Hari Raya cultural heritage race draws criticism over 'tone-deaf' rules
A cultural heritage race organised by Geylang Serai Community Club has drawn criticism from netizens days before the event on Sunday (20 May) over rules that were said to be overly stringent.
The event, scheduled to coincide with the Hari Raya period, requires teams of three comprising Malays and non-Malays to complete challenges around the Geylang Serai area within a set time. Its objective is to foster awareness of Singapore’s Malay heritage among non-Malays.
A user on Reddit posted a photograph of a poster for the event on Wednesday (16 May) in the r/Singapore thread, and thereafter, other users began highlighting how “tone-deaf” some of the event requirements were.
The poster said requirements for the competition included wearing a “songkok” if one is a male participant and wearing a “selendang” if one is a female participant. The poster added that participants who do not wear the traditional Malay headgear will be disqualified from the race.
Another rule stated was that “all participants must attend the Cultural Heritage Nite & Prize Presentation Ceremony” after the race.
Each team was also required to have one non-Malay local-born Singaporean, as well as one new Singapore citizen or Singapore permanent resident or Singapore employment pass holder.
A Reddit user wrote on the thread that the race has “good intentions, but the way it’s communicated is just completely tone deaf and lacking nuance”.
Another Reddit user shared the sentiment as well, writing that the race is “EQ-less”.
However, not all netizens found the poster to be controversial.
One Reddit user found that it is hard to avoid “explicit racial profiling” in the race, writing: “Could someone explain whats wrong with this? Maybe it over my head but is it not a good thing to promote inter-cultural knowledge? The racial requirements promotes non-Malay to learn more about Singaporean Malay from this event right?”
Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore has reached out to Geylang Serai CC for comment.
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