Uncle Sha says:
December 19, 2009 at 9:35 pm
By the way Sha who’s commenting in this entry, is different from me, Uncle Sha, the blog owner and author of this entry.
Just wanna clear things up, so as there’s no confusion.
My comments were :-
Responses to my comments
1. Sha says:
December 18, 2009 at 4:42 pm
@Gaylord..
Did u do a survey on Malay kids? Where did u get those facts? And why are u spying on kids at playground? I don’t think the Malay kids need help.. U do.
Reply
o Ridhwan says:
December 19, 2009 at 12:14 pm
echo your views.. whoever that person is, he/she is not right..
nice post btw but saddening…
Reply
o Gaylord says:
December 19, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Sha,
Relax, please. You invited for my take and said feel free to contribute, and I did so.
I did not say that I did a survey etc. I do not spy on kids at playgrounds. And I do not need help as you implied.
Relax; do not be so defensive as I did not write anything offensive or negative.
Do read my earlier comments again. Without malice.
My comments were :-
December 18, 2009 at 4:42 pm
@Gaylord..
Did u do a survey on Malay kids? Where did u get those facts? And why are u spying on kids at playground? I don’t think the Malay kids need help.. U do.
Reply
o Ridhwan says:
December 19, 2009 at 12:14 pm
echo your views.. whoever that person is, he/she is not right..
nice post btw but saddening…
Reply
o Gaylord says:
December 19, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Sha,
Relax, please. You invited for my take and said feel free to contribute, and I did so.
I did not say that I did a survey etc. I do not spy on kids at playgrounds. And I do not need help as you implied.
Relax; do not be so defensive as I did not write anything offensive or negative.
Do read my earlier comments again. Without malice.
My comments were :-
Malay kiddies and students do not socialise with other races.
I’m just wondering. Perhaps one of the causes of Malays having laid back attitude is because they do not mix socially with the other races.
I seldom see Malay children in groups of kids playing at the playgrounds. Or Malay students in groups of school students after school. Malay children seem to prefer to not mix socially with other races.
Why do Malay children not want to socialize with other races?
I think it would be good for them to mix with children of other races so that they can learn to be competitive and ambitious. That would help them as they grow into young adults to face the real world.
My comments in Anak Melayu Boleh
I seldom see Malay children in groups of kids playing at the playgrounds. Or Malay students in groups of school students after school. Malay children seem to prefer to not mix socially with other races.
Why do Malay children not want to socialize with other races?
I think it would be good for them to mix with children of other races so that they can learn to be competitive and ambitious. That would help them as they grow into young adults to face the real world.
My comments in Anak Melayu Boleh
Wake-up call for Malay community in Singapore
SINGAPORE, Dec 7 — After he went missing for a week, a six-year-old Malay boy was found dead last month. A family friend who ferried him to and from school has since been charged with murder.
This tragedy and a few others involving young Malay children from broken homes so distress Minister in Charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim that over the weekend, he cried out to his community to “be worried”.
“My worry is, I don’t see a sense of urgency in the community about this problem,” he said in a candid interview, during which he openly declared that he was embarrassed, even “malu” (ashamed), by the reports of Malay men involved in such heinous crimes
His despair is almost palpable as he described how these tragedies are symptomatic of a deeper sociological problem and spells out the dangers of ignoring this long-standing problem of broken homes in the Malay community, saying it will lead to an underclass.
“Once it emerges... you can never remove it,” he warned, as he expressed his fear of the situation deteriorating and going the way of the blacks and Hispanics in the United States.
He said this in an interview with Malay daily Berita Harian following a meeting with 80 young Malay-Muslim professionals on Saturday to brainstorm ideas to tackle problems facing the community.
Dr Yaacob, who is also Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, made it plain he did not have all the answers.
Highlighting another problem, the declining pass rate of Malay students in mathematics at PSLE level, he said: “I go back to the traditional method (of solving the problem) — give more tuition, give more workbook, and so on. Maybe there is something else. I don’t know.”
The pass rate has slipped in the last three years to 56 per cent now, against the national average of 90 per cent.
But it is the problem of dysfunctional families that worries him most. Often, in such families, one parent is missing or in jail, and teens get pregnant out of wedlock and marry early, if at all.
Though they are in the minority, their problems are complex and intractable.
However, he does not view their behaviour as a lack of morality, saying it is a sociological phenomenon.
“The problem is deeper... My take is this group of people do not live by our standards. They have opted out and have their own cultural understanding, where staying together with a non-married partner is accepted.” This is not Malay culture, this is a subculture, he added.
He fears that should it become rooted, it would go the way of black and Hispanic Americans, where many girls get pregnant to get out of poverty because the state would then take care of them.
He senses it is already happening here and self-help group Mendaki is now doing a study of the issue.
Meanwhile, he made a plea to better-off Malay-Muslims not to turn their backs on these families but “make it their mission in life to think about it, to write about it and explore solutions”.
He added: “We must be worried about this problem, and everyone in the community must be thinking of this problem. I believe it can be tackled but we have to put our minds together.”
Three factors give him optimism: A growing Malay middle class with varied expertise, years of experience in dealing with such social challenges, and that Singapore provides equal opportunity for all.
But should the Malay-Muslim elite shrug off this group, a concern he had raised at a Hari Raya dinner two months ago, the outcome is scary, he said, as the community’s best minds, who have the resources, would not be available to help their own.
Youth worker Irwan Sahrul, 34, shares his worry about the professionals. The executive director of Malay-Muslim welfare organisation Clubilya, which helps youths in trouble, feels more of them should engage such youths in their own neighbourhood and make them feel part of the community.
“They can be mentors, especially if they, too, have a similar family background,” he added.
Association of Muslim Professionals’ chairman Nizam Ismail, 42, believes dysfunctional families will be a very significant national problem as Singapore becomes more competitive.
So, he feels the country needs to review the present approach of relying on community-based welfare groups to help sort out the problem. He said: “The issue should be looked at as a national rather than a community problem. You need national resources and government-led intervention.” — The Straits Times
This tragedy and a few others involving young Malay children from broken homes so distress Minister in Charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim that over the weekend, he cried out to his community to “be worried”.
“My worry is, I don’t see a sense of urgency in the community about this problem,” he said in a candid interview, during which he openly declared that he was embarrassed, even “malu” (ashamed), by the reports of Malay men involved in such heinous crimes
His despair is almost palpable as he described how these tragedies are symptomatic of a deeper sociological problem and spells out the dangers of ignoring this long-standing problem of broken homes in the Malay community, saying it will lead to an underclass.
“Once it emerges... you can never remove it,” he warned, as he expressed his fear of the situation deteriorating and going the way of the blacks and Hispanics in the United States.
He said this in an interview with Malay daily Berita Harian following a meeting with 80 young Malay-Muslim professionals on Saturday to brainstorm ideas to tackle problems facing the community.
Dr Yaacob, who is also Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, made it plain he did not have all the answers.
Highlighting another problem, the declining pass rate of Malay students in mathematics at PSLE level, he said: “I go back to the traditional method (of solving the problem) — give more tuition, give more workbook, and so on. Maybe there is something else. I don’t know.”
The pass rate has slipped in the last three years to 56 per cent now, against the national average of 90 per cent.
But it is the problem of dysfunctional families that worries him most. Often, in such families, one parent is missing or in jail, and teens get pregnant out of wedlock and marry early, if at all.
Though they are in the minority, their problems are complex and intractable.
However, he does not view their behaviour as a lack of morality, saying it is a sociological phenomenon.
“The problem is deeper... My take is this group of people do not live by our standards. They have opted out and have their own cultural understanding, where staying together with a non-married partner is accepted.” This is not Malay culture, this is a subculture, he added.
He fears that should it become rooted, it would go the way of black and Hispanic Americans, where many girls get pregnant to get out of poverty because the state would then take care of them.
He senses it is already happening here and self-help group Mendaki is now doing a study of the issue.
Meanwhile, he made a plea to better-off Malay-Muslims not to turn their backs on these families but “make it their mission in life to think about it, to write about it and explore solutions”.
He added: “We must be worried about this problem, and everyone in the community must be thinking of this problem. I believe it can be tackled but we have to put our minds together.”
Three factors give him optimism: A growing Malay middle class with varied expertise, years of experience in dealing with such social challenges, and that Singapore provides equal opportunity for all.
But should the Malay-Muslim elite shrug off this group, a concern he had raised at a Hari Raya dinner two months ago, the outcome is scary, he said, as the community’s best minds, who have the resources, would not be available to help their own.
Youth worker Irwan Sahrul, 34, shares his worry about the professionals. The executive director of Malay-Muslim welfare organisation Clubilya, which helps youths in trouble, feels more of them should engage such youths in their own neighbourhood and make them feel part of the community.
“They can be mentors, especially if they, too, have a similar family background,” he added.
Association of Muslim Professionals’ chairman Nizam Ismail, 42, believes dysfunctional families will be a very significant national problem as Singapore becomes more competitive.
So, he feels the country needs to review the present approach of relying on community-based welfare groups to help sort out the problem. He said: “The issue should be looked at as a national rather than a community problem. You need national resources and government-led intervention.” — The Straits Times
Kiasu
Another word - Kiasu.
What makes Chinese-CHINESE?
Kiasu is not a bad thing. Kiasu literally means ‘afraid to lose’ which the uneducated take to mean just that (that’s why they are uneducated). There is a US version : ‘don’t be a loser’, so kiasu is not something unique to the Chinese. Figuratively, kiasu means to be prepared (isn’t that the Boy Scout’s motto? which is one of the lessons taught to young kids). Kiasuism is such a great life habit (or virtue, instinct, practice?) that every government in the world practices it. And every one who made their billions practices it. The world’s best banks make it a part of their policy. Kiasuism means ‘Plan B’, alternative plan, ‘escape route’, hedging your bets, hedge funds, saving your money for rainy days, ‘what-if scenarios’, ‘emergency door’, fire escape, fire door, INSURANCE, etc. You are kiasu whatever your race, culture, nationality or creed.
What makes Chinese-CHINESE?
Kiasu is not a bad thing. Kiasu literally means ‘afraid to lose’ which the uneducated take to mean just that (that’s why they are uneducated). There is a US version : ‘don’t be a loser’, so kiasu is not something unique to the Chinese. Figuratively, kiasu means to be prepared (isn’t that the Boy Scout’s motto? which is one of the lessons taught to young kids). Kiasuism is such a great life habit (or virtue, instinct, practice?) that every government in the world practices it. And every one who made their billions practices it. The world’s best banks make it a part of their policy. Kiasuism means ‘Plan B’, alternative plan, ‘escape route’, hedging your bets, hedge funds, saving your money for rainy days, ‘what-if scenarios’, ‘emergency door’, fire escape, fire door, INSURANCE, etc. You are kiasu whatever your race, culture, nationality or creed.
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