SINGAPORE: It's a no-go for the 'Escape Chapel Party', which drew heavy criticism from the Catholic community in Singapore.
The event was scheduled to fall on the day before Easter.
CHIJMES sought legal
intervention immediately after learning that the event was to be held
at their chapel, also called the CHIJMES Hall.
It said CHIJMES is meant to be a venue to bring together people from all walks of life in a harmonious manner.
Director of the organising company, Mr Aaghir Yadav, apologised for unintentionally offending the Catholic Church.
It has not been confirmed if those who bought tickets will get refunds.
The event has come under heavy fire from the Catholic community for the religious symbolism evoked.
Organisers
had posted Facebook photos of two young models dressed scantily in a
nun's headdress and miniskirts, which many considered to be
inappropriate. The photos were taken down after complaints, and the
organising company had apologised to the Church.
Archbishop Nicholas Chia of the Catholic Church in Singapore called the event "scandalous".
Complaints were also lodged to the police and various government agencies.
The
objective of the event was to showcase one of UK's most popular
recording labels and to gauge the viability of expanding into the
Singapore market.
The Escape music festival attracts over 20,000 people annually.
- CNA/fa
The organisers of the now-cancelled "Escape Chapel Party" apologised in
person on Wednesday to Archbishop Nicholas Chia for offending members of
the Catholic community with its event.
In a statement sent to
the media on Wednesday afternoon, the company, Creative Insurgence, said
its representatives were granted an audience with the Archbishop, who
leads the Catholic church here, to apologise for their actions.
"We've
used this opportunity to express how deeply remorseful we are for all
the upset we've caused to the Catholic community in the days leading up
to their most holy of weekends," said its director Aaghir Yadav. "We
never intended to offend or mock the Catholic faith and chapel - and are
very sorry for the poor judgement we've displayed in our marketing
decisions," he added.
In a letter of apology submitted to the Archbishop, Yadav added that they "understand the hurt our actions have caused".
After
the venue, timing and promotional material for the party sparked
adverse response from several Catholics and other Singaporeans online
earlier this week, alongside a statement from Archbishop Chia calling
for its cancellation, the company managing CHIJMES, Perennial Retail
Management, intervened on Tuesday to call the party off.
In a
meeting held between the management and Creative Insurgence on Tuesday
evening, the organisers were warned to cancel the party or legal action
would be taken.
Creative Insurgence later posted a statement on
its Facebook wall, which said, "It has come to our attention that
Perennial (Singapore) Retail Management Pte Ltd, the landlords for
Chijmes has intervened to immediately stop the event planned for
Saturday."
"Therefore, despite our best intentions to move
forward - after having apologised for unintentionally offending the
Catholic community - and to carry on with an event that aimed to
showcase the sounds of one of UK's most popular recording labels and
super-clubs, we will have to cancel the event."
"We would like to
reiterate that we used no religious symbolism in any of our marketing
and promotional materials and had no intention to cause any upset."
Publicity for the event commenced last week, and a description on its Facebook event page and website marketed the party as a “sacrilegious night of partying”.
The
event was also headlined with a picture of a model dressed in a nun’s
habit and a party dress, alongside other pictures of girls dressed in
similar habits ending in short skirts. The pictures were captioned “A
sneak peak [sic] at what some of our girls will be wearing on the 7th of
April”. The publicity photos were removed and the event page was
deleted by Wednesday morning.
Catholics who spoke to Yahoo! Singapore said they found the pictures of the girls in nuns’ costumes offensive
and in bad taste, with several filing reports with the police and
various ministries, including the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports as well as the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.
Law
undergraduate Jean Seah was among the first to submit a report to the
police and the MHA. In the complaint she submitted, she said she was
“appalled and deeply disappointed” at the existence of the event.
She
explained that the event not only insulted the church’s religious
orders with its provocative nun costumes, it also made a mockery of the
venue it would be located at — the CHIJMES chapel is located across the
road from the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic church where Singapore’s archbishop, Nicholas Chia, is based.
She also said that the 7th of April happens to fall on the eve of Easter Sunday, the most important event on the Catholic church’s calendar, which adds further insult to injury.
“What
really gets my goat is them trying to profiteer off making something
sacred into something so offensive and crass,” she said. “Freedom to
hold a function in such a sacred place comes with the responsibility of
using it with respect,” she added.
24-year-old Nicole James, a consultant, added she spotted girls walking
around Raffles Place in similar costumes over lunchtime last Friday,
presumably to promote the event.
“I was shocked and offended that they were allowed to walk around in such an offensive costume,” she said.
Political science student Benedict Chen noted that no action was taken after a previous incident occurred in Filter Members’ Club, where the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) logo was associated with “one night stands”, alongside that of the Anglo-Chinese School.
“I
feel it is getting out of hand because it seems like people look at
Christianity as a fair target,” he said. “If the government doesn’t take
action on these people, it will seem as though Roman Catholicism is not
being protected by the law.”
When contacted by Yahoo! Singapore, Archbishop Nicholas Chia, who heads the Catholic church in Singapore, called for the organisers to cancel the event entirely.
“Such an event is scandalous to the Church, and should not be held in the chapel,” he said.
Chia
added that the organisers, Creative Insurgence, have apologised to the
archdiocese for “upsetting” the Catholic community, however, and later
removed the promotional material — which consisted of the pictures of
girls in nun costumes, as well as its description of the event as
“sacrilegious”.
Responding to Yahoo! Singapore’s queries
on Monday, director at Creative Insurgence Aaghir Yadav said the party
was actually intended to occur earlier this year, over the Chinese New
Year weekend, but was postponed to the next public holiday weekend,
which happened to be Good Friday.
“The overlap with Easter
weekend was not intended to be offensive. We have since been in touch
with the Archbishop’s office to explain our position and have apologised
for offending anyone unintentionally,” he said.
He added the
main concept of the party was to help UK-based club brand Escape gauge
the viability of setting up a franchise club here.
He also
maintained that the party has no theme, but is instead focused on the
music of the Welsh label, saying that the fact that it would be held in a
chapel led them to follow the theme in some of its promotional
material.
“We would like to clarify that the images contained no
religious symbolism,” Yadav added, saying he realised that his image of
two of his friends in nun-inspired Cosplay costumes had “unintentionally
upset some people”, hence the decision to remove it.
“This also
applied to teasers that said nuns will be at the party — we meant the
secularised, costume version that contains no religious symbolism.
However, in light of these sensitivities we will not be doing this as
well,” he said.
Yadav reiterated that the agency’s actions were
“certainly not intended to be offensive”, also saying that they will no
longer be having “costumed nuns” at their party, and will be advising
its attendees to avoid dressing up in religious-themed costumes as well.
Seditious act?
As police investigate the details of the agency’s publicity material, which some Catholics said have violated Singapore’s Sedition Act,
assistant law professor Jack Lee said there does seem to be legitimacy
to their claim, although noting that the tendency of people to make
police reports over such matters is “not a healthy trend”.
“The
advertisement technically falls within the definition of uttering
seditious words or publishing a seditious publication since a seditious
tendency is defined as one that ‘raise[s] discontent… among the citizens
of Singapore or the residents in Singapore’,” he said, adding that once
it is proven that the material in question has a seditious tendency,
the intention behind its creation, whether deliberate or careless, is no
longer relevant.
However, he said the measures taken by the
agency should be a sufficient response to expressed public sentiment, as
their actions seemed more to be done in thoughtlessness rather than to
have calculated intent to insult the Catholic or wider Christian
community here.
“People have already expressed their unhappiness
with the advertisement online and the organisers have apologised, so it
doesn’t seem necessary for this issue to be blown out of proportion,” he
said.
Others also called for calm following the backlash that ensued online,
saying that the agency has already responded to the complaints from
members of the public.
21-year-old Kevin Chan acknowledged such
an event would compromise Singaporeans’ freedom, but pointed out that
the authorities “have intervened early enough”.
“Clearly, this
was just a moment of folly on the part of the organisers, and since the
necessary action has been taken, and the organisers know their
boundaries, there isn’t much need to pursue the matter any further,” he
said. “We as Catholics are taught to forgive, aren’t we? Let’s let the
matter rest.”
A 57-year-old Catholic teacher, who declined to be
named, also pointed out that the CHIJMES chapel had already previously
been de-consecrated, and so other secular events could appropriately be
held there.
She disagreed with the agency’s promotional strategy,
saying, “I don’t think people who use CHIJMES for secular events should
make references to what the chapel was used for.”
The former
student at CHIJ Victoria Street added that this was likely a lesson
learnt for the event’s organisers, noting also the need for people to be
more tolerant to such situations.
“I think we need to be more
understanding as a multi-religious society. Some people make mistakes,
but as long as they show that they have reacted to adverse criticism,
then it’s okay with me,” she said.
Non-Catholic Singaporeans whom Yahoo! Singapore spoke to reflected divided opinions on the issue as well, with some
agreeing with the Catholics who were offended, and others saying that
the party should go on.
"I think it's insulting, and the theme
should be changed clearly, or the event cancelled altogether," said
25-year-old Sufiyan Sulaiman, a final-year university student.
Free-thinker
Cheong Wei Ming acknowledged the tactlessness behind the organisers'
initial conceptualisation of the event, but lauded their remedial
actions.
"It was well-meaning of them to apologise as promptly as
they did, and we should allow the event to go on with their proposed
remedies," he said.
-- Yahoo!
Police investigating Escape Chapel Party incident
SINGAPORE: Police are investigating if the organiser who planned to hold the Escape Chapel Party had put up insensitive advertisements that could have offended the Catholic faith.
This follows a police report made against the organiser of the event that was planned for Saturday, April 7, at Chijmes.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that it noted that the organiser had cancelled the event.
It said if the event had been carried out as publicised, the organiser could have breached one of the conditions of his licence.
He could be sanctioned and could lose his licence.
The
ministry said while organisers can be creative with their events,
there's no excuse for breaking the law, or for insulting or denigrating
any racial group or religion in Singapore.
It stressed that it does not condone any behaviour that denigrates any religion in Singapore.
It
said mutual respect, tolerance and restraint are critical to
maintaining communal peace and harmony in a multi-ethnic and
multi-religious society.
- CNA/cc