MUIS, Mendaki to help honour Malay-Muslim community’s pioneer generation

Singapore — The Government is tapping on community organisations to explain details of the Pioneer Generation Package to the Malay-Muslim community in easy-to-understand terms, and at the same, to find ways to honour the pioneer generation group for their contribution.

Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim, who is also the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, said he has asked Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) and self-help group Mendaki to explore programmes which can acknowledge the group’s contributions as well as “tap on their experience to bring about some kind of a transfer between them and the younger generation”.

Speaking to the media on Friday on the sidelines of a taping of Suria’s Post-Budget Forum, Dr Yaacob said that the values that this generation live by — such as the strong commitment they had towards Singapore and adopting the principles of meritocracy and multi-racialism — are still important these days. He hopes a series of programmes can be in place to pass these values on to the younger generation.

Dr Yaacob also acknowledged that the Pioneer Generation Package is a “very complex” one, and needs to be explained in a simple manner. That is why a lot of effort has been made by grassroots organisations to explain the Package at the ground.

On his part, one of the plans mooted is to make use of Friday prayers at mosques.

“We could include some elements of the Package in our Friday sermons so that we can explain (it) to a wider section of our community,” he said. “This is being thought through at the moment, but we need to do this in a coordinated manner because the message has to be consistent.”

During the hour-long dialogue session which aired at 8.30pm today, concerns about costs were one of the important issues raised. Dr Yaacob noted that the community “has this perception that with all the subsidies that the Government is rolling out, it is in anticipation of a higher cost”.

He said: “I think the truth of the matter is that we know that costs will go up in certain aspects because some things are imported. And this is an attempt by the Government to try and help as much as possible, both families with young children, low income families and of course the businesses, to be ready for such an environment.”

He added that a way to reduce costs pressures is through the information and communications technology (ICT) grants, which were announced last Friday by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam as part of the budget measures.

Some S$500 million will be spent over the next three years to help local firms step up their use of ICT. This will enable companies to have a higher level of productivity, leading to lower costs and higher revenue, said Dr Yaacob. More details will be unveiled in the upcoming Committee of Supply Debate, which will take place from March 3 to March 13.