Member of Parliament from People’s Action Party, Mr Zainal Bin Sapari opened a can of worms about Mendaki when he made a Facebook post about the definition of what constitutes a Malay person with citizens voicing the treatment that they got from the Yayasan MENDAKI in their request for financial assistance.

With anecdotes of double standards when comes to approval of financial aid, netizens raise questions of whether the government is shifting the goalpost or definition of race to suit their purpose, and whether it is in anyway unfavourable to the country’s progress for the government to be playing the race card for political means.

Earlier on 14 July, Mr Zainal shared a link from Yahoo News which touched about the issue of race surrounding the upcoming Presidential Election which will be a reserved election for the Malay community.

In the post, the Yahoo author highlighted that this year’s presidential election is reserved for “person(s) belonging to the Malay community. According to Article 19B of the Singapore Constitution, which deals with reserved elections for communities that have not held the office of President for five or more consecutive terms, this means “any person, whether of the Malay race or otherwise, who considers himself to be a member of the Malay community and who is generally accepted as a member of the Malay community by that community”. This was further emphasised by Mr Zainal by repeating it as caption on his Facebook share.

In Mr Zainal’s post, a commenter, Mohamed Aidil Subhan argued, “

In response, Mr Zainal wrote, “Basically, it means that your race need not be stated as ‘malay’ in your NRIC or birth cert to be considered as a malay candidate.”

Following his comment, another commenter, Nailul Hafiz pointed out to Mr Zainal on the confusion of such a definition would mean to how Mendaki extends help to the Malay community,

“Mr Sir, my apologies – very confusing to me and many that I had spoken to. Especially when they can be President on a Malay ticket and yet Mendaki rejects them on the TTFS because their IC doesn’t state Malay. Anecdotes are abound. I am hoping that the parliament could make these things clear before pushing through such legislations.”

Another commenter, Harphal Singh also addressed this point on Mr Zainal’s Facebook tread, “

Mr Zainal did not answer to Mr Singh and Mr Hafiz’s comment since then till today.

According to its website, Yayasan MENDAKI (Council for the Development of Singapore Malay/Muslim Community) describes itself as a pioneer Self-Help Group formed in 1982 dedicated to empower the community through excellence in education, in the context of a multi-racial and multi-religious Singapore.

MENDAKI’s programmes largely target the bottom 30 per cent of the Malay/Muslim population and are therefore highly subsidised. They are mostly preventive and developmental programmes to provide early assistance to the beneficiaries so that they will be school ready, able to perform in school and ultimately be future ready. The programmes are designed to supplement or complement national initiatives. MENDAKI works extensively with partners that share and support its vision and mission. They consist of government agencies, schools, mosques, Malay/Muslim organisations, employers, community centres and MAECs, family and student service centres and many more.

In a 2011 article, Mendaki’s financial assistance department responded to queries about its criteria to grant subsidies by saying that applicants are eligible for its Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy as long as they are Malay. However, they do not accept applicants who are Indian or of other ethnicity. When asked why they do not give out such grants to other Muslims, a spokesperson explained that the subsidy scheme is exclusively for Malays as they are the indigenous race of Singapore and declined to give further details.

In the CPF’s website, it states, “All working Muslims who are Singapore Citizens, Singapore Permanent Residents and foreign employees need to contribute to the MBMF…”

So a question here is why the double standard in determining a Malay candidate for the Presidential Election who is supposed to represent the Malay community and for the purpose for granting financial assistance to a Malay that Mendaki is supposed to support? Given that all Singaporean Muslims contribute to the fund, why are they not given the same assistance just because the race on their ICs state otherwise? Anecdotes from netizens show apparent criteria of a Malay in Singapore as deemed by Mendaki Local social-media site, All Singapore Stuff then posted an article about the comment raised in Mr Zainal’s Facebook post which attracted comments and personal accounts on how they were treated by Mendaki. Surinah Tamsi wrote, “ NaenHudz ShaDyan Johnson wrote, “ Aleem Bhai wrote, “ Rafee Paparep wrote, “ Idris Md Noor wrote, “ Zan Hermoso wrote, “Yes i am one of those. Mendaki dont support, sekali gaji kena bayar SINDA plak” Andrew JS Rodrigues M Shafiq Aziz wrote, “ Khairul Khalif Wong wrote, “Double standard… kita pernah ditolak atas sebab “indian” dan bukan malay… tapi bulanan contribution die cekik…” Muhammad Shariff wrote, “I like the point made by the netizen (for info, I am a Indian Muslim and I am not eligible for financial assistance from Mendaki)” Syed Ali wrote, “ Auto-contribution for Muslims but no financial help A commenter, Patrick Lim questioned on ASS’s Facebook tread, “ Mohdali HT answered, “ Another commenter, Masrina Rashid corrected HT by writing, “ Kevs Syde Zoomer followed up with Rashid’s comment by writing, “Mendaki expect all races Singaporean Muslim to contribute to Mendaki from the CPF auto deduction MMBF. They only mentioned Muslim Singaporeans are liable to contribute to Mendaki fund. But when assistance requested from Muslim Singaporeans to Mendaki, they will quote that only assistance will be render if your ID on race read as Malay. Now,who is being a Racist and practising double standard system? Why make use of religion name for the sake of own convenient? I believe if oneself is sincere and be transparent, multi races with good hearts will for sure come forward to donate. But when you cheat people, everyone will start questioning you(mendaki). They the non malay muslim deserves to know why? Medaki have been keeping quiet so far? Mr. Yaacob Ibrahim,do u have any good reason for this kind of practice? To the best of my knowledge,mendaki is under your charge. OR you need your best speaker in mendaki to explain to non-Malay muslim Singaporeans? Just Bring it!!!” Karata Sapu replied Kevs Syde Zoomer Hafiz JF supported the comments by writing, “ Reserved election for Malay or Muslim? Ken Chong commented, “I’ Lone Blackwolf replied And I also have stop donations to Singapore mendaki, because they too not helping Chinese Muslim like me. So I only donates to anyone that needs help from my pay. Even Malaysia’s Mosque gets it when I’m there. Singapore don’t need converted Muslim’s like us. Singapore hates Muslims which I knew long ago.” Thomas Lee wrote in dismay, Saying and doing all the stupid and unnecessary stuffs like…. Singapore not ready for an Indian Prime Minister, Presidency reserved for Malay candidates. Wee Kim Wee is the first elected president. So sick and tired of all their lies and innuendo.” Intezaar Hussain wrote, “ Rohaimi Mohd Saad wrote, “A The focus are now diverted … Govt as always get what they want! The only issues that I hope Halimah can help address when she becomes the President are

-why Muslim woman wear tudung and

-to clarify that for female, it’s called circumcision and not genital mutilation” Nil Simon wrote, “