Speech by Mohd Guntor Sadali, Editor Berita Harian

SPEECH BY MOHD GUNTOR SADALI, EDITOR BERITA HARIAN/BERITA MINGGU, AT THE BERITA HARIAN ACHIEVER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2012 GALA DINNER ON 11 JULY 2012 AT SHANGRI-LA HOTEL @ 8.00 PM Our Guest-of-Honour, Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Mr Chan Chun Sing, SPH Chairman, Dr Lee Boon Yang, Friends, ladies and gentlemen Thank you for joining us this evening to witness the presentation of Berita Harian’s 14th Achiever of The Year Award. My heartiest congratulations to this year’s winner, who will be announced shortly. Ladies and Gentlemen, We often hear remarks that Malays are good only in two areas: entertainment and sports, especially soccer. But that we lag behind in other fields. We have had three Singapore Idol contests. In all three, the winners were Malays. First was Taufik Batisah, folllowed by Hady Mirza, and then Sezairi Sezali. In soccer – the most popular sport in Singapore and perhaps in the world – it is common knowledge that Malays form the majority of the players both at the club and national levels. There are some members of our own community who hold the view that we cannot be proud of our achievements in these two areas. There are even some who are cynical about these achievements. I, however, hold a different view. To me, an achievement is an achievement, and we should be proud of it. In other countries, especially in the West, many entertainers like singers and actors are millionaires. In other countries too, football players have also become very rich, earning much more than ministers. Perhaps, we have not reached that stage yet. However, in reality, our community has enjoyed achievements that go beyond entertainment and sports. Let me give you a small example. Recently, I was frustrated when I could not buy my favourite ‘nasi jenganan’ from a food court near my house. The stall was closed for five days because the mak cik and her family had gone on vacation to South Korea. During the last school holidays, the stall was closed again for one week. I missed my ‘lontong’ this time because the mak cik and her family members had gone overseas again. This time, it was a holiday to London. When I was a kid, I had never gone on a vacation with my family because we could not afford to do so. My school holiday retreats were usually short home-stays at my sister’s kampung house near Thomson Road. I have related to you this story not out of envy, but to show how much the Malays have progressed in terms of spending power. In the span of a few decades, from just holidaying within Singapore, many of us are now able to travel to places like South Korea, London, New Zealand, Australia, China – in fact, all over the world. It is true that the Malays still face many problems and challenges. But so do other communities. Drug abuse still haunts our community, giving our MOS Masagos Zulkifli many a sleepless night. So does the issue of dysfunctional familes that leads to many other social problems. We need to galvanise our efforts to tackle these problems to prevent them from worsening and consequently, weakening the community. But in doing so, we should not forget or underestimate our own strengths and achievements. We do have many success stories in our community. Tonight’s event itself is about highlighting the achievement of an individual in our community. This is already our 14th year in giving out the Achiever of the Year Award. I think it is important to monitor and keep track of our own success stories. We all know that we now have many Malay doctors, engineers, architects, lawyers, magistrates but it’s not so easy to get their exact numbers. Similarly, from time to time, we have been able to produce top students at the national level, whether in PSLE, ‘O’ or ‘A’ level exams. But often we do not know their whereabouts years later. This must change. On the same note, we should identify a few of our best students every year, and help them get into the best universities in the world, and ensure they get the funding to do so. In a decade or two, through this conscious effort, we would be able to produce a sizeable number of the top brains in our community. I understand the LBKM has already taken steps in this direction. And I am glad that Muis has also done so for our asatizahs (the religious teachers). Some of them are now pursuing further studies, not in the traditional Islamic universities in the Middle East, but in some well-known western universities. This will enable us to produce a new brand of asatizahs - religious, yet modern and progressive in outlook. Ladies and gentlemen, The progress of the Malay/Muslims here has been, in no small way, due to the contributions of the Malay/Muslims themselves through various organisations. In fact, three of these organisations – Mendaki, Jamiyah and PPIS - are proudly celebrating their decades-old anniversaries this year. And only a fortnight ago AMP held its third national convention. These organisations and many others - not just the four I have just mentioned - truly deserve our praise as they form the pillars of the Malay community here. Therefore, before I end my speech, let’s show our appreciation to them for their contribution to the community. Thank You and Good Night. .

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