A number one grocery store in Singapore has apologised after stopping an Indian-origin Muslim couple from tasting its complimentary snacks offered throughout Ramzan by saying that these had been just for Malays, in line with a media report.

Jahabar Shalih, 36, and his spouse Farah Nadya, 35, stated a male worker on the grocery store run by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) on April 9 “shooed” them away from the snack stand once they had been doing their normal grocery procuring with their two younger kids, Channel News Asia reported on Monday.

While Jahabar is Indian, his spouse Farah is Indian-Malay.

Farah had on Sunday recounted the “distasteful” encounter in a Facebook put up, which has garnered greater than 500 reactions.

Jahabar informed the Channel on Monday that he had determined to take a look at the ‘Iftar Bites station’ within the grocery store after his spouse alerted him to the initiative.

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FairPrice Group rolled out its Iftar Bites station on March 23, providing complimentary drinks with snacks or dates at 60 of its shops to Muslim prospects throughout the month-long Ramzan interval.

As a part of the initiative, Muslim prospects are given refreshments, comparable to canned drinks, half-hour earlier than and after Iftar, and the meal taken after night prayers throughout Ramzan.

These are positioned on tables within the supermarkets, with an indication to Muslim buyers to assist themselves as they break their quick.

“I walked over just to read what was on the board because 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’?,” Jahabar stated.

“He said ‘No India, only Malay’ and I was like ‘that’s strange’,” he was additional quoted as saying within the report.

When Jahabar requested the male worker what he meant, the person, who was not recognized, solely repeated that “Indians cannot take”.

Jahabar then tried to elucidate that Muslims might come from the Indian neighborhood, and the employees member replied that he has acquired directions from “people at the top”.

“I just walked off, pretty frustrated, I continued shopping,” he stated, including that his spouse actually felt that the incident needs to be introduced up.

The FairPrice store stated it’s conscious of the put up on social media, including that it has engaged the couple “to address their concerns” and has closed the matter “amicably”.

“We take this matter significantly and want to apologise for the incident. We have since additionally counselled our worker accordingly.

“We would like to clarify that Iftar Packs are offered free of charge to all Muslim customers during the month-long Ramzan period,” the grocery store was quoted as saying.