by Leong Sze Hian
I refer to the article “Muslims can be both religious and patriotic” (ST, Jan 30).
It states that “Dr Yaacob was speaking to reporters while at Mendaki, the Muslim self-help organisation, to present cheques for a range of community projects. A total of $370,000 was given out to 39 organisations to fund programmes to help less privileged Malay-Muslim families”.
Does this mean that on the average each of the 39 organisations received about $9,487 ($370,000 divided by 39)?
How many “less privileged Malay-Muslim families” will be helped on the average, by each organisation?
How much help?
If each organisation helps say just 100 families, does it mean that the programmes providing assistance on a per family basis, may only be worth about $8.20 a month ($9,487 divided by 100 families by 12 months)?
And what happens after 12 months (in the above example) when the funding runs out?
In this connection, it was reported in the media in 2006 that a common electronic database of 105,000 Malay-Muslim recipients of financial aid programmes in Singapore had been launched.
So, how many of these 105,000 still need help, and how many will be helped by how much, by the subject funding of $370,000?
