Minister in charge of Muslim Affairs, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi

Malay MPs

Hj Maarof Salleh, President of MUIS

Mufti, Syed Isa Mohd Semait

Ambassadors

Muslim community leaders

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am happy to attend today’s tea reception to recognise the MUIS’ volunteers. By volunteering your services in various MUIS’ committees and the mosque management boards, you have contributed to the progress and upgrading of our Malay/ Muslim community.

Through its own focussed efforts, and in close collaboration with the Government, the Malay/Muslim community has made steady progress. The educational performance of Malay students has improved. This shows in the figures for PSLE and "O-level" passes, the percentage of students admitted to tertiary institutions, and the expanding pool of Malay/ Muslim graduates and professionals. We are also making headway in dealing with social issues. There is a growing sense of confidence within the community, that it is able to cope with the challenges of a modern economy, and to progress together with the other communities.

But the job is never done, and many challenges lie ahead as we enter the 21^st century.

One key challenge is preparing Singaporeans for the knowledge economy, equipping them to make a living by using information and technology. Singaporeans must master skills which are in demand, and continue to learn new things all our lives. This is the only way to attract high value-added and skill-intensive activities here, and to assure the future well-being of our children.

The competition will be intense. We compete not just regionally, but globally. Singapore has to offer international investors something special, in terms of our business environment, the quality of our workers, and the contribution of the Singapore activities of MNCs to their global business and profits. Otherwise MNCs cannot afford to invest and operate here, however highly they may think of Singapore.

The key to success lies in our people. Our skills and knowledge will be our main strategic advantage. We must get more Singaporeans to take up science, engineering and IT-related courses, at all levels. These disciplines are critical in every country which aspires to become a knowledge-based economy.

The recent crisis brought home this point forcefully. Displaced workers with no skills or limited skills faced great difficulty finding new jobs. Among all racial groups, the less educated workers were the ones most likely to be unemployed.

Our economy is now recovering strongly. 30,000 new jobs were created over the last 12 months. Companies are hiring workers, and having difficulty filling their vacancies. Yet the unemployment rate has not gone down, because the new jobs require new skills, which many of the laid off workers do not have.

Gearing up to for the knowledge-based economy is a national challenge that involves every Singaporean. But it is a particularly urgent task for the Malay community, because the proportion of low-skilled workers in the Malay workforce is still high.

We must push on with our efforts to raise the educational standards and skills level of the Malay community. Only then can they contribute fully to Singapore’s development, upgrade themselves and their community, and share in the growth and prosperity of Singapore.

We need to get more Malay/Muslim pupils to make it to tertiary institutions, especially to technical courses in the ITEs, polytechnics, and universities. The essential precondition for that is to give Malay/Muslim pupils a solid basic grounding in English, science and mathematics in schools. This will prepare them for more advanced courses in tertiary institutions. It will equip them for good, productive jobs, and enable them to continue learning many new skills later on in their lives.

What is at stake is more than the material well-being of Malay/ Muslims in Singapore, and their ability to share in the fruits of Singapore’s growth. It is also their sense of pride and achievement, of self-worth and confidence, that results from their ability to progress alongside the other communities, and will help Malay/Muslims to make yet more progress.

Conversely, if significant numbers of Muslims are not equipped to face the challenges of the New Economy, and feel left out and demoralised, it will not only be a problem for the Malay/Muslim community. A rich-poor divide coinciding with an ethnic fault line would seriously weaken our social cohesion. We must not let this happen.

At the same time, as we progress economically, it is also important to preserve the heritage and traditional values of the Malay/Muslim community. The different cultural identities of our ethnic and religious groups are an integral part of national identity, and a source of strength for Singapore. Traditional and religious values provide a stabilising ballast for the society, and should be preserved and passed on to the new generation.

Religion is an important part of the cultural identity of the Malay/ Muslim community. The Government recognises the importance of Islam to Malay/Muslim Singaporeans, and the desire of the community to affirm its faith. We started the Mosque Building Fund in 1975, at a time when many kampungs and mosques had to make way for rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. Land was reserved in the new HDB towns, and new mosques were constructed as each new town was built and Muslim residents moved in. These efforts continue even today, so that Muslim Singaporeans have adequate places of worship, in mosques with up-to-date facilities and handsome architecture. In the last three years, three new mosques have been built in Choa Chu Kang, Serangoon and Pasir Ris.

In Singapore, the practice and expression of any faith has to take into account our multi-racial, multi-religious context. Harmonious relations among the various communities are a critical factor underpinning our growth and stability. The Singapore 21 Vision envisions a multi-racial society comprising four over-lapping circles. Each community would retain its cultural space and distinct identity, but over time the areas of overlap would gradually widen, with the strengthening of our common Singapore identity. How quickly and extensively these overlaps grow depends on the communities. The Government would like the communities to come closer together, but it cannot force the pace beyond what the communities are comfortable with. That would be counter-productive.

It is not easy to maintain a balance between religious priorities and the demands of the New Economy, between integrating the ethnic groups and maintaining each community’s distinct identities and customs. But it is essential to do so. Ultimately, like the other communities, the Malay/Muslim community has to make its own choice. It must find the right balance that reflects its aspirations for the future, and its own collective view of what a modern Malay/Muslim Singaporean should be.

The Malay/Muslim community is where it is today, with its growing number of professionals, active grassroots and self-help groups, and sense of identification with Singapore, because the community has progressively and courageously adapted itself as Singapore has changed and advanced, and so progressed together with the nation. In less than two generations, the community has completely changed.

Now the pace of change will be faster. It is more important than ever for the Malay/Muslim community to press on to prepare for the future. We will need many volunteers who are prepared to commit time and effort to contribute to the community’s development. Successful Malay/Muslims need to come forward, to help others to do well as they themselves have done.

Increasingly, they are volunteering to serve. The number of volunteers here today shows that the spirit of gotong-royong, which has traditionally characterised the Malay community, is alive and strong. I thank you all for your efforts toward the betterment of the Malay community. I am confident that with dedicated volunteers like yourselves, the Malay/Muslim community will overcome successive challenges, and contribute its full share to the success of Singapore.

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