Many poor Malays 'do not seek social aid'

This post came out from The Sunday Times (26 April 2015)

About two-thirds of low income Malay/Muslim households do not seek help from social services despite hopes that their children can escape the poverty trap, according to a new study commissioned by community self help group Mendaki.

This is not due to an ability to cope on their own, but a lack of awareness of available schemes, and more worryingly, an undercurrent of fear at stigmatization.

To those who argue that this reluctance to tap social assistance is a positive sign of resilience, Dr Caroline Brassard of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy suggested that "tolerance of a situation should not be confused with resilience". Social assistance could be the difference between escaping a poverty trap and staying in it.

But members of the low-income families she studied were held back by a sense of shame. Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaccob Ibrahim told reports that the findings reinforced that the need to adopt a "last mile approach" by going door to door to speak to low income families and urge them to tap resources that can help them achieve their aspirations.

The study also pointed to a need for agencies to revise a social assistance system reliant on the submission of a large volume of forms, which low income families are often unable to cope with.


Thoughts:

1. I believe that there are a number of needy Singaporeans who are either not aware of the help available or do not wish to seek help for what so ever reasons.
2. For those who are not aware of help, the challenge is for the Government to make the information on social assistance available to them, but yet not portraying a state of social welfare-ism.
3. I do come across posters and banners put up along the roads/ notice boards on the Social Service Offices. However, we are unable to determine if needy people do look out for them.
4. Face to face interactions are definitely the best way to pass on such messages. Educated and trained volunteers and Grassroots leaders seems to be the best group of people. However, we might not be blessed with such people to reach out to all those in need. Nevertheless, we should try out this to do some initial outreach which is better than nothing.
5. For those that refuse to seek help, we would have to recognize their will and respect their wishes, but do not leave them behind. 
6. Them might have bad experiences with the system previously, or are pure resilience beings. I believe that outreach should still be continued for these people, but we should empower them. Empower them by letting them being able to improve their situation. Rather than giving them things (which they will not take), maybe we can consider working with them to understand what they want to do with their situation and work with them to achieve it? This can provide some forms of control in their lives and belief that they can solve their problems. 

Thoughts anyone?

Yours,

Something Small Thinking Big