Issues Surfaced through Suara Musyawarah Exercise

34 Mr Azmoon Ahmad asked the Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs (a) what is the current status of the Suara Musyawarah exercise since its initiation; (b) what are the key issues highlighted by the Malay community that have been addressed; and (c) whether there are any key issues pending action.

Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: The Suara Musyawarah Committee was formed in 2012 to engage the community to listen to their aspirations and concerns. The report emphasised the "can-do" spirit of the community and provided a number of noteworthy recommendations, especially those pertaining to education, youth, family and service delivery. We have been working on these recommendations progressively over the last few years.

Education was a key topic of the Suara Musyawarah exercise, and we have further strengthened our educational support for the community at all levels. A key recommendation of the Council on Education for Muslim Children's (MENDAKI's) 2014 education review was for MENDAKI to provide greater focus on supporting our children's learning from a younger age, in preschool. In this regard, MENDAKI has developed and launched a Resource Depository to help parents navigate national resources on early childhood and learning. MENDAKI is also partnering the Early Childhood Development Agency to better support low-income and vulnerable families on KidSTART, so as to enable their young children to have a good start in life. KidSTART is a pilot programme that aims to build a strong ecosystem of support for the child's well-being, development and school-readiness. MENDAKI will continue to look at ways to strengthen its outreach and support for parents and children in the preschool years.

For older children and youths, MENDAKI has been regularly enhancing its flagship MENDAKI Tuition Programme, reaching out to more than 9,000 students annually, including strengthening tutor training and incorporating mentoring elements. MENDAKI also launched its "Raikan Ilmu" or "Celebrate Knowledge" campaign in June 2016 to promote a culture of learning, and this will be a regular event going forward. MENDAKI also established a Future Ready Unit to promote SkillsFuture to the community and to encourage, facilitate and position Malay workers well for the new economy.

We also continue to develop our youths. This year, because of the hard work and talent of our students, we had a record number of MENDAKI Award recipients, and we want to provide platforms and opportunities to develop the potential of these outstanding youths. I had earlier mentioned that one of these platforms would be enhancing the MENDAKI Leadership Incubator to include a mentoring scheme that we would start next year. Also, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), through the Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation provides support for youths to give back, by taking on local and overseas projects for service learning and to spread goodwill to those in need.

MUIS is also continuing its efforts to increase the reach of Islamic Education (IE) for the young. As of 2015, the participation of those in structured IE classes has increased to about 50% of Muslim youths aged 7 to 16. This is done by enhancing access to IE through initiatives, such as the introduction of Kids aLIVE Home Edition, which supports parents in conducting IE lessons for their children at home. MUIS will continue working with mosques and other partners in differentiating its Islamic education programmes to cater to different life stages of the young.

On families and service delivery, MENDAKI complements national schemes, such as Comcare subsidies, Workfare and Community Health Assistance Scheme, that support all families, by offering various programmes and services to equip low-income families with skills like financial literacy. MENDAKI helps these families through Education Trust Fund subsidies and organises the Family Excellence Circles for families to support one another. One key follow-up of the Suara Musyawarah report was the setting up of MENDAKI@Heartlands satellite centres to bring programmes and services closer to the community. To implement this, MENDAKI has partnered MUIS and six mosques and have since attained an expanded outreach of about 19,000 individuals island-wide.

MUIS has also increased the amount of financial assistance to the needy. Between 2014 and 2015, MUIS disbursed $2 million more to zakat beneficiaries. During Ramadan alone in 2016, MUIS disbursed $1.94 million to more than 12,900 beneficiaries, including those in welfare homes and institutions.

The report also touched on strengthening the Community Leaders Forum (CLF). The CLF secretariat continues to support capacity building for the Malay/Muslim Organisations (MMOs) in areas, such as staff training, governance and review consultancy. In 2016, 11 MMOs participated in a Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications Leadership and People Management Training Programme to strengthen leadership and management.

The Suara Musyawarah conversation is not the end state. We will continue to engage our stakeholders and youths for new ideas and new ways of doing things, and work in close partnership with Government agencies to take the Malay/Muslim community forward.