Social media personality Jade Rasif is not backing down and is back to clear her name after a government ministry came down hard on her rant about the mishandling of her coronavirus-infected maid.
Days after the Manpower Ministry dismissed her story as “inaccurate,” 27-year-old, Rasif unleashed a close to 30-part story on social media unloading on Manpower Ministry reps as well as the police, publishing records of their chats as well as call recordings in which a staffer laughs in a way she found disrespectful.
She said she had no choice but to put the ministry on blast because it lashed out at her over the episode to deflect responsibility.
“[I]f you release someone without them serving the full quarantine and then call them back because you’re like, ‘Oh she might have COVID,’ and then she tests positive for COVID, and then you keep her for a week in quarantine [and it] makes you look bad, then that’s on you and not on me,” she said in one recording, accusing the ministry of “start[ing] Facebook beef ” with her.
She posted an audio recording of what she described as a ministry “management” rep laughing disrespectfully while she was asking about how it handled the situation, specifically, whether it had sought police information before slamming her as “inaccurate” in a statement.
“In fact, we were checking with MOH, even wrote with the police, no response yet,” a man’s voice is heard, punctuated by laughter.
The Ministry of Manpower did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment today. Rasif has not responded to multiple messages sent since Monday.
The “beef” began Sunday after Rasif told her nearly 400,000 Instagram followers about her “major covid scare” involving an Indonesian helper she said was prematurely released from quarantine despite arriving in the country with COVID-19. She said the maid was recalled from her home despite being cleared following three days of quarantine, raising questions about Singapore’s stringent protocols.
Rasif also said that she was questioned by the police about whether she violated a nonexistent quarantine order. In a separate recording published yesterday, Rasif said that she was not under official investigation but was questioned as part of a “preliminary” probe.
In the Manpower Ministry’s rebuttal, it said that the unidentified maid did not pose a risk to the family because she was no longer infectious. Its statement also said that Rasif could not have been investigated by the police since no quarantine order was given, which she disputes.
As to why her non-infectious maid was excluded from the daily COVID-19 count despite past inclusion of similar cases, a manpower call she shared indicated they were still “trying to clarify from MOH.”
Rasif responded by saying the ministry “might be a bit hasty to be providing a statement saying that ‘Oh this is the explanation’ when you don’t have the explanation.”
Rasif said that as of Tuesday she had been working on a joint statement with the ministry, who on Monday issued its own, which she says a rep later apologized to her for publishing “without sufficient research.”
In the weeks since Rasif’s maid entered the country, Singapore has since barred entry to work pass holders, including domestic workers, from high-risk countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
Other stories you should check out:
Manpower Ministry refutes DJ Jade Rasif’s ‘inaccurate’ maid story
DJ Jade Rasif rants about COVID-infected maid’s premature release from quarantine
Did it hurt? DJ-turned-COVID frontliner Jade Rasif walks us through her vaccination
