RPD Bites is a monthly scan covering issues and trends surfaced in various local mainstream media sources that would be of relevance to the Malay/Muslim community. It is compiled by the Research and Planning Department (RPD) of Yayasan MENDAKI. The key highlights for this month are: 1. Singapore’s GDP is forecasted to gradually grow to 4 to 6 per cent in 2021. The bulk of economic growth will come from trade and manufacturing sectors. 2. DPM Heng unveiled a $107 billion plan in his Singapore Budget 2021 speech, which includes a $11 billion COVID 19 Resilience Package. 3. M3@Jalan Besar was launched and its initiative aim to help residents cope with mental health issues and empower elderly residents to adopt digital tools.

1. February 2021

2. What is RPD Bites?
RPD Bites is a monthly scan covering issues and trends surfaced in various local
mainstream media sources that would be of relevance to the Malay/Muslim community. It is
produced by the Research and Planning Department (RPD) of Yayasan MENDAKI.
RPD Bites begins with an article count across different media sources which are
categorised into these main areas: education, economy, employment and employability, social
and community, and Malay/Muslim affairs. Other salient areas for the month are also
highlighted. It then delves into emerging themes and trends observed.
We hope you find this month’s RPD Bites insightful and useful for your needs. We
look forward to your continued partnership and support, and welcome any suggestions you
might have. You can reach us at RPD@mendaki.org.sg to feedback.
RESEARCH &
PLANNING
DEPARTMENT
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3. Overall Coverage
• With a total of 169 articles, Governance (48) and Employability (41) news were widely reported
in February 2021. This reflects Singapore’s on-going concerns over economic and employability
issues arising from COVID-19.
• Additionally, across the three newspapers (The Straits Times, Berita Harian and Berita Minggu),
many articles published were on the Singapore Budget 2021 initiatives announced by DPM Heng
on 16 Feb 2021.
3 5
11
6 3
27 24
1
12
4
9 11
2
21
17
13
15
9
20 17
5
48
41
14
Community Health Economy Education Technology Governance Employability MMA
No. of Articles
ST BH/BM Total
3

4. Emerging Themes & Trends
4

5. Economy
Economic Outlook
• Singapore’s GDP is forecasted to gradually grow to 4 to 6 per
cent, after 5.4 per cent fall in 2020. The bulk of economic
growth this year will come from trade and manufacturing (ST,
16 Feb).
• The manufacturing, finance and insurance, and information
and communications industries experienced rare growth last
year while most sectors declined amid the pandemic. They are
expected to continue seeing steady growth this year (ST, 16
Feb).
• The median household income fell 2.5 per cent in nominal
terms from $9,425 to $9,189 in 2019 (ST, 9 Feb).
• Department of Statistics (DOS) found that lower-income
households were the hardest hit, with those in the
bottom 10 per cent seeing a 6.1 per cent real decline in
income.
The manufacturing sector saw 7.3 per
cent growth, Source: ST
DPM Heng at the The Straits Times
Global Outlook Forum
Source: ST
5

6. Economy
Singapore Green Plan 2030
• The Singapore Green Plan 2030 will help chart the country's way
towards a more sustainable future over the next decade (ST, 10
Feb).
• The wide-ranging plan cuts across all sectors of society,
ranging from infrastructural development, research and
innovation, to training programmes.
• The five ministries backing the plan are the Ministries of
Education, National Development, Sustainability and the
Environment, Trade and Industry, and Transport.
• Singapore's Green Plan offers new jobs and economic growth
(ST, 11 Feb).
• The Green Economy, one of five key pillars of the new
Green Plan, aims to seek green growth opportunities to
create new jobs, transform Singapore's industries and
harness sustainability as a competitive advantage.
SG Green Plan: Towards a more
sustainable future
Source: ST
Sustainable eco-tourism
Source: ST
6

7. Employment
Employment Support and Programmes
• The Progressive Wage Model (PWM) is being studied to be
extended to the food service and retail sectors. This is part of the
Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage efforts to improve the well-
being of low-wage workers (ST, 5 and 24 Feb).
• More than 110,000 local job seekers were hired by 26,000 firms
under the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) scheme. The scheme seeks
to spur firms to hire more locals by providing wage support (ST, 9
Feb).
• Singtel will hire and train 500 professionals to fill roles in network
engineering and 5G product and platform development. They will
also be trained in emerging technologies such as the Internet of
Things and cloud engineering (ST, 11 Feb).
• Spearheaded by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and its
tripartite partners, the Alliance for Action on Work-Life Harmony
aims to improve work-life balance (ST, 10 Feb).
7

8. Employment
Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey 2020
• About 70 per cent of who graduated last year secured a full-time job, down from 81.7 per cent in
2019 (ST, 20 Feb).
• Over one in five fresh graduates were employed in part-time jobs or traineeships.
• The survey found that those who landed a full-time job earned a higher median starting
salary of $3,700 last year, compared with $3,600 the previous year.
8

9. Governance
Singapore Budget 2021 (Key Highlights)
COVID-19 Resilience Package
• The $107 billion plan - the first full Budget in the Government's
new term - includes a $11 billion COVID-19 Resilience Package.
This will support a three-pronged approach to help Singapore
bounce back from the pandemic (ST, 17 Feb).
• Of this, $4.8 billion will go towards safeguarding public
health, including providing everyone who is eligible with
free vaccination against the virus.
• Another $5 billion will be used to support workers and
businesses, with the lion's share of $2.9 billion going to the
Jobs Support Scheme.
• The third tranche of $1.2 billion will be used to support
specific sectors (e.g., aviation) that have been badly hit by
the pandemic.
DPM Heng delivering his Budget 2021
Speech
Source: CNA
9

10. Governance
Singapore Budget 2021 (Key Highlights)
Household Support Package
• A $900 million Household Support Package will be
introduced for families amid the uncertain economic
situation. It includes vouchers to defray expenses and
support local businesses, and service and conservancy
charges (S&CC) rebates and goods and services tax (GST)
vouchers (ST, 17 Feb).
Expansion of ComLink
• Around 14,000 low-income families with children will
benefit from the expansion of Community Link (ComLink)
initiative (ST, 17 Feb).
• More resources will be provided to expand ComLink
into a nationwide programme to provide holistic
support to more families.
• ComLink is one of MSF's key initiatives to support
low-income families with children who are living in
rental housing by providing proactive and integrated
help coordinated across multiple agencies. 10

11. Governance
Singapore Budget 2021 (Key Highlights)
• The SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package is being revved up to
support the hiring of 200,000 locals this year through the Jobs
Growth Incentive, and provide up to 35,000 traineeship and
training opportunities (ST, 17 Feb).
• The Corporate Venture Launchpad will be piloted this year to
drive innovative ventures, providing co-funding for companies to
build new ventures through pre-qualified venture studios (ST 17
Feb).
• Public healthcare workers will be getting an increase in their
salaries soon. This applies across all public healthcare
institutions, including hospitals and polyclinics, and publicly-
funded long-term care service providers (ST, 17 Feb).
• The Aviation Workforce Retention Grant will boost wage
support for local aviation workers to prevent further loss of
capabilities in the sector (ST, 18 Feb).
Source: ST
Healthcare workers will get higher salaries
Source: ST
11

12. Education
Education Trends
• More students applied for Direct School Admission (DSA) last
year, using electronic means to show their talents amid the
pandemic (ST, 14 Feb).
• There are more women pursuing STEM fields. According to
the combined university intake data from 2019, women
accounted for 41 per cent of the cohort in STEM as compared
to 38 per cent in 2017 (ST, 15 Feb).
• From 2021, mental health education is included in the
refreshed Character and Citizenship Education (CCE)
curriculum for secondary schools (ST, 19 Feb).
• The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will offer drone
courses and certify flyers. The subsidised fees are from $67 to
$654 after the SkillsFuture subsidies (ST, 9 Feb).
• Students who sat the GCE A-level examination last year
achieved the best passing rate since 2006 despite difficult
circumstances brought on by the pandemic. 93.6 percent of
candidates attained at least H2 passes, with a pass in General
Paper (GP) or Knowledge Inquiry (KI) (ST, 19 Feb).
Education Minister Lawrence Wong
Source: ST
Institute of Technical Education to offer
drone courses at subsidised rates
Source: ST
12

13. Social
COVID-19 Vaccination
• A total of 11 vaccination centres are in operation, and more
will progressively be opened so that COVID-19 jabs can be
administered at about 40 centres by the end of April (ST, 20
Feb).
• Singapore’s COVID-19 vaccination programme entered its
next phase on Feb 22, when seniors aged 70 and above
started getting their jabs (ST, 14 Feb).
• Vaccinations for seniors aged 60 to 69 is slated to start
around the end of March, and the rest of the population to
get the jab from April (ST, 20 Feb).
• About 250,000 Singapore residents have been
vaccinated to date. Of this group, 110,000 have received
their second dose.
• The aim is to get another one million people to take
their first dose by early April.
• More than 50,000 active taxi and private-hire car drivers will
be offered to get their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by
the end Feb (ST, 24 Feb).
13

14. Social
Parenting and Family Trends
• Poor eating and nutrition habits in young children were found to
be significantly linked to behavioural problems such as acting out
or anxiety, according to the Singapore Longitudinal Early
Development Study (ST, 18 Feb).
• According to a poll, two-thirds of children aged seven to nine in
Singapore use smartphones everyday and are active on social
media (ST, 8 Feb).
• The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has
launched the 24-hour National Anti-Violence Helpline (NAVH) to
report family violence, as well as cases of abuse and neglect (ST,
24 Feb).
• The number of divorces and personal protection orders filed in
2020 decreased by 5 per cent as compared to 2019 (ST, 12 Feb).
• Each member of a Singaporean household received an average of
$2,000 in COVID-19 support from the broad-based schemes such
as the Care and Support Package (ST, 12 Feb).
Source: ST Graphics
14

15. Social
Housing Trends
• About 4,600 families in public rental homes have become
owners of HDB flats over the past five years through various
housing schemes and grants (ST, 8 Feb).
• The number of Singapore residents living in HDB flats has
dipped from 3.04 million in 2018, as compared with 3.06
million in 2013 (ST, 11 Feb).
• Close to $500 million has been disbursed to about 15,600 first-
time flat buyers since the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG)
was launched in September 2019 (ST, 22 Feb).
Community Developments
• 21 peace ambassadors have been appointed to build bridges
across faiths, champion ground-up initiatives and facilitate
interfaith discussions among youths (ST, 22 Feb).
• The Digital for Life movement and fund that aim to equip all
Singaporeans with digital skills and help bridge the digital
divide, was launched by President Halimah Yacob (ST, 9 Feb).
Public housing in Singapore
Source: ST
15
Source: ST

16. Malay/Muslim Community
Launch of M3 @ Jalan Besar
• As the 10th M3 Town, initiatives by M3 @ Jalan Besar aim to
strengthen family, help residents cope with mental health issues
and empower elderly residents to adopt digital tool (ST, 7 Feb;
BH, 8 Feb).
Legal Support for MM Community (https://m3lawyers.sg/)
• Lawyers and legal professionals have launched a website, under
the auspices of M3, to improve legal literacy and awareness in the
community and help the underprivileged to have better access to
legal services (BH, 24 Feb).
Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Muis)
• Despite challenges of COVID-19, the Family and Inmates
Throughcare Assistance Haven (FITRAH) programme saw 105 new
volunteers between May and December last year (BH, 1 Feb).
• Asatizahs may use the Asatizah Training Credit (ATC) to enrol in
various courses for training and upskilling (BH, 3 Feb).
• In addition to Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah, Muis is considering
to extend the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program
(IBDP) to other full-time madrasahs (BH, 25 Feb).
MOS Faishal interacting with FITRAH’s
volunteers
Source: BH
MP Dr Wan Rizal and Mr Mohamed Shah
Reza who is Chairman of M3@Jalan Besar
Source: Berita Mediacorp
16

17. MENDAKI
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) Big Heart Student Care Centres
• The joint SHG’s venture marked its fifth year anniversary with
30 students care centres in operation, with two set up last
month (ST, 19 Feb).
• The Big Heart Student Care centres have more than 4,200
pupils enrolled and more than one-third of them benefit
from MSF’s Student Care Fee Assistance (SCFA) scheme.
Yayasan MENDAKI (YM) - Berita Harian (BH) Parenting Seminar
• About 130 participants participated in a webinar organised by
YM and BH where they learned the importance of
bilingualism and tips for educating bilingual children (BM, 7
Feb).
Mentoring for Malay/Muslim Undergraduates
• MARA Mentoring, previously known as Mentoring Circle by
MENDAKI Club, will conduct a series of workshop to connect
early career professionals to Malay/Muslim undergraduates
(Berita Mediacorp, 6 Feb).
• Topics include career planning, resume writing guides and
sharing on key business sectors and best practices in the
workplace.
Source: ST
Source: Berita Mediacorp
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18. Published by
MENDAKI Research and Planning Department
(February 2021)
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