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The Minister-In-Charge of Muslim Affairs, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, was visibly shaken following the death of yet another Malay child from alleged abuse. He noted that there have been five such cases in recent years involving the father or stepfather, or boyfriend of the mothers of children who died. The Minister saw the incidents as a sign of deeper sociological problem within the Malay community and called for greater urgency in tackling longstanding issues faced by the community.

The call by Dr Yaacob to better-off Malays to be more involved in issues plaguing the community is encouraging. However, what I feel needs to be understood are their perceptions towards less successful Malays. There are amongst them those who believe that unsuccessful Malays are to be blamed for their plight, arguing that mindset problem is a primary cause of their failure. They believe that the Malays in lower socioeconomic stratum need to change their attitude if they harbour hopes of breaking away from the vicious cycle of socioeconomic lag.

There are also those who believe that intervening in the predicament of poorer Malays could result in their developing a crutch mentality, which would be detrimental to their socio-economic progress, citing the failure of Malaysia’s New Economic Policy (NEP), an affirmative action programme aimed at bolstering the socioeconomic position of the Bumiputeras in that country. This somewhat presumes that, if the NEP model fails, then all other intervention models aimed at helping a community make progress within the larger society would likewise fail.

There is a need to understand how severe the divide between well-to-do Malays and the less successful ones is. The prevalence of intra-community discrimination, if widespread, could be a significant impediment to flow of resources that is vital for those of lower socio-economic status to improve their lot (the flow of resources in this case is resources devoted by wealthier Malays to the cause of poorer Malays). In fact, it could even result in increased socioeconomic disparity.

In the absence of empathy for Malays from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, the call on the Malay/Muslim elite to make it their mission to solve community’s problems cannot be realistically achieved. Hence, any effort to address the sociological problems of the Malay community should not only target those from the lower socioeconomic backgrounds but also the elites. Misconceptions about the Malays of lower socioeconomic status need to be clarified.

Policy decisions to address the plight of less educated, low-income Malays should involve the subjects they are targeting instead of being products of top-down approach. Avenues must be opened up for them to communicate or air their grievances and their views needs to be taken seriously. The conventional mode of communicating views, such as online forums and online feedback forms are a tad too sophisticated for those who are not internet savvy. Some do not even own computers or have internet access. Many do not have the capacity to write to the press. Some organisations allow the public to call to offer feedback but they ought to ensure that their telephone numbers and services are adequately publicised. Responses to feedbacks should be prompt. If the duration to respond is too long, it would only succeed in creating the impression that their feedback is not valued, hence discouraging them from sharing their views in the future. Feedback channels are also helpful in the sense that it would go some extent in easing the frustration of the aggrieved, hence preventing them from venting it in undesirable ways. Measures must be undertaken to ensure as much as possible that no cries for help go unheard.

The task of tackling the Malay community’s longstanding issues is an enormous one. The socioeconomic outlook for the Malays has not exactly been rosy. Over a period of 25 years between 1980 and 2005, the average household income gap between the Malays and other major ethnic groups has widened noticeably.

The increasing income disparity raises questions about the ability of the Malays to cope with rising costs such as those of healthcare and education.

Under the Ability Driven Education paradigm, academics argue that socioeconomic background places students at different starting points. Malay students, given the lower income of their parents, are likely to start at lower starting points. Some may argue that sheer hard work and dedication would help the Malays to forge ahead and that they should take on the challenge. This should ideally be the case. In the real world however, low income constitutes an impediment to progress, which explains why the majority of students who do not do well academically are from households with incomes lower than those of their more successful peers. A handful will overcome obstacles to become successful but their cases cannot be taken as proofs that positive attitude alone can help overcome all barriers to progress. Opportunities are scarce and those ahead of the pack socioeconomically are in a better position to seize them. It is inevitable that the less endowed ones are given a leg up to seize some of the available opportunities. The challenge really is to figure out the sort of intervention strategies that would best help the community. Self-help groups, like Mendaki, have past experiences to learn from. Getting successful Malays to mingle or speak to the struggling ones would be helpful but I doubt if it would have a significant impact on the educational predicament of the Malay community.

The Malays are not just facing challenges in the education arena. The educational attainment of Malay workers has not kept up with that of the resident workforce, leaving a high proportion of Malays in lower skilled occupational categories. While the majority of those in the workforce are in PMET (Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians) positions, the Malays are overrepresented in the production workers, cleaners and labourers category. The challenge that low-skilled Malay workers face is two-pronged. Firstly, they face competition from cheaper foreign labour, whose presence has driven wages down. Secondly, most firms are phasing out low-end jobs, which means less of such jobs will be available in the future. At 39.9% in 2005, the number of Malays in low-skilled positions was not small and it is unlikely that Census of Population 2010 would reveal a drastic change in the occupational distribution of the Malay workforce. The community is staring at the prospects of jobs crisis unless current efforts to upgrade the skills of less educated, low-skilled Malays gain sufficient momentum to beat the loss of jobs in the low-skilled category. It is imperative that greater attention is given to the 7,500 dysfunctional families who lack skills and jobs, of which the Malays are disproportionately represented.

The battle to prevent the emergence of an underclass entails more than just mobilising the community to tackle socioeconomic problems plaguing them. While enlisting the participation of the elites in taking on a greater role in the betterment of the community would help, I am not sure to what extent the move would help to address the complex issues of education and employment facing the community. Mendaki’s two decades of serving the community can be described as a struggle because the Malays still lag socioeconomically. There have been claims by some leaders that the Malay community is doing well but existing data, such as those of from the ministries of education and manpower, have not adequately substantiated this. It is perhaps time for community leaders to take stock of the situation and decide whether the community really has the means to shoulder its socioeconomic burden by itself. There may be a need to call on the government to take on a greater role in addressing social issues facing Singaporeans.

Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim is currently working as a Research Officer. He has been actively involved in studies on education and economic issues of the Malay/Muslim community.

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