PM Lee's challenge for Malay-Muslim groups

Deliver more useful projects for the community and Govt will increase funding

By Leslie Koh, The Straits Times, 4 Nov 2012

The Government has promised to support Malay-Muslim groups in efforts to help the community, but also wants them to collaborate more and come up with more useful projects.

The assurance - and challenge - came from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday, as he offered to raise government funding if organisations made full use of existing grants.

"That is an offer. At the same time, it's a small challenge. Do it," he said, drawing spontaneous applause at a dinner wrapping up self-help group Mendaki's 30th anniversary celebrations.

While the focus of the evening was on Mendaki's achievements, Mr Lee took the opportunity to address all Malay-Muslim organisations, noting that they had contributed to the community's socio-economic progress.

He hoped the various groups would continue to work with the Government and support national programmes, saying their work was made more crucial by globalisation and growing foreign influences and competition.

The Government currently matches donations raised by the community dollar-for-dollar, and these are channelled to the Malay Muslim Community Development Fund, which supports projects to uplift the community.

But the $1 million allotted every year has not been used up, Mr Lee noted, and he urged the groups to make full use of the funds.

His call was welcomed by Mendaki board member and Islamic Religious Council of Singapore president Alami Musa. One reason groups were not tapping the grants more, he suggested, was that they had limited manpower and resources to start more projects.

"But now we're telling them, 'Go beyond your limitations'," he said, adding that existing programmes, such as those to help poor or troubled families, could be replicated or expanded.

"We can zero in on successful projects, pump in more money, make them larger-scale," he said.

About 900 guests, including politicians, community leaders, volunteers and donors, attended the dinner at the Shangri-La Hotel.

In his speech, Mr Lee challenged Mendaki to go beyond its traditional goal of boosting education and look at developing talent and grooming next-generation leaders.

He praised ongoing efforts to engage Malay-Muslims and gather feedback on what they needed for the future. He mentioned one - Suara Musyawarah - a new independent committee to engage the community on important issues.

He urged it to "cast the net wide" and to focus on pressing needs and practical issues.

"The outcome shouldn't be just a list of issues, or even a well-written report, but ultimately, also actions by... the community to improve things and help the Malay-Muslim community in Singapore progress," he said.

He also called on groups to tap the Community Leaders' Forum (CLF), which brings together some 100 partners in the community to address issues such as those concerning education, youth, family and jobs.

Some "friendly competition" between groups was good, he said, but they should not let rivalries develop and polarise the community.

This issue arose earlier this year, when a proposal by the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) to start a new forum raised concerns that it could rival existing platforms and cause divisions. The idea was later dropped.

Yesterday, AMP chairman Azmoon Ahmad said he supported the CLF, but also stressed that it needed to be inclusive.

"Yes, we ought to work together, but we should also be able to listen to each other," he said. "Then we can look at coming up with strategies for the community."

Mendaki sets sights on the future
It will groom new leaders and encourage successful Malays to give back to society
By Leslie Koh, The Straits Times, 4 Nov 2012

In 1982, many Malay families were struggling with several problems, including low education, low skills and drug abuse.

It prompted community leaders, MPs and activists to set up a self-help group that roped in volunteers and organisations to start tuition and other education programmes to help families and students.

Today, 30 years later, Mendaki can claim much success, with the number of Malay students going to post-secondary institutions rising and their results improving.

Its tuition scheme, which started with 900 students, now serves more than 8,000 students every year, while its Education Development Fund has helped more than 15,000 students pay for educational programmes.

And now, the self-help group is taking on a new challenge: grooming new leaders for the future and encouraging successful Malays to give back to the community.

Speaking at its 30th anniversary dinner last night, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong praised Mendaki for its achievements and said it must now prepare itself for the next 30 years and beyond.

While it continued to focus on education, it should also keep trying to foster its "gotong royong" spirit of mutual help and encourage successful Malays to give back to society.

"We should also involve younger members of the community... encourage the youth to contribute to the community, groom younger leaders for future leadership positions and progressively renew the leadership," he said.

"This way, we can stay abreast of the times and fulfil the aspirations of the younger generation."

It is exactly the challenge that the self-help group has laid out for itself.

Chairman Yaacob Ibrahim, who is the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, last night also spoke of Mendaki's future plans in his opening speech.

"Upstream and downstream interventions will continue to be our focus," he said. "But we have to be strategic and focus on those areas which are important to our community. It is not possible for Mendaki to do everything."

Last Friday, Dr Yaacob had outlined a shift in focus for the self-help group: more on developing talent in the community and getting successful Malays to help nurture the community's next generation of leaders.

In line with these goals, the self-help group last night launched the Ridzwan Dzafir Community Award, a scholarship for post-graduate students in the public and social service sector. It is named after the late community leader and former diplomat.

His daughter, Ms Mushalwah, was present at the dinner, and she went on stage to join PM Lee in launching the award.

In his speech, Dr Yaacob said Mendaki will look at stepping up programmes to help parents and students who are unsure about their educational choices, and mentorship programmes to identify promising young professionals and give them a push to excel.

Such efforts, he said, will hopefully create "peaks of excellence" within the community.

"These peaks of excellence should represent individuals who are masters of their fields and can hence provide guidance to our community," he said.

Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and Health Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, a former Mendaki board member, said it was a good time for the self-help group to expand its focus.

"We can help families on a micro level - going down to individual families to help with educational needs or their children - as well as at a community level, to see how we can strengthen families as a basic social unit," he said.

Looking ahead

"Mendaki must prepare itself for the next 30 years and beyond. We should also involve younger members of the community... encourage the youth to contribute to the community, groom younger leaders for future leadership positions and progressively renew the leadership. This way, we can stay abreast of the times and fulfil the aspirations of the younger generation."

- PM LEE, on Mendaki's plans for the future

Building talent 'a key focus' for Mendaki
But education and helping those in difficulty are still important, says Dr Yaacob
By Maryam Mokhtar, The Straits Times, 3 Nov 2012

TALENT development will be a key point of focus for Malay self-help group Mendaki in the coming years to meet the changing demands of the community, said Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim yesterday.

He stressed that education will continue to remain an important part of Mendaki's efforts, and the self-help group's focus will be expanded to reach out to Malay-Muslims who are performing well, said Dr Yaacob, who is also its chairman.

"The shape of the community has changed," noted the Minister for Communications and Information.

"We cannot focus on only those at the bottom, we also have to see what the people are doing at the middle and top end because we have to build up our talent pool as much as possible."

But Dr Yaacob maintained that the broadening of Mendaki's focus would be done "while not forgetting our current challenges".

"We will still tackle dysfunctional families, we will still tackle those who are still struggling with mathematics, those are things we still need to level up."

At a media conference in the lead-up to its 30th anniversary dinner today, Dr Yaacob also shared broad findings of the Mendaki Conversation Series that was held earlier this year.

He highlighted the community's desire to see more of its successful individuals giving back to society and helping those less well off.

The series was started to gather the public's views on the role Mendaki will play in the future and how to ensure it stays relevant to the community, said Dr Yaacob, who was speaking at Mendaki's premises in Kee Sun Avenue.

Further findings of the conversation will be elaborated on by the minister at this evening's celebrations, where guest of honour, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, will deliver a keynote address.

Dr Yaacob also stressed that in addition to scholarships such as the Goh Chok Tong Youth Promise award that has helped to develop talented individuals in creative, artistic and sporting fields, more will be done to groom talents from the community in the academic arena.

An example of this is the Ridzwan Dzafir Community Awards (RDCA), which will be launched at tonight's anniversary dinner to support promising career professionals in the public and social service sector who are pursuing their post-graduate studies in the relevant fields.

The award was created in honour of the late community leader and former diplomat Ridzwan Dzafir.

The RDCA distinction award, worth about $100,000, comprises a doctorate or two master's degrees to be given out annually, while the merit award will consist of two community fellowship awards to be given out yearly.

Artwork by well-known local artists in the community will be showcased as part of an auction at the dinner to raise funds for the RDCA awards.

The dinner will mark the culmination of a series of events this year as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations. These include a youth symposium, a learning festival and the recently launched Project Protege, which allows young people to learn from mentors such as actor Aaron Aziz and footballer Fandi Ahmad.