Girl on National Day banner draws 'vile and hurtful' comments from opposition politician Lim Tean
The Tanjong Pagar Town Council has called out opposition politician Lim Tean for "his vile and hurtful" comments on Facebook about a girl featured in the National Day banners by the town council.
Lim, who founded the Peoples Voice party, was convicted on July 26 of three charges of practising as a lawyer without a valid certificate.
On July 25, Lim shared the girl's Facebook photos of herself posing in front of her banner and commented: "The girl in your roadside poster is not a Singaporean."
He asked why a non-Singaporean was featured.
"Shouldn’t National Day be a celebration of the Singapore identity and Singaporeans? Is it so difficult to find a Singaporean poster girl?
"My friends, we have to be very careful and not allow our Singaporean identity to be lost," he posted.
The next day, the town council posted on its Our Tanjong Pagar Facebook page that the girl has since removed her post "because of the vile and hurtful comments on Mr Lim Tean's page and elsewhere".
The town council added: "This is sad and discouraging.
"But this is not who we are as Singaporeans. We are a vibrant, cosmopolitan nation which welcomes friends from all over the world. They too, make up our Singapore history, tapestry and precious social fabric.
"Of the 20 banners we put up this year, 18 of them featured Singaporeans, one featured a Singapore permanent resident, and one featured this young girl."
Yesterday, Mr Lim Tean published a Facebook post about a young girl being featured on one of our National Day banners,... Posted by Our Tanjong Pagar on Friday 26 July 2024
The town council recalled a similar incident in 2021 when one of its National Day banners featuring an Indian family attracted derogatory comments.
"When that news surfaced, many came together to support Thiruben and his family, and call out the racist and xenophobic reactions online. How we rallied in support of Thiruben and his family in 2021 showed who we are as Singaporeans," said the town council.
"We are capable of better."
A National Day Reflection This is Thiruben and his family. As many already know, he and his family were featured in... Posted by Indranee Rajah on Sunday 8 August 2021
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