Secretary-general of the People’s Action Party (PAP) Lee Hsien Loong shared in his Facebook the picture of a newspaper vendor in Bukit Batok. He said that she displayed Murali’s picture with her newspapers and magazines, and that she was his supporter.
Murali Pillai is the PAP’s candidate for the Bukit Batok by-election. He has sinicized himself as ‘Ah Mu’ to endear himself to the Chinese voting population. There is a video circulating of Murali singing the Hokkien song “Ai Bia Jia Eh Yia” to woo the aunties in Bukit Batok.
Ah Mu has however refused the advice of voter to shave off his moustache. He has spoken about it at least twice during the campaign period, and even made it a topic for his rally speech.
The British publication My Telegraph said that “traditionally in India, a moustache was an indicator of high caste.”
A man responding to a question “Would you shave off your moustache if your girlfriend pleads with you to do so?”, on popular question-and-answer aggregating website Quora said: “No, I’m a proud Indian. I won’t shave my moustache for my girlfriend, wife or mistress. Not even if they all plead together.”
Coming back to Mr Lee’s picture of the newspaper vendor – on zooming into the picture it can be noticed that the vendor had placed Ah Mu’s picture below a poster advising against shop-theft.
His picture is placed in front of a tub full of money – with the warning to ‘stop stealing’ behind it.
Hsien Loong's picture shows Ah Mu awkwardly placed before stop stealing sign
ByThe Independent
April 30, 2016