'Badge lady' spotted in public without mask again; authorities looking into matter

SINGAPORE — The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) on Tuesday (March 8) said that it is aware of an incident over the weekend where a woman — believed by some to be Ms Phoon Chiu Yoke — was seen walking along Orchard Road unmasked.

Ms Phoon, 54, gained notoriety last year after she was captured on viral videos breaking Covid-19 regulations by not wearing a face mask in public places, most notably at Marina Bay Sands.

At the luxury mall, Ms Phoon asked a safe distancing ambassador why she had "no badge", which led online users to dub her the “badge lady”.

For her offences, Ms Phoon was jailed for 16 weeks last September.

In the latest incident, social media influencer Wendy Cheng — popularly known as Xiaxue — posted an Instagram Story about bumping into a woman believed to be Ms Phoon along Orchard Road on March 6.

Ms Cheng said that she was at the shopping strip that day to “interview people” when she saw the woman.

The woman was not wearing a mask and had similar sunglasses as those seen on Ms Phoon in her viral videos.

Ms Cheng said that she approached the woman “to be interviewed” but “she ignored me (and) just glared at me”.

“Then I asked if she is the ‘Badge Lady’ and she glared at me in silence and walked off… She really next level, really not wearing mask,” Ms Cheng wrote in a caption on her Instagram Story accompanied by a photo of the woman.

Ms Cheng added: “I think she’s just walking around Orchard (Road) without a mask because she purposely (wanted) to have people film her. If not, why (is) she purposely wearing her distinctive sunglasses just walking around aimlessly, right or not?”

Ms Serene Tan, STB’s director of safe management measures operations, on Tuesday said that the statutory board is “aware of the alleged incident and investigations are ongoing”.

She did not confirm whether the woman in question is Ms Phoon.

Ms Tan warned that the STB takes a serious view of any breach of safe management measures.

“Members of the public are required to strictly comply with all prevailing safe management measures.

"We will not hesitate to take enforcement action for non-compliance, which may include composition fines or prosecution under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) (Control Order) Regulations 2020,” Ms Tan added.