SINGAPORE — For the first time, Malay students outperformed their peers from around the world in mathematics in the recent Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) test, Mr Masagos Zulkifli revealed in an annual sit-down media interview on Malay-Muslim affairs on Tuesday (Dec 17).

Highlighting this as an example of how the Malay community has progressed over the years, the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs also noted that Malay students are comparable to their international peers in reading and science.

Singaporean students came second out of 79 countries in the 2018 Pisa test ­— an international scorecard for education systems worldwide — conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) once every three years.

“In terms of resilience, the Malay-Muslim community has shown that eight in 10 of them believe that they can achieve success,” said Mr Masagos, who is also Minister for the Environment and Water Resources.

Early this year, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), self-help group Mendaki and the Malay Activity Executive Committees Council (Mesra) formed an alliance — called M3 — to help overcome challenges within the community.

Mr Masagos said this collaboration allowed the organisations to tap each other’s resources, network and programmes, when rolling out initiatives in eight towns island-wide with the highest concentration of Malay-Muslims —Tampines, Pasir Ris-Punggol, Bedok, Choa Chu Kang, Jurong, Marsiling-Yew Tee, Nee Soon and Woodlands.

He added that M3’s focus this year is on three areas — supporting marriage, parenthood and early childhood development; supporting vulnerable individuals and their families; and empowering and mentoring of youth.

He also noted that these initiatives have garnered much support from the community.

For example, the 10-week programme called KelasMateMatika at various community centres in Singapore to teach preschoolers basic mathematical concepts has quadrupled in reach, from 300 when it was called Maju Minda Matematika, or Tiga M, to 1,200 now.

The Family and Inmates Through-care Assistance Haven (Fitrah) programme to help rehabilitate and reintegrate ex-offenders into society has also brought in about 320 volunteers, while the marital first responders programme where volunteers are trained to provide basic marriage advice and help, has garnered about 130.

There is also a focus on youth mentoring to address the spectrum of their needs and provide guidance to those at risk. This has brought in about 500 mentors so far.

Asked if the initiatives rolled out this year had been successful, Mr Masagos said 2019 was its experimentation year.

“The real outcome we want is to move the needle. We want to reach out in a targeted manner to those who really need it.”

MODEL FOR A COMMUNITY OF SUCCESS

Mr Masagos described the Malay-Muslim community in Singapore as a model for how minorities can thrive within a society, pointing to its continued success over the decades.

Calling it a “community of success”, he attributed this to three unique characteristics — character, competence and commitment to citizenry.

The first characteristic is a result of guidance from religious leaders and the gotong-royong spirit ­— a Malay expression that describes a community coming together to do communal work.

He highlighted that the madrasah system has produced at least 2,500 asatizahs, or religious teachers, who have been registered under the asatizah recognition scheme.

“Because they are very rooted in the teachings of Islam in Singapore, when they come back, they are able to contextualise and guide our religious needs,” he said.

Mr Masagos also noted that in the last year, more than 1,400 members of the community from various backgrounds have stepped up to volunteer their time, expertise and resources to participate in M3 programmes.

He added that this characteristic has shaped the way Malay-Muslim community contribute and commit to citizenry.

This can be seen through the recent Pisa test results and the commitment of Malay-Muslim organisations like Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association (Pergas) and Mendaki to religious harmony in the country.

“We contribute from the point of building competencies that are valued in our country. That competency is to achieve the best education possible,” he said.

He pointed out that the number of Mendaki excellence award recipients who attained first class honours this year has increased 10-fold, from seven to 70, in 10 years.

He added that Muis is also working towards contextualising Islam to fit the needs of Muslims in Singapore and inoculate the community against extreme views that can be found all over the world.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2020

During the interview, Mr Masagos revealed M3 initiatives that will be rolled out next year include Ciptasama (which means create together) that aims to engage Malay-Muslims in co-creating and contributing to policy shifts.

Another is a youth mentoring office set up by Mendaki in an effort to develop an ecosystem of well-trained mentors to youths and a strong mentoring culture in the community.

He added that there will be a forum to bring together all M3 stakeholders including volunteers and organisational partners to share best practices found in the eight towns in February next year.

The inaugural batch of asatizahs who have to go through the one-year postgraduate certificate in Islam in contemporary societies (PCICS) will also start next year.

The PCICS will include content that deepens returning graduates’ understanding of Singapore’s geopolitical and socioreligious context and provide information on how Islam can be practised effectively in Singapore’s multiracial and multireligious society.

When TODAY asked if this will delay the careers of asatizahs, Mr Masagos said: “It is important for us to expose them in a very rigorous way the context of Islam and society in Singapore.”

“We will make sure that as much as possible, it does not disrupt or prevent them from teaching.”

Asked if he can share hints about the number of Malay candidates in the upcoming General Election, Mr Masagos chuckled and said: “I always think we have more than enough. We want to make sure we have choices. Many of them are on the ground, invisibly, I hope."