Do you think we, Singaporeans, have too many help at hand? Or maybe too many organisations or individuals canvassing from funds all year round all the time?
I am just wondering, would you give your loose change to the countless number of times that you would be approached at the hawker centres, or the markets by some elderly religious man or woman, or some young innocent kids? If you give, do you also questioned their 'authenticity of needs'? If you don't give, do you feel guilty for not extending your arm to the unfortunate, if truly they are unfortunate.
How would you respond, if it is not once, but many times to these modern-day begging when the "askers" looked quite polished in terms of clothings. Of course, there are others, and especially so during holy months like Ramadan, that made me feel we have a plethora of "askers" this time around looking rather dishevelled on the streets of Geylang, Bussorah and entrances of mosques all over Singapore. The reason being is that we tend to be more giving during Ramadan as compared to at other times, and this could be the reason for abuse by some people in need of that extra cash.
I bumped into two young kids - playful, as they were going down on an up escalator at the Joo Chiat Complex, and they shoved a 'makeshift' box, which looked more like a tupperware that has been cut a hole on the cover. They also gave a slip of photocopied paper. I looked at the paper. It was the prayer schedule for this Ramadan period which I already have and could download freely from the internet. So I declined the paper but I slotted a two dollar note into that little hole made on the cover of their tupperware, and then I asked the young girl, "where are you from?". This question was more of me wanting to know which organisation that the kid came from, and her innocent respond was "Yishun Avenue 5". I wondered whether there was any welfare organisation at Yishun Avenue 5. Hmmm...would any parents do this to their kids? I mean, as much as you are in dire straits, would you get your kids to beg with the guise of donation boxes. I wondered.
And I wondered again, about a certain organisation organising a "ready-for-school-fund". Don't we have enough? Like the Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme, Educational Trust Fund, Prophet Muhammad Trust Fund, School Pocket Money Fund, and every other organisations giving out free books, uniforms and school bags come every end of year. Can't we tap from these funds, or from one fund that has the same objectives? Are there checks in place or that the same applicant can received all the funds? And then in the end getting more than three free schoolbags that year. Does giving schoolbags alone helped educating the minds of the young? Yes, you can go to school with a fancy new school bag, but has the community made any progress?
And when I think about it, wouldn't it be better if this new fund is not merely for buying physical items for the families that we already have enough, but educating the Malay families about the importance of education, importance of progressive education, educating the child in 'premium' playgroups for literacy and numeracy skills so that they can possibly catch up with their peers? Out of 19 children identified for help in literacy and numeracy in kindergarten, 14 are Malay families. I wondered why? Not so much because of the large number of Malay families, well... that too, but only 19 needed help. That's not too bad a figure, isn't it? Really? 19 only...?
I've said to a friend before. We are trying to chase the Singapore dream for us Malays, who were supposedly indigenous to this land. Thirty years on from merdeka, we are still working towards getting our kids into post-secondary education and this only mean polytechnic and junior college education. And by the time we reached our target in getting our kids into post-secondary education, we would be burdened by the fact that the others have left us again far behind, this time the others would have had double degrees and phDs, and we just got our diplomas and A-levels certificates. Are we to jump for joy?
It does not take thirty years to see this happening. It has happened. Just recently, it looked like the polytechnic holders of the other communities are hungry for a university degree. They are moving on, shoving their way forward that the government realised the need to built a fourth university to cater to this group. But do our children fall into this group? Out of a 1000 applicants, how many can we safely say are our Malay children who are degree hungry? We are always happy and would spread it in the Malay news, if one of our Malay kids get it. Why one? Why can't it be 150 Malay children or even more. Then, that will be greater news, isnt it? Therefore, I ask, are our outreach approach and goals to educate the community outdated? I wondered again.
