Malay/Muslim union leaders at a dialogue session with Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim yesterday welcomed the Government’s proposal to ensure minority representation in the office of the President.
However, they expressed concerns that the more stringent criteria could shrink the pool of eligible Malay private sector candidates further.
The closed-door dialogue session on the Elected Presidency (EP) and the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS) was jointly hosted by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and Yayasan Mendaki.
Also present at the event, which attracted about 60 participants and was held at Wisma Mendaki, was Mr Zainal Sapari, Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC and NTUC’s assistant secretary-general.
Speaking to reporters after the session, Dr Yaacob said: “What is heartening tonight is that when we ask them (participants), by and large, I think they want to see a Malay President as we have not had (one) in a long time. Yet, at the same time, they recognise that whoever the person is, must meet the eligibility criteria and I think that’s very important. The issue of meritocracy continues to be preserved.”
Responding to fears that the proposed changes to the EP scheme will result in a smaller pool of eligible candidates, Dr Yaacob noted that apart from those in private sector, people holding positions in the public sector can also qualify.
“At the same time, (the participants) recognise that the role of the President is a unifying role. And as one person mentioned when he reflected on the elections in 2011, all this talk about the (unifying) role had totally disappeared. Nobody was talking about what the President was supposed to do,” he added.
The ARS, which has been around for a decade, recognises teachers and scholars who meet the minimum standards of qualification to preach and teach Islamic religious knowledge, and is run by the Singapore Islamic Scholars & Religious Teachers Association (Pergas).
The Government plans to make the accreditation scheme compulsory from Jan 1, with a transition period of around one year. Regarding the ARS, many participants were concerned with issues of implementation and the speed of the accreditation process.
“We would be as inclusive as possible. Even though (religious teachers) 80 per cent have registered, for the remaining 20 per cent, if there are specific problems, we will work with them. Most important thing is that we want to try and get everyone to be registered,” said Dr Yaacob.
However, he added: “There are specific instances we have to clarify. If you are having a religious ceremony, and you get somebody to run the religious ceremony that’s not a religious class … we don’t need an ARS-registered asatizah to do so.”
Source: TODAY Online
