PAP's Jessica Tan apologises for asking resident to take photo without tudung

Tan admitted that she did not realise the "scarf" the resident was referring to was her tudung.

Ashley Tan | July 08, 2020, 02:58 PM

People's Action Party's (PAP) Jessica Tan was recently implicated in a series of tweets over her lack of awareness of Muslim traditions.

Insisted on taking photo

One Twitter user shared an encounter she had with Tan during a house visit by the East Coast GRC team.

After interacting with the the user's mother, Tan apparently insisted on taking a photo with her, despite her mother declining as she was not wearing her tudung at the time.

Tan then apparently responded by saying "no need la, pretty already!"

The Twitter user then added: "These politicians have no respect for others’ religions and privacy, they are so stupid."

The original tweet has garnered over 3,200 retweets.

Apologised for her oversight

On the same day, Tan privately apologised.

Screenshots of the apology, which was added to the Twitter thread, showed Tan admitting that she did not realise the "scarf" the user's mother was referring to was actually her tudung.

"It was an oversight and was never meant to be intentional or insensitive. Social cohesion is what my team has been advocating for many years. It is the foundation of our nation building and racial harmony that we embrace in Singapore," she said.

Tan then asked for the user's and her family's understanding and forgiveness for her oversight.

Believed Tan's oversight was "unacceptable"

In response, the user commented that Tan had shown "accountability to a certain extent".

In her response to Tan, she said that regardless of religious beliefs, Tan should not have insisted on taking a picture with someone when they had already declined.

In response to Mothership's queries, Tan said:

I was alerted to a feedback on an incident that happened during yesterday’s house visit in Changi Simei.

During the visit, I had requested for a photo with one of our residents. The sweet lady informed that she was without her scarf which I then replied that it was ok and she looked beautiful.

What I did not realised was that the lady was referring to her tudung, not a scarf.

It was truly a lapse of judgement on my part and was never meant to be intentional or insensitive. I apologise for this oversight.

I had since written to her daughter Haliza to seek the family’s understanding and forgiveness.

Top photo from Jessica Tan / FB