'India cannot take': NTUC FairPrice apologises after staff tells Muslim couple free Iftar snacks not for them

SINGAPORE — NTUC FairPrice has apologised to a Muslim couple after one of its staff had insisted that its complimentary snacks provided to Muslim customers during Ramadan were only for Malays.

Mr Jahabar Shalih, 36 and his wife Farah Nadya, 35, told CNA that they were doing their usual grocery shopping with their two young children at Our Tampines Hub's NTUC FairPrice outlet on Sunday evening (April 9) when a male employee "shooed" them away from the snack stand. 

Mr Jahabar is Indian, while Ms Farah is Indian-Malay.

Ms Farah had on Sunday recounted the "distasteful" encounter in a Facebook post, which has garnered more than 500 reactions.

'NO INDIA, ONLY MALAY'

Speaking to CNA over the phone on Monday, Mr Jahabar said that he had decided to check out the Iftar Bites station in the supermarket after his wife alerted him to the initiative.

FairPrice Group rolled out its Iftar Bites station on March 23, offering complimentary beverages with snacks or dates at 60 of its outlets to Muslim customers during the month-long Ramadan period. 

As part of the initiative, Muslim customers are given refreshments, such as canned drinks and Milo packets, 30 minutes before and after Iftar, the meal taken after evening prayers during Ramadan. These are placed on tables in the supermarkets, with a sign to Muslim shoppers to help themselves as they break fast. 

Mr Jahabar said: "I walked over just to read what was on the board (be)cause I thought it was generally a nice gesture by NTUC and it is. As I started reading it this staff from NTUC approached me and he told me 'no India'... and I was like 'what'?

"He said 'No India, only Malay' and I was like 'that's strange'."

When Mr Jahabar asked the male employee what he meant, the man, who was not identified, only repeated that "India cannot take".  

Mr Jahabar then tried to explain that Muslims could come from the Indian community, and the staff member replied that he "had no education" and simply received instructions from "people at the top", according to Mr Jahabar. 

"I just walked off, pretty frustrated, I continued shopping." 

He added: "My wife really felt that (the incident) should be brought up. The reason is not to discredit the staff or to have anything done, but being accountable to my son who was there... who is asking such questions now.

Mr Jahabar said his five-year-old son attends a mixed-race school and is starting to ask about the differences between races and religions.

"I have to clarify with him race and religion are completely different. You can be one race and you can have a religion which is completely separate." 

After the incident, Mr Jahabar and his wife had to tell their son that the employee was mistaken, and that they too were not sure what was happening. 

MATTER SETTLED AMICABLY: FAIRPRICE

Responding to CNA's queries about the incident, FairPrice said it is aware of the post on social media, adding that it has engaged the couple "to address their concerns" and have closed the matter "amicably". 

"We take this matter seriously and would like to apologise for the incident. We have since also counselled our employee accordingly.

"We would like to clarify that Iftar Packs are offered free of charge to all Muslim customers during the month-long Ramadan period."

The spokesperson added that this is the 15th year FairPrice is running the community initiative.

The supermarket operator did not answer CNA's query on how it verifies a customer's religion.

Confirming that a FairPrice customer service officer had contacted her on Monday, Ms Farah, who owns a healthcare company, said that the couple appreciated the quick customer service recovery by FairPrice and had declined a hamper offered by the outlet manager as apology. 

Ms Farah said: "I reinforced to (the officer) that our intention is not for the staff to be reprimanded but to create awareness and hope that this translates into better staff training especially for customer-facing staff members." CNA