PROFILE /
A CALL FOR EQUAL TREATMENT JASMINE HO |
30.9.2011
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All-rounder: Rasul dances for NUS Blast. Credit: Rasul Sulaiman
In a country like Singapore where equality is embodied as an ideal on its national flag, no one expects to be discriminated against, especially not by a community support group. Rasul Sulaiman, however, feels that the Malay Muslim government community group, Mendaki, has treated him unfairly because of his ethnicity.
Rasul is a Muslim. He has a Malay mother and an Indian father. Both his parents are Muslims. Like most Muslim Indians, his father is educated in Malay.
The 24-year-old is presently a fourth-year communications and new media student at the National University of Singapore. He does not qualify for Mendaki’s tuition fees subsidy, which is offered to all Malay Muslim tertiary students who need financial assistance. The reason is because his identification card states his race as Indian, and the subsidy grant which is offered by the self-help group dedicated to help disadvantaged Muslim families is only extended to Malays.
Never mind the fact that his family income falls within the income bracket to qualify for the subsidy. Never mind that Bahasa Malay has been his mother tongue since his primary school days. The reality still stands. As stated clearly in his identification card, Rasul is not Malay and is hence ineligible.
Rasul believes the tuition subsidy can prop up his family’s finances greatly. “My father works as a driver, and my mother is a housewife. Supporting my tertiary education is a huge burden for them,” he said.
Rasul has an elder brother, 31, and an elder sister, 34. Although they are working, they have to support their own families of two and three children respectively. He also has a twin brother, who recently graduated from Singapore Institute of Management.
Currently, Rasul’s elder siblings and father have to make monthly contributions of $2- $4 to Mendaki via the Central Provident Fund. CPF is the obligatory savings plan that working Singaporeans have to make monthly contributions to.
With a shrug of his shoulders, Rasul said, “It is unfair that Mendaki only helps out Malay Muslims and not the Indian Muslims. They receive a monthly contribution through CPF from Muslims of all races, and contact all when seeking volunteers. Indian Muslims fall through the gap as SINDA won’t help us out because we are Muslims.”
The Singapore Indian Development Association is a self-help group that works to uplift the Singapore Indian Community.
Although he does not receive any assistance for his financial needs, Rasul has no qualms helping others in need. He has been an active volunteer with the youth wing of the Central Singapore Community Development Council since 2002. He also serves in multiple community projects that range from retraining the elderly suffering from dementia, to helping students from low-income families with their homework.
In 2007, he organised Tapestry, a street performance and fundraising event held along Orchard Road, which raised over $10,000 that went toward the cause of refurnishing Boys’ Town, a children home.
In addition, Rasul has always been actively involved in co-curricular activities. He is an active member of NUS dance group Blast, and has recently taken on the occasional role of a choreographer for some of the dance group’s performances. The pint-sized student is also a sprinter with the NUS Track and Field team, and served as vice-captain of the team in 2009. In the same year, Rasul also clinched the gold medal in the team 4x100-metre relay, and also won the Sports Team of the Year Event (Men) in the IVP Team NUS Sports Awards 2009. In recognition of his contributions, NUS awarded Rasul with the Silver award for his contribution to dance, and the Half-Colours award, for track and field.
Malina Alwi, who is a close friend of Rasul and also a dance enthusiast, admires his abilities to juggle his school and extracurricular activities. “It is crazy how he can spend so much time going for training and still find time to study and read his readings,” she said.
In July, Rasul was selected as NUS 2011 Communications and New Media Department’s Best Well Rounded third-year student. The letter he received from the head of CNM, Milagros Rivera, read that he was chosen for the title as his “ability to balance school work and responsibilities with other co-curricular activities and other activities impressed the committee.”
On his secret behind the ability to balance all his commitments, Rasul said, “When there is a will, there is a way. I want to make the best out of my tertiary education especially since my parents have to go through so much to pay for it.”
Rasul is a Muslim. He has a Malay mother and an Indian father. Both his parents are Muslims. Like most Muslim Indians, his father is educated in Malay.
The 24-year-old is presently a fourth-year communications and new media student at the National University of Singapore. He does not qualify for Mendaki’s tuition fees subsidy, which is offered to all Malay Muslim tertiary students who need financial assistance. The reason is because his identification card states his race as Indian, and the subsidy grant which is offered by the self-help group dedicated to help disadvantaged Muslim families is only extended to Malays.
Never mind the fact that his family income falls within the income bracket to qualify for the subsidy. Never mind that Bahasa Malay has been his mother tongue since his primary school days. The reality still stands. As stated clearly in his identification card, Rasul is not Malay and is hence ineligible.
Rasul believes the tuition subsidy can prop up his family’s finances greatly. “My father works as a driver, and my mother is a housewife. Supporting my tertiary education is a huge burden for them,” he said.
Rasul has an elder brother, 31, and an elder sister, 34. Although they are working, they have to support their own families of two and three children respectively. He also has a twin brother, who recently graduated from Singapore Institute of Management.
Currently, Rasul’s elder siblings and father have to make monthly contributions of $2- $4 to Mendaki via the Central Provident Fund. CPF is the obligatory savings plan that working Singaporeans have to make monthly contributions to.
With a shrug of his shoulders, Rasul said, “It is unfair that Mendaki only helps out Malay Muslims and not the Indian Muslims. They receive a monthly contribution through CPF from Muslims of all races, and contact all when seeking volunteers. Indian Muslims fall through the gap as SINDA won’t help us out because we are Muslims.”
The Singapore Indian Development Association is a self-help group that works to uplift the Singapore Indian Community.
Although he does not receive any assistance for his financial needs, Rasul has no qualms helping others in need. He has been an active volunteer with the youth wing of the Central Singapore Community Development Council since 2002. He also serves in multiple community projects that range from retraining the elderly suffering from dementia, to helping students from low-income families with their homework.
In 2007, he organised Tapestry, a street performance and fundraising event held along Orchard Road, which raised over $10,000 that went toward the cause of refurnishing Boys’ Town, a children home.
In addition, Rasul has always been actively involved in co-curricular activities. He is an active member of NUS dance group Blast, and has recently taken on the occasional role of a choreographer for some of the dance group’s performances. The pint-sized student is also a sprinter with the NUS Track and Field team, and served as vice-captain of the team in 2009. In the same year, Rasul also clinched the gold medal in the team 4x100-metre relay, and also won the Sports Team of the Year Event (Men) in the IVP Team NUS Sports Awards 2009. In recognition of his contributions, NUS awarded Rasul with the Silver award for his contribution to dance, and the Half-Colours award, for track and field.
Malina Alwi, who is a close friend of Rasul and also a dance enthusiast, admires his abilities to juggle his school and extracurricular activities. “It is crazy how he can spend so much time going for training and still find time to study and read his readings,” she said.
In July, Rasul was selected as NUS 2011 Communications and New Media Department’s Best Well Rounded third-year student. The letter he received from the head of CNM, Milagros Rivera, read that he was chosen for the title as his “ability to balance school work and responsibilities with other co-curricular activities and other activities impressed the committee.”
On his secret behind the ability to balance all his commitments, Rasul said, “When there is a will, there is a way. I want to make the best out of my tertiary education especially since my parents have to go through so much to pay for it.”