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NUS Economics Graduate Chooses To Sell Crabs For A Living

Meet Fu Hai everyone, who I met this morning during my market visit. Fu Hai, 29, runs a stall selling fresh crabs at the Toa Payoh Market at Lorong 4.

His stall is simple – just a few styrofoam boxes with live crabs in them. His work day is long, starting at 4am and ending at night around 8pm. He and his parents have three such stalls.

Fu Hai graduated with an economics degree from NUS but decided to forge his own path. He has big dreams. He knows the network of crab suppliers from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and China. He knows what his customers want – which crabs are best for their sweet meat, and others for the roe.

He thinks he can expand this business to semi-finished products working with our polytechnics.

Welcome to Singapore’s Future Economy. Whatever shape that comes in, we will need young people like Fu Hai to forge new paths.

The future belongs to people like him. Let’s all wish Fu Hai every success as he chases his dreams.

Source: Ng Eng Hen

October 6, 2015
Yaacob Ibrahim: Muslim Marriages Becoming More Resilient

Muslim marriages in Singapore are becoming more resilient, said Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim on Monday (Oct 5) at a seminar aimed at better understanding marriage trends and challenges among Malay-Muslim couples.

However, Dr Yaacob warned that marriages between young couples, as well as remarriages, remain vulnerable and called for a preventive and upstream approach to address the needs of these couples, both before and after marriage.

He encouraged a culture of lifelong learning, where couples seek marriage education and proactive support.

“New trends are emerging and therefore, we have to get for ourselves a new skill set in dealing with some of these new challenges that we are facing today,” said Dr Yaacob. “I always believe that information and awareness is important. I think we need to keep people informed. Such seminars are important for us to use this material to share with would-be couples.

“I always believe that marriages are not made in heaven, they are made on earth. You have to work at it. And I think by sharing information, people understand better, that … you need to be able to find the right level of engagement between you and your spouse.”

About 300 people, including social service practitioners, attended the seminar.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

October 6, 2015
Speed Dating Goes Halal In Malaysia

Dressed in a headscarf and full-length robe, 24 year-old Nurnadille Edlena takes notes intently as the man before her introduces himself.

The two are at Halal Speed Dating, a new matchmaking event in Kuala Lumpur that is helping Malaysian Muslims find partners in a largely conservative society where courtship is frowned upon and marriages are often arranged.

The dating service is halal, meaning permissible under Islamic law, as it is practiced with an Islamic twist: women speed daters must be chaperoned by a wali, or guardian until she gets married and who grants her the permission to do so.

“I brought my parents as they are the best people who can guide me to find someone,” said Nurnadille.

“I’m focusing on finding someone who can willingly accept me for who I am.”

Malaysia is a largely moderate Muslim country, where Islam is the official religion and ethnic Malay Muslims make up two thirds of the 30 million people.

Many young Malaysians meet as young people do in many places, including through the dating app Tinder and on Facebook, but dating is complicated for young Muslims in Malaysia, where public displays of affection and intimacy before marriage is strictly disapproved of.

Halal Speed Dating’s founders say most of their clients hope to find a spouse. A client can shortlist up to three possible partners but can only negotiate marriage with one at a time, in accordance with Islamic rules.

“Halal Speed Dating is the anti-Tinder,” co-founders Zuhri Yuhyi, 34, and Norhayati Ismail, 41, said in a release, referring to the U.S.-based dating app that has gained a reputation for free and easy match-making.

“Instead of casual hookups, Halal Speed Dating is about dignified and chaperoned meet-ups with the intention of marriage. In fact, we do not condone the modern dating that is commonly practiced.”

They say their system can prevent what they see as the social ills of premarital sex and adultery, which they believe are fostered by apps like Tinder.

Norhayati say it is not just Muslims who are interested in their system and making inquires.

“I can tell people are looking for something new,” she said.

The founders have organized the event twice in Kuala Lumpur. The first time in May when about 80 people joined, and the second time last week with 60 hopefuls.

About 2,300 people have signed up to attend a session, most of them urban professionals between the ages of 25 to 35.

Mohamad Fauzan, 26, who helps to run his family business in Kuala Lumpur, halal speed dating provides another option in his quest to find true love.

“I’ve done online dating and gone on blind dates, but in our religion, going halal is the better thing to do. It’s better to first get the permission of the parents, but I’m open to all options,” he said.

Source: www.reuters.com

October 6, 2015
Starbucks Is Not Halal!

Some people really have very vivid imaginations eh? From a simple fact that Starbucks is not certified halal, they can spin theories about how pork fat is deliberately included as an ingredient in their food and drink to trick Muslims because Starbucks is a Jewish company bent on killing Palestinians. Like conspiracy theory much siol~

While this may seem funny at first, the underlying naivete behind such ridiculous conspiracy theories is alarming and a cause of concern. Malicious intent aside, such a mentality reflects an overly sensitive frame of mind towards any real or perceived slight to the Muslim faith, and seeks to take offense at any and every instance. This is dangerous because these people can be easily indoctrinated and manipulated by others who espouse radical religious views, or may even be recruited by those with malicious intent to cause harm to others. In this age where terrorism is a real threat to our global and national security, we should all be responsible for our thoughts, words and behaviours and educate those who may have the wrong understanding of our faith.

Starbucks may not be halal, but all Muslims have the prerogative to choose whether they will patronise the cafe or take their business somewhere else halal. There is no need to propagate false claims about its products or poltically align the company with murderous objectives just because it did not meet your religious standards. The sooner we learn that the world does not revolve around our religion, the easier it will be for us to lead our lives.

For the record, Starbucks Singapore has never claimed to be a halal establishment and has even previously clarified that even though they are not certified halal, it does not serve pork or alcohol in their stores.

Source: www.aiseyman.com

October 6, 2015
Osman Sulaiman: Daiso Singapore Apologise For Hijab Incident, Assures No Such Discriminatory Policies Are In Place

Update on Daiso:

Met up with the GM of Daiso, Jun Tomioka at IMM together with Ms Malis Jais (the job applicant) on last Wednesday.

During the discussion, the GM has clarified that Daiso does not have any policies against employees wearing the headgear.

He also went to great lengths to explain to us how the organization has in fact catered to the well being of employees from different races and religions. He then highlighted that they do have many employees wearing the headgears in their organization.

When asked how then did their HR came up with such information to job applicants that Daiso’s employees are not allowed to wear the headgears on sales-floor? There must be a directive from someone to the HR person as it specifically single out sales-floor area.

The GM apologized for the mistake when relaying information to job applicants. He said that lapses might have occurred during communication to his staff and apologized for the lapse.

He was apologetic the whole time which was a breath of fresh air from the usual sidestepping whenever I took on such cases.

He also mentioned that although Daiso has a dress code policy, it has never excluded headgears in workplaces unless in factories where machinery is involved.

I told him that his apology will mean nothing if there are no concrete steps taken to ensure such thing will not happen again.

He then made a personal guarantee that such errors would not be repeated as the company is planning to create a handbook for employees where information would be passed down more effectively. They will also remind all its shop leaders not to make similar suggestions and exercise greater vigilance in the recruitment process.

We are convinced and satisfied that the GM is sincere in rectifying the matter and this incident is probably due to miscommunication among its employees.

Ms Normalis has since received a formal apology letter from Daiso which we have agreed to keep it confidential and not to reproduce or distribute whatsoever.

People who felt that they have been unjustly dealt with need to speak up about it. Keeping silent will not help resolve anything. As for the above case, I’m happy that it ends well for everyone and hopefully create awareness for more companies to embrace hijab wearing employees.

Source: Osman Sulaiman

October 6, 2015