My social service informants35 received tertiary education in polytechnics or universities. Placing social work as their first career choice, only two interviewees pursued social work degrees. Another informant entered social services after retirement, citing the desire to ―contribute to the community‖ as her primary motivation (SSP4). The remaining ten informants pursued other non- social work disciplines initially (see Table 18).
34 Four sectoral networks — Education, Youth, Family and Employability — were created to tackle the specific issues in these respective domains.
35 To recapitulate, they comprised of nine Malays and four non-Malays.
Whilst ―interest in helping the needy‖ was frequently cited, their entry into social service often coincided with the ‗urgency‘ to secure a job for various reasons — (i) temporary measure whilst searching for better employment opportunities (ii) bad job market conditions (iii) dissatisfaction with other jobs:
[Earlier] Although my boss says that I‘m overqualified for the job (disbursing financial assistance), I can contribute back to the community, so why not? [Later] I am only… a temporary staff. No, I‘m not planning to work a long time inside there. This is to tide me over... (SSP1)
I joined this line because that time when I graduated… the economy was still recovering from the ‗bubble burst‘ in 2001. So it was tough finding a job. (SSP6)
I was in civil engineering. Basically when we talk about Malay-Muslim kids, the fact that we are lagging behind… Perhaps with better education, they will do better. So after graduation, I took a year to set up a business model to inculcate good values in Malay kids… It didn‘t really work out.
Probably I‘m not a good businessman... Yeah. And I‘m here [in social services]. (SSP8)
During their stint as social service practitioners, these informants received on-the- job training. Whilst some eventually left the profession, others remained for passion or occupational stability. A few are currently pursuing social work degrees. Except for one social service practitioner who came from a single-mother family, the rest were from intact families. Originating from humble economic backgrounds, most of my informants had achieved upward intergenerational mobility. For those who are married, they had two or three children at most, citing the high costs of child-rearing as a major reason.
Table 18: Distribution of Social Service Informants by Subject of Study Subject of Study Number of
Informants Social Work
Social Work Degree 2
Non-Social Work
Business Administration or Finance 3
Early Childhood 1
Engineering 1
Islamic Studies 1
Psychology 2
Social Sciences 3
Total 13
All of the six Malay leaders who were interviewed, had degrees or postgraduate degrees. Many came from humble family backgrounds in the kampong days, and rose to success after acquiring scholarships to pursue higher education. As young children, they witnessed the Malay community‘s socioeconomic development and the nation‘s struggles during early independence. Presently, they are holding important positions in their respective fields — state ministries, academic institutions or Malay-Muslim organizations.
As five of my informants are members of the parliament, they can be viewed as part of the political elite minority in Singapore. They meet needy families from all ethnic groups weekly in the ‗Meet-the-People‘ sessions36. Despite Singapore‘s noteworthy reputation as a non-corrupt state, its political figures have been subjected to periodic scrutiny (14/4/2007 ST). In 2007, the public problematized the hike in ministerial salaries when taxes on goods and services (GST) were raised (5/4/2007 Reuters; 12/4/2007 CNA; 12/4/2007 Today; 13/4/2007 ST). In response, the state argued that the measure was crucial for retaining talent in the
36 Citizens meet members of parliament to resolve their problems with the state bureaucracy.
public sector (16/4/2007 CNA)37. Broadly speaking, these six interviewees constitute the class of Malay educated elites in Singapore today (in view of their affluence, and active involvement in national and/or community organizations).
As a collective, they constitute an empirical challenge to culturalist explanations of underdevelopment amongst Malays.
By detailing their working environments (field), material circumstances and cultural histories (who and where they have been), one achieves a more refined understanding of the factors that shape the habitus of social service practitioners and Malay leaders. Furthermore, it illuminates the matrix of socio- structural relations underlying the ‗field‘ of inequality in Singapore. In extrapolating, differences in class experiences and locations become accentuated.
Compared to working poor Malays, social service practitioners and Malay leaders have achieved commendable intergenerational upward mobility in post- independence Singapore. The latter two groups are also dominant actors within the social service field, controlling access to the resources for needy families (albeit in varying degrees). Social service practitioners act as frontline officers when working poor Malays seek counselling or financial aid. However, the involvement of Malay leaders extends beyond the ‗Meet-the-People‘ sessions, to include devising strategies and programmes aimed at helping the needy.
With this overarching backdrop in mind, the next two sections are organized around two recurring issues that emerged during the in-depth
37 A Minister revealed that ―it is inevitable that one makes comparisons [between public and private sector wages]‖ (13/4/2007 ST).
interviews: (i) disproportionate composition of Malays in in-work poverty (ii) effectiveness of welfare disbursement and policies. Each section will reveal the wide spectrum of ideas and belief systems that were espoused by three different groups of social actors, pertaining to in-work poverty and Malay underdevelopment.
5.3 DISCOURSE (I):PERSISTENCE OF POVERTY AND ITS DISPROPORTIONATE
MALAY COMPOSITION