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
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