community - Association of Muslim Professionals

KARYAWAN
COMMUNITY
IN REVIEW
WEEK AFTER WEEK, the Malay daily paper, Berita Harian, will not fail to report the success stories of Malay/
Muslim individuals who have excelled in the field of sports, arts or education. Such reports, to say the least,
highlight the achievements of the Malay/Muslim community. Little by little, we are making good progress. There
is no denying that there is a noticeable fundamental change in attitude within the community – an attitude that
is more progressive and future-oriented.
Today, excellence is the buzz word with many Malay/Muslim parents. They are eager to see their children attain
academic excellence by ensuring that they receive quality preschool education in the belief that this will give
them a strong foundation for primary school. That, the selection of good primary and secondary schools, and not
to mention the choice of top-league junior colleges and universities thereafter is another positive indicator of
change that is taking place in the community. A friend of mine commented recently, the question asked today by
many Malay parents when meeting their friends or acquaintances who have kids of the same age is not whether
their kids have managed to enter university but “which university do they go to”.
This highlights an important shift and the realisation on the part of the community on the need for quality
academic success – as the way forward and up the social ladder to claw out of what I can only describe as ‘social
marginality’.
A Comprehensive Review Needed
Much has been said about the ‘significant’ progress of the Malays in education over the last five decades
(1959-2009).The growing number of outstanding individuals within our community to receive top awards and
international accolades for excellence in the various fields underlines our desire to be able to ‘duduk sama rendah
dan berdiri sama tinggi’ (be on par) with the larger Singapore community.
19
One may argue that this, however, is still not enough. More must be done to ensure that many more of our
students enter the ‘menara gading’ (ivory tower). Less than 6 percent of the Malay students cohort per year
make it to university today as compared to more than 10 percent and 25 percent for the Indian and Chinese
communities respectively. A fair argument, I would say, but how do we turn the number from ‘6’ today to ‘9’ in
the short-term and doubling the figure in the long-term? As it is, the critics are saying the Malays have not made
significant gains in narrowing the educational gap with the non-Malay communities despite all that has been
done since the inception of Yayasan MENDAKI in 1982.
© Association of Muslim Professionals. Permission is required for reproduction.