Presidential hopefuls Halimah Yacob and Salleh Marican meet, shake hands with one another

Presidential hopefuls Halimah Yacob and Mohamed Salleh Marican met at the launch of Singapore’s first donor breastmilk bank yesterday. Halimah Yacob had been invited as the event’s guest of honour while Salleh Marican was there in his capacity as a board member of Temasek Cares – the organisation that jointly developed the breastmilk bank, along with KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).

Reporters at the event heard that Salleh Marican plans to submit eligibility forms to the Elections Department next week. He also commented that he is mentally preparing for the reserved election race and has several interviews lined up for the coming days.

Halimah Yacob, on the other hand, declined to make any comments regarding the elections which have been set aside for candidates from the Malay community.

A photo of the prospective opponents smiling and shaking hands has been circulating online.

Some netizens have questioned whether it is haram, or religiously illegal, for married Muslim women to touch other men. Some have even questioned previously whether Halimah might be able to shake hands with national and foreign dignitaries if she becomes president, since she is a married Muslim woman.

It must be noted that this is not the first time Halimah has shook hands with men:

As for whether it is haram for her to shake the hands of men, many online have suggested that it is fine for her to do so since other progressive Malay women in today’s day and age in Singapore don’t mind offering or accepting handshakes: