Singapore — In a recent case of holiday decor mishap, Singapore’s public transport operator, SBS Transit, has drawn flak for displaying incorrect Aidiladha wishes on one of its trains. A prompt apology was issued by the company following a Facebook post by a local resident, Mr Syed Mahdzar Al-Shahab, highlighting the erroneous greetings.
Mr Syed Mahdzar Al-Shahab wrote in his post, “I was in the train today and this was decorated all over. Seriously, Aidilfitri? I’m not trying to be an expert, I’m a Muslim and we’ve just passed Aidilfitri in May! So whoever put up this decoration I hope you double check your work next time.
SBS Transit Ltd … It is Aidiladha not Aidilfitri!”
Aidilfitri is the Festival of Breaking the Fast, which was celebrated at the end of Ramadan on May 3, as Mr Syed pointed out.
Aidiladha is a completely different Islamic holiday, which this year falls on Jul 20, next Tuesday.
Mr Syed’s post was widely circulated online, shared even by former politician Jose Raymond, who asked yet another question, “What has a bicycle got to do with Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations?”
Fortunately, SBS Transit quickly admitted to the error and issued an apology.
“We would like to apologise for the decorative “Hari Raya Aidilfitri” stickers that have been found on board one of our North East Line trains despite the fact that the festival ended slightly over a month ago. This was due to an oversight. We have since removed the outdated stickers and do apologise for the distress caused,” the company said in a Facebook post.
On Wednesday morning, Mr Syed posted about SBS’ apology, clarifying that the erroneous greeting had not, in fact, caused him distress. On the contrary, he found it funny and decided to write about it on social media.
“Next time please don’t used the word ‘distress’ dear SBS transit because you actually have caused a lot of distressed Singaporean who are already stressed with the COVID-19
Let me leave you with this great quote from brother Malcolm X:
‘The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.’”
“PS: next time please don’t use a bicycle, ok,” he added.
Despite this incident, the misstep by SBS Transit regarding the Aidiladha wishes likely won’t stir as much controversy as the couple’s wedding photo with their faces cut out as a decorative standee for a Hari Raya celebration, and SBS Transit is probably not going to get into hot water as much as the People’s Association did, but, as they say, that’s another story. /TISG
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