President Halimah Yacob (standing, in green), between Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli (right) and Senior Minister of State for Defence and Manpower Zaqy Mohamad, at the Masyarakat Gemilang Conference on Saturday, July 8, 2023. - PHOTO: BERITA HARIAN
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): The Malay/Muslim community has made significant progress in education and household income compared with a decade ago, said President Halimah Yacob on Saturday.
In a speech at the Masyarakat Gemilang Conference held at Wisma Geylang Serai, Madam Halimah praised the community’s ability to harness its diverse strengths, and encouraged them to continue looking out for one another, for collective progress.
“As we set higher ambitions for ourselves, let us continue this spirit of giving back and help more among us to achieve their dreams,” she said.
This is the second Masyarakat Gemilang Conference, organised by Yayasan Mendaki as part of the annual Raikan Ilmu month. Raikan Ilmu is a flagship movement of the Malay/Muslim community to celebrate knowledge and embrace lifelong learning as part of its culture.
Some 200 youth leaders and professionals took part in the conference to discuss new ideas to bring the community forward.
The event was hosted by Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, who is also Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs and chairman of Mendaki.
Madam Halimah said that this year, the community looks to its youth to be a part of this important and inclusive process.
Through partnerships with the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) and the People’s Association Malay Activity Executive Committees Council (Mesra), Mendaki has reached out to more than 86,000 individuals and beneficiaries in 2022. This partnership, called M3, works closely with other community and national agencies to run programmes across the 11 M3 towns.
“I am happy that more in the community, especially children and youth, have benefited from Mendaki’s programmes and initiatives,” she said. She cited examples such as the KelasMateMatika (KMM) programme and the Family Excellence Circle (FEC).
When M3 was first formed in 2018, 97 children were a part of the KMM programme, which empowers parents to teach their pre-school children basic numeracy concepts.
This year, through outreach with pre-schools and local partners at the M3 towns, 2,500 children have enrolled in the KMM programme.
Recent studies by the M3 Programme Evaluation Office show that KMM has been effective in helping children with their numeracy skills.
“The majority who subsequently enter Primary 1 do not need to be enrolled into the Learning Support for Maths programme. This is a good achievement,” she said.
Besides building a good academic foundation, initiatives like the FEC enable children in the community to develop in a stable and nurturing environment.
It is an informal support structure for people like Ms Idayu Abu Saleh, a mother of four and the sole breadwinner of her family.
Through the FEC, three of Ms Idayu’s children benefited from the Mendaki Tuition Scheme, and they also received the Harun Ghani Education Fund for their respective primary, secondary and ITE education.
To pay it forward, Ms Idayu is now a trained FEC facilitator, so she can help others strengthen their self-reliance and resilience, and build a social support system for one another.
Madam Halimah urged the youth in the community to join the various Mendaki programmes either as a beneficiary or a volunteer.
She listed some Mendaki initiatives such as the NextStop seminar and Youth@M3 networking session with tertiary students, which strengthen awareness of opportunities in growth sectors.
There are also initiatives such as the #amPowered mentoring programmes, which guide secondary school and Institute of Technical Education students as they navigate potential education pathways and possible career plans.
Young people who have just entered the workforce can also benefit from registering themselves on professional networks established by Mendaki.
This is to help Malay/Muslim professionals, managers, executives and technicians grow their social capital and find their footing in their new careers.
“Close to 420 professionals have come on board these professional networks and I understand that several more will be established this year,” said Madam Halimah, as she went on to encourage more to register or even start their own networks. - The Straits Times/ANN
