the corner. In particular, Hari Raya Puasa is set to be a very different affair. The celebration is a highly-anticipated event for Muslims after a month of fasting. During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset to teach themselves how to discipline their body and mind and to restrain themselves from earthly pleasures. It is a very significant and holy time of the year.
