1.
March 2019

2.
What is RPD Bites?
2
RPD Bites is a monthly scan covering issues and trends surfaced in various local
mainstream media sources that would be of relevance to the Malay/Muslim community. It is
compiled by the Research and Planning Department (RPD) of Yayasan MENDAKI.
The ‘Food For Thought’ section seeks to raise thought-provoking
questions to stimulate discussion, with the hope of complementing our efforts to
support the Malay/Muslim community as a whole.
RPD Bites begins with an article count across the different media sources, including
the number of articles that fall within four main areas: (1) Education, (2) Economy, Employability &
Digitalisation, (3) Social and (4) Malay/Muslim Affairs. Other salient areas for the month are also
highlighted. It then delves into emerging themes and trends observed, before culminating in a
‘Food For Thought’ section.
We welcome any feedback or comments you might
have. You can reach us at RPD@mendaki.org.sg

3.
Overall Coverage
3
 A total of 300 articles were collated. The Social (135 articles) category occupies the top spot in
terms of article count with coverage on family and health issues, followed by the Economy,
Employability & Digitalisation (69 articles) category. The Education (56 articles) and
Malay/Muslim Affairs (34 articles) categories come next.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140

4.
Overall Coverage
4
Economy, Employability & Digitalisation
Digitalisation & Technology Economy Employability
 The Economy, Employability & Digitalisation
category covers articles on Digitalisation &
Technology (15), Economy (30) and Employability
(24).
 The Social category covers articles on
Community (19), Elderly (13), Health (29),
Housing (10), Family & Youths (41) and
‘Others’ (23).
Social
Community Elderly Family & Youths Health Housing Others

5.
Emerging Themes & Trends
Based on Coverage

6.
Education
6
 Education Minister Mr Ong Ye Kung announced that the present system of streaming secondary
students into the Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams will be phased out. It will
be replaced by full subject-based banding, where students can take subjects at three levels - G1, G2
or G3 (ST, 6 Mar).
 By 2020, 120 secondary schools will offer after-school programmes, up from the current 60, Second
Minister for Education Ms Indranee Rajah said. The consolidated programmes, called Gear-Up, will see
schools work with community partners, providing customised support (ST, 6 Mar).
 The Ministry of Education will improve the infrastructure of junior colleges by upgrading or rebuilding
their facilities, starting from 2022. This is in line with past improvement projects on the infrastructure of
the Institute of Technical Education and polytechnics (ST, 6 Mar).
Budget and COS 2019 measures
 Finance Minister Mr Heng Swee Keat said on average, every child
entering Primary 1 in 2018 would have received over $130,000 in
education subsidies by the time he completes secondary
school. Those who go on to post-secondary education receive
another $15,000 to $22,000 for every school year (ST, 1 Mar).

7.
Education
7
 The Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan has spelt out a common standard for its
parent volunteers from this year's Primary 1 registration – those who have
completed at least 80 hours of volunteering will receive a recommendation
letter to apply for Primary 1 (ST, 4 Mar).
 Several primary and secondary schools and junior colleges have been
adopting more flexible timetables, with a four-day lesson week. Fridays are
reserved for co-curricular activities and character-building (ST, 4 Mar).
 Single-sex schools are linked to better student performance, according to
various studies of Seoul high schools, where students from single-sex
institutions tend to do better in the Korean national college entrance exam,
controlling other factors (ST, 16 March).
 Deputy Prime Minister Mr Teo Chee Hean said streaming was initially started
to tackle the high dropout rates and to ensure that students completed their
secondary education (ST, 20 Mar).
Education news and trends

8.
Education
8
 Pathlight School students will now learn how to code as part of a national drive to teach computational
thinking in all schools. This marks the first time coding has been made accessible to a special needs
school in Singapore (ST, 15 Mar).
 In the last three years, about 10% of each cohort at Yale-NUS College has enrolled in hybrid
programmes which allow the students to earn a master's degree or double degrees in a shorter time,
with law and computing among degrees offered in tie-ups with other institutions (ST, 12 Mar).
 The NTU Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity will bring together academics and
researchers from diverse fields - such as robotics, linguistics, neuroscience and design - to guide the
development of technology for the betterment of humanity, rather than for its own sake (ST, 12 Mar).
 A growing demand for graduates trained in areas such as artificial
intelligence has seen local universities ramping up related course
offerings. Nanyang Technological University said it has allocated
675 places for its 10 computing-related undergraduate programmes
this year, up from 450 in 2015 (ST, 11 Mar).
Technology in education

9.
Economy
9
Economic news and SME trends
 Sharing industry feedback, MPs said during the debate on the Ministry of Trade and Industry's budget
that many Singapore companies still need help to digitise their businesses, adopt innovations and
internationalise despite the multitude of schemes available (ST, 5 Mar).
 Manufacturing growth continued its steady slide in February 2019 - its sixth straight month of
decline - with the electronics sector heading south again. The overall manufacturing Purchasing
Managers' Index was 50.4 last month, down from January's 50.7 (ST, 5 Mar).
 Singapore companies seeking to break into foreign markets must team
up instead of treating one another as rivals, Finance Minister Mr Heng
Swee Keat said. This would enable them to tap the potential of South-
east Asia (ST, 9 Mar).
 Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (Nodx) sprang a surprise in
February 2019, rising 4.9% after three straight months of decline, but
economists cautioned that the rebound may not last. They said there
tends to be distortions, with exports affected by the timing of Chinese
New Year festivities (ST, 19 Mar).

10.
Employability
10
Supporting the local workforce
 Steps are under way to improve the supply of local talent that can help firms expand abroad, said
Ministry of Trade and Industry. An example is the Global Ready Talent Programme, which helps students
at institutes of higher learning to secure internships with Singapore companies overseas (ST, 5 Mar).
 Companies that receive government grants for their projects will be required to commit to outcomes that
improve the lot of workers, such as raising wages, creating and redesigning jobs or hiring more older
workers, said Ministry of Trade and Industry (ST, 5 Mar).
 The retirement and re-employment ages are set to be raised beyond 62 and 67, respectively, said
Manpower Minister Ms Josephine Teo. The age from which CPF members can withdraw their payouts
will stay unchanged at 65 even with the changes, she added (ST, 6 Mar).
 Professionals, managers, executives and technicians made up
about three in four or 76% of the locals - Singaporeans and permanent
residents - who were retrenched last year, the highest figure in at least
a decade. It rose from 72% in 2017 and is significantly higher than the
share of PMETs in the resident workforce, which is about 57% (ST, 15 Mar).

11.
Digitalisation &
Technology
11
 Singapore remains committed to basic research even as it places more attention on innovation and
enterprise, which are more focused on economic returns, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the
Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council meeting. The Council was set up in 2006 to chart the
direction for Singapore's research and development (ST, 28 Mar).
 The 18ha set aside for the Agri-Food Innovation Park at Sungei Kadut seeks to bring together a range
of high-tech farming and research and development activities, said Senior Minister of State for Trade
and Industry Mr Koh Poh Koon. It will have indoor plant factories, insect farms and animal feed
production facilities (ST, 5 Mar).
Tapping technology for growth
 An additional $300 million will be given by the government to
research and development in frontier technologies such as
artificial intelligence and cyber security, in an effort to realise
"smart" urban mobility and healthcare services here (ST, 5 Mar).
 Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative Mr Vivian
Balakrishnan announced that the government will set up an inter-
agency task force dedicated to artificial intelligence. It will study
how Singapore can grow its AI capabilities (ST, 1 Mar).

12.
Social
12
 Finance Minister Mr Heng Swee Keat said in his Budget speech that the
qualifying income cap for Workfare Income Supplement will be raised from
the current $2,000 to $2,300 per month from January 2020. The maximum
annual payouts will also be increased by up to $400 (ST, 6 Mar).
 From July 2019, a single person on the ComCare Long-Term Assistance
Scheme will get $600 a month, up from $500. Two-person households will get
$1,000 a month, up from $870 currently. Community Link hubs and Localised
Community Network will be formed to help families and youths with complex
challenges (ST, 6 Mar).
 From March 2019, unemployed mothers looking for work will receive
monthly subsidies - $300 and $600 per child each month for childcare and
infant care, respectively - for six months, up from three months. They will also
get additional subsidies if their monthly household income is $7,500 and below
(ST, 7 Mar).
 A panel will be formed to help articulate a youth vision for Singapore, allowing
youths to highlight issues they care about and propose solutions, under the
SG Youth Action Plan (ST, 9 Mar).
Family and youth developments

13.
Social
13
Health and elderly issues
 The Ministry of Health is conducting a thorough review of how much information doctors are required
to tell patients before treatment, to help stave off the practice of defensive medicine, which could raise
healthcare costs here. It will look at the legal and practical aspects of informed consent, and is expected
to give its recommendations by the year end (ST, 3 Mar).
 The Family Justice Courts is looking at setting up a Seniors' Court with elderly-friendly features, the
first of its kind here. FJC said it is important that Singapore provides facilities suitable for elderly needs
to ensure that no citizen is denied access to justice (ST, 3 Mar).
 Finance Minister Mr Heng Swee Keat noted that during Singapore's journey from Third World to First,
the Merdeka Generation, and pioneers, did not benefit from the social safety nets in place today.
They had fewer or no educational opportunities and earned less. Therefore, a cohort-based approach to
support them in their silver years is appropriate (ST, 1 Mar).
 The Ministry of Health is working with the Ministry of National Development
to pilot an assisted living model in public housing, where seniors buy a home
bundled with customisable care services. MOH will also roll out a Caregiver
Support Action Plan over the next two years (ST, 7 Mar).

14.
Social
14
Community and housing developments
 Volunteers interested in helping out in their neighbourhood can soon turn to seven selected
community-based organisations for volunteer opportunities. These selected organisations will serve
as Volunteer Centres to actively recruit, manage and develop a pool of volunteers, before deploying
them (ST, 9 Mar).
 The number of new drug abusers aged below 20 rose by 30% to 305 in 2018, registering the
biggest spike across all age groups of first-time abusers. To combat the drug scourge, the authorities
have relied on preventive education as their first line of defence (ST, 2 Mar).
 New Housing Board projects will be made public six months before
they go on sale instead of three, while ballot times will be halved to three
weeks in a series of moves meant to improve the home-buying
process. Both changes will apply from the May 2019 sales exercise
onwards (ST, 8 Mar).
 Lower-income families will receive a lot more help in their home
ownership journey, from getting grants to a team of officers dedicated to
monitoring their progress. For example, rental families who used to own
their own HDB homes will be entitled to the Step-Up CPF Housing Grant
(ST, 8 Mar).

15.
Social
15
 More than 70% of Singaporeans feel people of different faiths can get along when living close together,
but some 15% find Muslims threatening, an Institute of Policy Studies report on religion in Singapore
has found. Private housing dwellers were more likely to think Muslims are threats, compared to housing
board counterparts (ST, 29 Mar).
 Societies need to acknowledge that Islamophobia is increasing around the world and come down hard
on these people, Law and Home Affairs Minister Mr K. Shanmugam said. He added that while people
with right-wing hate ideology have carried out terror attacks for many years, the issue has not received
"as much attention" as those said to be carried out on behalf of Islam (ST, 17 Mar).
Ensuring social cohesion
 Laws being drawn up to counter the scourge of fake news will
"not be sufficient" and everyone has to play his part to protect
Singapore from the danger it poses, Minister for Communications
and Information Mr S. Iswaran said (ST, 12 Mar).
 The NS Hub, to be built by 2023, will allow national servicemen to
shop at an e-mart, get their medical check-ups and complete their
annual physical training test in one place (ST, 2 Mar).

16.
Governance
16
 President Halimah Yacob gave her assent to the Supply Bill, which authorises how much the
government can spend within each financial year. President Halimah said Budget 2019 is "forward
looking and inclusive" and is aimed at taking Singapore into the next phase of nation building (ST, 16
Mar).
 The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer - a survey of people's sentiment about four key institutions in their
countries e.g. the government, media, non-governmental organisations and business - showed that 67%
of Singaporeans trust the government (ST, 18 Mar).
 A strong political centre is needed for countries and leaders to make "difficult and bold trade-offs" that
ensure long-term gains, Minister for Trade and Industry Mr Chan Chun Sing said. He added that "we can
be in for a steep downward spiral...if we don't get both our economics and politics right" (ST, 14 Mar).
Political-administrative developments
 While educational qualifications remain a "valid proxy" for the
skills of public servants, the public service looks for a
combination of operations, communications, mobilisation and
international exposure too, said Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister-in-
charge of the Public Service (ST, 1 Mar).

17.
Malay/Muslim Affairs
17
 MENDAKI Chairman Minister Mr Masagos Zulkifli said M³@Town will be expanded to six more towns
to mobilise the community for a more effective last-mile service delivery. M³@Nee Soon for example
aims to strengthen familial ties by providing marriage counselling, and bringing parents and children
closer together (BH, 24 Mar).
 MENDAKI Deputy Chairman Minister of State Mr Zaqy Mohamad said KelasMateMatika@CC will be
expanded to five more locations, benefitting 1,500 beneficiaries. He noted that 80% of students who
participated in the programme need not take foundational mathematics at primary school (BH, 24 Mar).
 MENDAKI has been appointed as a pre-school outreach
agency by the Early Childhood Development Agency. It will also
pilot the Empowerment Programmes for Boys and Girls for
Malay/Muslim Institute of Technical Education students (BH, 9 Mar).
 MENDAKI Tuition Scheme’s Mentorship Programme is designed
to provide motivational support for Malay/Muslim secondary
students enrolled in MTS. It also aims to ensure students attend
MTS regularly, and reduce negative social behaviours (BH, 26 Mar).
M³ and MENDAKI programmes

18.
Malay/Muslim Affairs
18
M³ Post-Budget 2019 dialogues
 Issues such as healthcare subsidies and the Merdeka Generation Package dominated the first M³
Post-Budget Dialogue, hosted by MESRA. The session was graced by Senior Parliamentary Secretary
Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, and MP Ms Rahayu Mahzam. Dr Faishal said he is certain
Malay/Muslim Merdeka Generation members will realise the benefits of the package (BH, 21 Mar).
 At the second M³ Post-Budget Dialogue hosted by MENDAKI, Minister Mr Masagos Zulkifli said while
the education system now strives to recognise children's different abilities, the community should still
pursue excellence in education, and lifelong learning (BH, 25 Mar).
 MENDAKI CEO Ms Rahayu Buang said MENDAKI will help ensure
that all Malay/Muslim students will gain at least an Institute of
Technical Education certificate - a stepping stone to higher
qualifications (BH, 25 Mar).
 At the third M³ Post-Budget Dialogue hosted by MUIS, issues
such as retirement age and elderly job opportunities dominated
the discussion, led by Minister of State Mr Zaqy Mohamad.
Participants were confident that the elderly will be helped (BH, 28 Mar).

19.
Malay/Muslim Affairs
19
 MUIS' Committee on Future Asatizah will be formed to engage the community on the desired skills of
our asatizah. It will be chaired by Senior Minister of State Dr Maliki Osman and will comprise religious
teachers, community leaders and individuals with relevant professional experience (ST, 9 Mar).
 Madrasah Aljunied, which offers the religious track for those who want to pursue Islamic education at
higher levels, will allow a class of 15 students to skip the O-levels and prepare for the International
Baccalaureate. With the IB qualifications, students will have more options for their tertiary education
(BH, 17 Mar).
Religious sector developments
 MUIS has appointed Ustaz Dr Nazirudin Nasir as
one of two deputy muftis. This was announced by
Minister Mr Masagos Zulkifli at the MUIS Work Plan
Seminar 2019. The second position is currently
vacant (BH, 31 Mar).
 Minister Mr Masagos Zulkifli also announced the
appointment of former Singapore Armed Forces
career officer Mr Fahmi Aliman as MUIS deputy chief
executive. He joins current deputy chief executive Dr
Albakri Ahmad (BH, 31 Mar).

20.
Food For Thought
20
1. Education Minister Mr Ong Ye Kung announced that the present system of streaming
secondary students into the Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical)
streams will be phased out. It will be replaced by full subject-based banding.
• How can we encourage our parents to closely follow their child's academic progress so as
to take advantage of the new subject-based banding system?
2. The Ministry of Social and Family Development announced that from March 2019,
unemployed mothers looking for work will receive monthly subsidies - $300 and $600 per
child each month for childcare and infant care, respectively - for six months, up from
three months.
• How can we encourage more of our mothers to seek paid employment so that they can
take advantage of the enhanced childcare subsidies?