Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday (29 Aug) voiced his concerns over worrying trends of home ownership and education in Singapore’s Malay-Muslim community.
This is despite the significant progress made by the community over the past decade with higher household incomes, higher educational qualifications, and a greater proportion working as Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs), he noted, referencing the 2020 Census.
However, the same census report also highlighted some worrying trends such as how the proportion of Malay households in rental flats has increased.
The data showed that the number of Malay households in one-and two-room rented HDB flats more than doubled in the past decade — from about 9,100 in 2010 to about 18,600 last year.
In comparison, the number went up from 28,000 to 28,700 for Chinese households, and from 4,600 to 6,800 for Indian households.
PM Lee suggested that this increase could be attributed to several reasons, such as how some young married couples who want to live independently before they are ready to buy a flat.
While this is understandable, he said that there are also some couples who may have suffered sudden changes in family or financial circumstances, or who may be facing complex challenges and have difficulties planning for their future.
PM Lee said that the Singapore government will work to address these issues so that everyone in Singapore can progress together.
Every year, some of these households are able to buy their own homes and move out of rental flats with the Government’s help, he said.
PM Lee stressed the importance of home ownership and called on the Malay-Muslim community to help more of its members recognise how this is a means to secure a better future.
“Home ownership is not merely about having a roof over your head. It is also for Singaporeans to secure a better future.
“Hence, we must help more households in rented flats recognise that renting is only a temporary housing solution, and to encourage them to stabilise their incomes so that they can move towards home ownership, and progress with the rest of society,” he said.
PM Lee cited the Project DIAN@M3 initiative as an example of a community effort to improve the lot of Malay families in public rental flats by providing holistic support through national and community programmes.
The aim is to guide them towards owning their own homes.
The scheme, announced in Jun, is managed by the Engagement Coordination Office under the Government’s M3 programme — a tie-up between self-help group Mendaki, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) and Mesra (the People’s Association Malay Activity Executive Committees Council).
Turning to education, PM Lee said that Singapore must pay extra attention to students who are falling behind.
Such students may lack self-confidence and motivation, or might have family problems that hinder them from doing well.
As Singapore strives to build an inclusive society, education is key to this, PM Lee said.
This is why the Government invests heavily in pre-school and education, he stressed.
He also made special mention of the Uplift task force that brings together Government agencies and community partners to provide early and sustained support for disadvantaged students of all races.
Malay-Muslim organisations and the M3 network are complementing this effort, he said, adding that that he is happy to see students benefiting from national and community programmes.
Previously, National University of Singapore Malay Studies alumnus Siti Hazirah Mohamad, in her paper on Singapore media portrays Malay youth delinquency, explored how the narrative of the Malay community being socioeconomically left behind is brought into the public sphere through annual NDR speeches and other avenues of communication through which the government relays its messages to the people.
From 2005 up to 2009, for example, PM Lee “has continuously and consistently raised the spectre of problematic (and later dysfunctional) young Malay families as a factor that is hindering the Malay community from progressing in tandem with the other communities”, said Ms Siti Hazirah.
“Unstable, dependent on welfare and unmotivated to do well in school, the traits highlighted by the PM bear close resemblance to the stereotypical image of the lazy, indolent and backward Malay natives who were unwilling to free themselves from the clutches of poverty despite the opportunities presented to them,” she said, referencing historian Syed Hussein Alatas’s thesis in his seminal work, “The Myth of the Lazy Native”.
Professor Alatas in his 1977 work described how colonisers had played a role in depicting Malays as “indolent, dull, backward, and treacherous”.
He also criticised certain sections of the Malay political or social elite’s move to adopt the myth to secure and justify their privilege over the masses.
Ms Siti Hazirah argued that the “indictment of the dysfunctional Malay family with its undesirable traits and attitudes” in the PM’s speeches parallel the perception projected by the myth of the lazy native.
“Despite his acknowledgement that this issue also affects the Chinese and Indians, he stressed that this issue is impacting the Malay community more significantly as there is a trend among Malays to marry early and divorce young,” she highlighted.
