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Tag: Zakir Hamid

  • When It Comes To Role Models, Race Is Irrelevant

    When It Comes To Role Models, Race Is Irrelevant

    Earlier this month, there was a media article on how a toy-plane lover and former television child star was now a high-flying colonel in the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF).

    The article began by saying that Col Zakir Hamid, 46, had become the RSAF’s first Malay pilot in 1992 and was now the highest-ranked Malay officer there.

    I wondered why there was an emphasis on Colonel Zakir’s race, alongside his achievements. This emphasis seems to occur in instances when Malays rise to high positions in society.

    In April, when Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Masagos Zulkifli was promoted to a full minister, all news reports said this was the first time that Singapore had two Malay full ministers. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in his Facebook post announcing the appointment, said this reflected the progress of the Malay community.

    I agree that stories of success serve to motivate and inspire younger Singaporeans. In the case of Malays who have done well, the Malay community celebrates their achievements, and younger Malays see these figures as good role models.

    Their success stories exemplify the meritocratic system in Singapore. They also help to convince the Malays that, even though we are a minority — the community forms 13.4 per cent of the citizen population — we can, like anyone else, and with effort and determination, succeed.

    However, in mentioning race when highlighting the achievements of Malays, might it not create a sense of inferiority, that we are not as capable and so any success attained by a Malay needs to be tied back to their race?

    It does not reflect Singapore’s meritocratic value of seeing ourselves as a united people regardless of race, language or religion.

    Academic Hussin Mutalib, in his book Singapore Malays — Being Ethnic Minority And Muslim In A Global City-State, wrote about the Malay “marginality” that some Malays felt as Singapore progressed. Could such mentions of race-based achievements be an attempt to remove those perceptions?

    It is a fact that the Malay community falls behind the Chinese and Indian communities in terms of educational qualifications and other socioeconomic attributes. But the gap is narrowing.

    The Malay community is moving forward and we want to continue doing so. According to the Education Statistics Digest published by the Ministry of Education, close to eight in 10 of Malay students in the 2003 cohort received admission to post-secondary education institutions.

    In 2012, almost nine in 10 achieved this — the biggest improvement seen among the races.

    Another positive trend by the Ministry of Social and Family Development data also showed that the home ownership rate among Malay residents is highest among the other races at 93.2 per cent.

    DO NOT LET RACE GET IN THE WAY

    I believe that members of the Malay community want to be seen as being as capable as other Singaporeans, and able to achieve similar success to their friends in school and at work.

    It will be even more encouraging if Malays who have benefited from the system in Singapore are willing to guide and mentor young Malays. Self-help groups such as Mendaki have programmes that require volunteers and mentors to lead them, and this will be a great opportunity to engage and empower future generations of the community.

    This will go a long way in dispelling perceptions of inferiority or discrimination that these young Malays may have internalised.

    The media can also play a part. They are instrumental in telling the stories of Singaporeans and also in moulding perceptions of the different communities and groups.

    While it is perfectly fine to showcase celebrations of racial cultures or cultural events, I believe there is no need to emphasise race, especially when articles are accompanied by photos of the people mentioned.

    This special mention for Malays in stories of success may unintentionally cause Singaporeans of other races to see Malays as less capable. This can affect how they relate to and communicate with their Malay friends.

    As we progress, I hope to see less emphasis put on a person’s race when highlighting his or her achievements.

    In my opinion, Singapore will never be a race-blind country because race, for good reasons, will continue to be a huge part of a person’s identity.

    Based on a survey by the Institute of Policy Studies on race, religion and language, 70.7 per cent of the respondents indicated that race is important to their overall sense of identity.

    Race should be less of a social marker and more of a cultural marker. We can be proud of our individual ethnicities and share our unique cultures, while still having a strong national identity. But we should not let race shape our interactions or perceptions of others.

    Stories of success should be read as they are — the achievements of fellow Singaporeans. I, for one, am sure that members of the Malay community can find any successful Singaporean, regardless of race, a worthy role model.

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

    Muhammad Syakir Bin Kamal is a second-year student at Imperial College London, where he is reading aeronautical engineering. He is currently interning at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Zakir Hamid: Toy Plane Lover Now High-Flier Colonel

    Zakir Hamid: Toy Plane Lover Now High-Flier Colonel

    At age 12, Zakir Hamid was in the spotlight as a compere on the popular Malay children’s show Aksi Mat Yoyo. At age 23, he made the news when he became the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) first Malay pilot in 1992.

    Now the boyish-looking 46-year-old is in the limelight again for becoming the highest-ranked Malay officer in the RSAF, after he was promoted from Senior Lieutenant-Colonel to Colonel in June. As commander of the RSAF’s Transport Group, he has 400 to 500 servicemen under him.

    But Col Zakir demurred when asked about what this achievement means for the Malay community. Instead, he told The Straits Times: “Frankly, I don’t think of myself as different. I think of myself as a member of the team.

    “I don’t see myself exclusively as a member of the minority. I like to see myself as a role model for other young Singaporeans who aspire to be pilots,” said Col Zakir, whose wife is 46 and an entrepreneur. They have a daughter, nine.

    Col Zakir admitted, though, that he did feel some pressure when he became the first Malay pilot.

    “But I try not to let that affect me. My principle is the same – that if I’m going to do something, I do it in the best way that I can,” he said.

    Col Zakir’s love for aviation goes back to his childhood days of playing with toy planes. He and older brother Farid would build balsa wood gliders that could fly with a plastic propeller and a rubber band.

    “We would tether them to a line, stand in the centre, and the plane went in circles around you. It could go only up and down and do loops. When it comes to aerodynamics, I had, at a young age, understood how an aircraft flies,” he said.

    Col Zakir, who also has two older sisters, was active in school. “I did a lot of things in school… from the Interact Club to track team to shooting to rugby to soccer to hockey… In Primary 1, I had double the number of ECA (extra-curricular activities) points required,” he said.

    By 18, he had been to faraway places such as Chile on a three-month charity expedition for youth.

    During his national service, he won the coveted sword-of-honour at Officer Cadet School; he graduated top of his class at James Madison University in Virginia where he studied geographic information systems and mass communications on a military scholarship.

    In 1990, the then Guards officer got a chance to become an RSAF pilot, with hopes of becoming a fighter pilot. However, when he was in flight school in 1991, he was found to have a medical condition called sinus barotrauma, dashing his aspirations of becoming a fighter pilot.

    “What happens is that your sinus cavities get weak and they get blocked,” he said. He could still fly – but only transport planes.

    “You don’t have to go through changes in pressure as dynamically as you do in a fighter… In transport (planes), you don’t zoom from zero to hero in a matter of seconds.”

    But he said it was a blessing in disguise, as flying transport planes has given him more opportunities to be involved in overseas missions as well as humanitarian and disaster assistance relief operations.

    Col Zakir went on three tours in the Gulf in 2005, 2007 and 2008, of six weeks to a month. He flew the KC-135 tanker aircraft, which he calls the “petrol kiosk in the sky”. Their missions involve providing air-to-air refuelling for coalition jets in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    “The temperatures in summer can soar up to 50 degrees (Celsius), with sandstorms and strong wind conditions. And, in winter, it can be very cold at night,” he said.

    Col Zakir, who has held positions such as commanding officer of the 122 Squadron, which operates the KC-135, now oversees a fleet comprising the C-130 transport aircraft, the G-550 Airborne Early Warning aircraft, the Fokker 50 and the KC-135. He ensures that the crew members are ready for operations.

    He still remembers his first taste of being a pilot: he was 18 and steering a friend’s glider plane up in the air in Britain.

    “I enjoyed that experience, and really felt how it was like to be a bird, (and) to be able to manoeuvre the aircraft, the silence of being one with your environment.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com