Masagos shared that the authorities are working to reach out to the members of the Malay community to encourage them to “aspire to own homes, because this is an asset that every Singaporean should have and should not give up on”.
Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli has expressed concern over the growing proportion of Malays staying in rental flats, saying it could become an entrenched problem once these families give up their aspiration to own a home, reported TODAY.
“Rental homes are quite cheap and very affordable,” he said following Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally speech which addressed multiple issues relating to race and religion.
“And if they get used to it and they don’t aspire to move into owning homes, then we are worried that we will have a generation who might be entrenched in living in rental homes,” he added as quoted by TODAY.
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Masagos shared that the authorities are working to reach out to the members of the Malay community to encourage them to “aspire to own homes, because this is an asset that every Singaporean should have and should not give up on”.
In his Malay speech, PM Lee said there remain some “worrying trends” among the Malay community in Singapore, especially in the areas of education and home ownership.
The Prime Minister was referring to the latest national census, which revealed that the number of Malay households living in 1- and 2-room HDB rental flats increased to about 18,600 last year from about 9,100 in 2010.
Noting that the statistic coincided with the decline in the number of persons per household, Masagos said the issue came about after HDB provided more rental flats to help address overcrowding in Malay homes.
With this, young couples who were unprepared to own a home ended up living in these rental flats.
Masagos noted that the problem could deteriorate since “on a short-term basis, it is much cheaper than putting deposits or paying mortgage for their own home”.
Commenting on education, Masagos urged Malays to maintain “quality participation” in education for them to learn marketable skills and take up quality jobs.
“Maybe 30 years ago, poor educational outcomes meant dropouts. Today, it is not about dropouts. It is about quality participation and ensuring that we participate and are able, at the end of the education journey, to get or participate in the opportunities that are available to all Singaporeans,” he said.
He explained that without quality participation, Malays “may end up with qualifications that may not be demanded by the market, or skills that may not be up to the level of respect, dignity or pay that you should get because you did not participate in the quality that is expected of you”.
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Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this story, email: victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg
