Singapore PM’s worry: Families who live beyond their means

Singapore PM’s worry: Families who live beyond their means

They often turn to MPs for help; community groups can help promote sound values: Mr Lee

By Zakir Hussain AWARD FOR LONG-TIME VOLUNTEER: PM Lee presents the Outstanding Dedication to Service award to Mr Boimin Wakiman, 72, at the Malay Youth Literary Association’s 60th anniversary charity dinner. Looking on is its president Izzuddin Taherally. — ST PHOTO: BRYAN VAN DER BEEK

SINGAPOREANS who spend beyond their means and have to go to their MPs for help were placed under the spotlight by none other than Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.He noted that as MPs, ‘we often see families who have over-committed themselves financially’ - for instance those who have been ‘extravagant in doing up their homes using renovation loans’, or ‘bought expensive furniture or large-screen TV sets on hire purchase’.

‘The ones with the most serious problems have bought homes which are larger than they can afford, and taken mortgages which they are then unable to pay,’ he said.

Mr Lee was speaking at the 60th anniversary dinner of the Malay Youth Literary Association (popularly known by its Malay acronym 4PM), a community welfare organisation that helps young Malays.

While families who live beyond their means come from all races, ‘quite a few are Malay families’, he noted.

‘It is a sensitive matter to raise, but all MPs and social workers know that it is a real issue that needs to be tackled,’ he added.Contacted by The Straits Times, Tampines GRC MP Masagos Zulkifli said he sees at least one such case a week - for example, a family living in a flat it cannot afford, or one that needs help preventing its TV or stereo sets from being repossessed. Some come with the latest mobile phones, a clear sign they have wrong priorities, he said.

Another MP contacted, Hong Kah GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad, sees young families who need help staving off illegal moneylenders or servicing credit-card debt or car loans.

Mr Lee said Malay-Muslim organisations like 4PM play a critical role in shaping the young.

They could promote sound personal values like living within one’s means and planning for the future, as well as the right attitudes towards race, religion and national issues.

Another important area they should work on: leadership renewal.

More successful young Malay professionals were setting up their own groups or joining multiracial ones rather than the traditional Malay-Muslim organisations, he noted.

While this was to be encouraged, it also meant that the latter have to ‘move more boldly to put promising ones into leadership positions’, he said.

This is because these organisations are a training ground for Malay leadership at the national level, he said, citing senior parliamentary secretaries Hawazi Daipi - a former honorary general secretary of 4PM and now its adviser - and Masagos Zulkifli, who ran Perdaus and started its humanitarian offshoot Mercy Relief. Malay-Muslims groups can help Promote sound values. MMOs can help to promote sound personal values and attitudes. One of these is, of course, the importance of education. But another, not so often discussed, is the importance of living within one’s means and planning for the future.

Financial planning and discipline are critical life skills, but unfortunately, they do not come naturally to everyone. As MPs, we often see families who have over-committed themselves financially, run into serious trouble, and then come to the MPs’ Meet-the-People sessions for help. Some have been extravagant in doing up their homes using renovation loans. Others have bought expensive furniture or large-screen TV sets on hire purchase. The ones with the most serious problems have bought homes which are larger than they can afford, and taken mortgages which they are then unable to pay.

These families belong to all races, but quite a few are Malay families. It is a sensitive matter to raise, but all MPs and social workers know that it is a real issue that needs to be tackled.

It is natural, and good, that families aspire to upgrade their lives. But it is also important to be frugal. We should not spend beyond what we can afford, or spend today without thinking enough about how we will pay for it tomorrow.

We should always try to put aside something for the future, especially to invest in the education of our children, and to have enough for our medical expenses and old age. If we save too little for a rainy day, and a storm hits us unexpectedly, the consequences can be devastating.Move boldly on leadership renewal

MMOs are not just part of our civic society, but also a training ground for Malay leadership. They provide avenues for people to step forward, take up issues they feel passionately about, and make a useful contribution to the community.

By proving themselves and earning the respect of their peers, they emerge as leaders, not just within the Malay-Muslim community, but eventually on the national stage too.

Many of our Malay MPs have come up through this process, like Mr Hawazi Daipi who was 4PM’s honorary secretary-general, and is still its adviser, and Mr Masagos Zulkifli, who ran Perdaus, and later started and then spun off Mercy Relief.

To sustain this flow of new leaders, MMOs must make a continuing effort to attract talent, groom and nurture them. This is a top priority for Singapore’s national leadership, but it is also important for community organisations.

With steady social and educational progress, each successive cohort of Malays contains more well-educated and successful professionals, and more who can and want to contribute to the community.

Instead of joining existing MMOs, these younger Malays are increasingly getting together on their own to set up their own associations and do projects. But they are not only forming new Malay groups; they are also participating in multiracial voluntary welfare organisations and community groups.

This is to be encouraged, but it also poses a challenge to the existing MMOs. Therefore, existing MMOs must make a conscious effort to induct these professionals, and move more boldly to put promising ones into leadership positions.
Source : Straits Times - 15 March 2008

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