Suara Musyawarah Committee Report

Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap asked the Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs (a) what are the existing plans to follow up on the recommendations made in the Suara Musyawarah Committee report; and (b) whether there will be a periodic progress report to update the community on those plans and, if so, what is the proposed timeline for these reports to be made.

The Suara Musyawarah Committee, chaired by Haji Sallim Abdul Kadir, submitted its report in July this year. I have urged organisations involved in uplifting the community to study the many recommendations carefully and develop appropriate programmes for the betterment of our community.

As key Malay/Muslim organisations, MUIS and Yayasan MENDAKI will take the lead. To address the recommendations on meeting the needs of vulnerable families, MUIS and MENDAKI will collaborate on a new initiative called Nadi Khidmat@Mosques. This will strengthen outreach to vulnerable families and streamline how they get assistance. Nadi Khidmat@Mosques will leverage on MUIS' Enhanced Mosque Cluster (EMC) system and the MENDAKI@Heartlands initiative to map out vulnerable families in participating neighbourhoods. They will be engaged through house visits, mosque programmes and neighbourhood activities. This will also allow vulnerable families to be referred

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to relevant national agencies, such as the Social Service Offices (SSOs), in a more coordinated manner.

Nadi Khidmat@Mosques is expected to be rolled out next year. MENDAKI and MUIS will provide further details in due course, and submit an annual progress report.

Another major recommendation was to increase our community's awareness of the importance of health management. To this end, MUIS has stepped up collaboration with the Health Promotion Board (HPB) to educate the community about the ill effects of smoking. For example, during Ramadan this year, HPB expanded outreach efforts through targeted roadshows at Ramadan bazaars and mosques. To date, 14 mosques have also partnered HPB to encourage tobacco-free living among their congregants as part of the Blue Ribbon Smoke-free movement1. Going forward, MUIS will work with HPB to expand public education to other health issues that our community faces, such as hypertension and obesity, and leverage on its network of 69 mosques to organise programmes which promote a healthy lifestyle.

There are other noteworthy recommendations in the report, which require more time for study and should be tackled at the national level. For example, the report raised the issue of suspected job discrimination. The Government is stepping up efforts to create a fairer and more just society for all Singaporeans – and the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) has been set up to address discriminatory employment practices.

As the report aptly points out, the passionate conversations on how to move the Malay/Muslim community forward pre-date the Committee and should continue into the future. Once again, I encourage MMOs to leverage on our collective resources, tap on the enlarged pool of the Malay/Muslim Community Development Fund (MMCDF) to implement the Committee's wide-ranging recommendations and provide progress reports on their plans at appropriate junctures.

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