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Her wedding portrait appeared on an outdoor stage in Singapore, faces cut out, as a Hari Raya decoration. She never agreed to it. She spoke up, and it became a national story.
Most people saw the headlines. They did not see what came after: the harassment, the smear campaign, the friends who disappeared. Sarah Bagharib has never told that part in full until now.
She has spent her whole life being told which box she belongs in. She grew up wanting to be Malay. On paper, she is filed under “Others.” So what do you do when no box fits? She decided to build her own.
Now a mother of two, she is raising a daughter who asks questions most adults avoid. Some parents have opinions on how Sarah answers them.
Press play for the version of the story the news never ran. It will stay with you long after bedtime.
What you’ll take away
- What a wedding portrait has to do with Hari Raya, and why the answer is the whole problem
- Why the use of her wedding portrait was not the part that hurt most
- The police report she wanted to make, and the reason she never filed it
- What choosing a co-founder for Crazy Cat revealed about what she had absorbed without realising
- The word she would ban from every introduction of her
- What happens to family dinner plans when a seven-year-old runs the “boycott police”
- The question people should stop asking minority women (and what to do instead)
About the guest
Sarah Bagharib is a storyteller, TEDx speaker, emcee and coach. She is the founder of women’s platform Crazy Cat and host of the podcast Nusantara Women Conversations. She calls herself a minority within a minority (Arab, Javanese and Minangkabau roots in a Malay-majority community), and she now teaches women to own their stories before anyone else writes them.
Connect with Sarah:
- Instagram: @sarahbagharib
- Crazy Cat: @hellocrazycat
- Nusantara Women Conversations: YouTube, Spotify
Growing Pains is HoneyKids Asia’s podcast for the conversations you want to have after the kids go to bed.
If this one moved you, share it with a parent who needs to hear it. Or send your feedback and topic suggestions to podcast@honeykidsasia.com — we’d love to hear what you’d like us to talk about next.
Growing Pains is produced in partnership with Poddster, Singapore’s podcast studio.
