For our fellow Singaporean Muslim friends, this year’s Hari Rayi holidays would have to be celebrated differently. The typical Hari Raya holiday would be celebrated by visiting relatives, eating good food and enjoying the close family time together.
But with the current circuit breaker measures, many families will be celebrating with just the people in their house hold.
A video of an elderly man went viral when he made a heartfelt plea to Minister Lee to ease the circuit breaker measures on the first day of the Hari Raya holidays to allow the Muslim community to visit their family.
In the video, he is seen requesting to allow specifically children, grandchildren and grandparents to visit each other on just the first day of Raya. He further stated that PM Lee is kindhearted and he would understand the current situation that he is in.
Siti Hawanmah who was touched by the elderly man’s actions wrote a letter on his behalf to the Prime Minister’s Office asking to ease the circuit breaker on May 24. The letter said:
“It is a sad and quiet Ramadan for all us (sic) Muslims in Singapore and this is the time we must gather to do our prayers together however we had (sic) to abide to the rules to stay safe and work together as a (sic) citizen of Singapore.
Can first day of Hari Raya be an exceptional (sic) for all of us?”
Many Singaporeans have supported the appeal but there are others who were against it as well. I guess this is indeed an extremely tough decision to make.