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. Global economic recovery is now heading into a critical period, and national fiscal policy will have to gradually unwind. 2. The Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-being at Workplaces advises the extension of employee’s benefits to cover mental health-related treatments, or provide access to counselling services. 3. Wakaf Masyarakat Singapura (WMS) is a new funding programme that aims to meet the needs of the community in the future, including covering mosque operating funds and supporting local asatizahs.

1. November 2020

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
2

3. Overall Coverage
• With a total of 362 articles, Employment (52), Community (44) and Economy (58) news were
widely reported in November 2020. This reflects Singapore’s growing concerns over the
economic and employment situation arising from COVID-19.
26
17 22 24
13
3
18
35 36
22
16
22
44
52
58
46
29 25
Community Employment Economy Social Education Malay/Muslim Affairs
No. of Articles
ST BH/BM Total
3

4. Emerging Themes & Trends
4

5. Economy
Economic Outlook
• The economy is forecasted to expand by 4% to 6% next year.
(ST, 23 Nov)
• Singapore is unlikely to see a balanced Budget, let alone
surplus, next year. Thus, GDP is unlikely to return to pre-
COVID levels for most of 2021. (ST, 18 & 24 Nov)
• Inflationary pressures are likely to remain muted for the rest
of the year, but are expected to turn “mildly positive” next
year. (ST, 24 Nov)
• Global economic recovery is now heading into a critical period,
and fiscal policy will have to gradually unwind. (ST, 26 Nov)
Source: ST
Source: ST
5

6. Economy
Support for Businesses
• Under the Re-Align Framework, owners of small businesses
with a significant fall in revenue due to COVID-19 can
renegotiate certain contracts. (ST, 4 Nov)
• The Simplified Insolvency Programme allows small businesses
to restructure debts. (ST, 4 Nov)
• The Sole Proprietor and Partnerships Scheme and the
Extended Support Scheme – Customised will allow SMEs to
restructure their credit facilities and debts owed to creditors.
(ST, 3 Nov)
• Employers do not have to pay income tax on their JSS wage
subsidies. (ST, 4 Nov; BH, 5 Nov)
• The Green and Sustainability-Linked Loan Grant Scheme will
start next year to help finance new or existing green projects
and achieve sustainability performance targets. (ST, 25 Nov;
BH, 25 Nov)
Source: ST
Source: ST
6

7. Employment
Employment Trends
• More than 1,900 jobs are offered in the early childhood
sector. (ST, 2 Nov)
• In end-October, there had been around 10,600 attachment
opportunities for mid-career workers. (ST, 7 Nov)
• 10,400 job opportunities will be opened in the manufacturing
sector. (ST, 10 Nov; BH, 10 Nov)
• The environmental services sector is expected to create
55,000 new and upgraded jobs over the next 10 years. (ST, 16
& 21 Nov)
• 4,700 jobs are expected in the agri- and aqua-tech food
industry. (ST, 21 Nov)
• There are nearly 1,500 job, traineeship and attachment
opportunities in the precision engineering industry. (ST, 17
Nov)
• 95% of over 12,000 jobs available in the ICT sector are for
PMETs. (ST, 25 Nov; BH, 25 Nov)
Source: ST
Source: ST
7

8. Employment
Support for Jobseekers
• A new job portal, jobsgohere.gov.sg, was launched. It is tailored to
meet the needs of diverse groups of jobseekers (ST, 2 Nov)
• Singapore Tenants United for Fairness held a job fair offering more
than a 1,000 positions to help ease labour shortage in front-line
industries. (ST, 10 Nov; BH, 10 Nov)
• Nexus Center at Pasir Ris Elias CC will be a one-stop center for
residents looking for jobs. (BH, 25 Nov)
Support for Vulnerable Workers
• Singapore freelancers can receive financial assistance from the
Self-employed person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS), for up to
$9000, as well as tap on the NTUC Training Fund to claim
allowance money. (ST, 22 Nov)
• New scheme will be piloted to help retiring hawkers hand over
their businesses to non-relatives. (ST, 25 Nov)
• Chartered bus operators will receive financial subsidies, training
and free consultancy advice to help them digitalise. (ST, 26 Nov)
Source: ST
Source: BH
8

9. Employment
Training and Upskilling Opportunities
• More than 7,200 of DBS’ employees will be upskilled or
reskilled in emerging areas like design thinking and AI. (ST, 18
Nov)
• Deloitte Singapore is partnering NTU’s accountancy work-
study degree programme, where student-interns are required
to complete at least 35 weeks of internship. (ST, 20 Nov)
• International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) will be
hiring and training 300 Singaporeans over the next 4 years
under IMDA’s TechSkills Accelerator programme. (ST, 21 Nov)
• 120 Gardens by the Bay employees will receive inter-
department upskilling opportunities next year. (BH, 17 Nov)
Source: ST
Source: ST
9

10. Education
Pre-School Education
• Children with hearing disabilities will receive more support at
a new MOE pre-school centre. (ST, 13 Nov; BH, 13 Nov)
• The Budding Greenies @ North West programme was
launched at more than 20 pre-schools on 18 November. (ST, 19
Nov: BH, 19 Nov)
• There will be new Malay reading resources, Mari Membaca,
for pre-schoolers as well as Primary 1 and 2 students. (ST, 24
Nov)
• 324 more pre-schools have joined the new round of
government-funding scheme to keep fees affordable. (ST, 26
Nov)
Source: ST
Source: ST
10

11. Education
Strengthening Support for Students
• Next year, the current P5 batch will be graded using the new
PSLE scoring system, where they will be assessed on the basis
of their individual performance in subjects. (ST, 7 Nov)
• School of Science and Technology (SST) and Ngee Ann Poly
(NP) will be launching a pilot Integrated Diploma Programme
(DIP), where students from SST will enter a STEM course in NP
directly without O levels. (ST, 18 Nov)
Strengthening Support for Educators
• The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) is launching the
SG Cyber Educators programme for teachers, school leaders
and career guidance counsellors to learn more about the
cyber-security sector. (ST, 21 Nov; BH, 20 Nov)
• The Multi-Disciplinary Programme for Enhancing Child
Development aims to better support KidStart practitioners
who work with children from less well-off families in early
childhood intervention. (ST, 25 Nov)
Source: ST
Source: ST
11

12. Health
COVID-19 Updates
• More private clinics will provide PCR tests for the public. (ST, 11
Nov)
• A new wireless system that tracks blood oxygen levels for
symptoms of COVID-19 has been piloted. (ST, 4 Nov)
MediShield Life
• The inclusion of patients seeking treatment for drug and alcohol
addiction in the MediShield life coverage is under review. (ST, 7
Nov)
Mental Health
• Fewer deaths by suicide after its decriminalization this year. (ST, 5
Nov)
• Project Dawn (depression, awareness, wellness and normalisation)
is a new task force set up to boost mental health support for
migrant workers. (ST, 7 Nov)
• The Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-being at Workplaces
advises the extension of employee’s benefits to cover mental
health-related treatments, or provide access to counselling
services. (ST, 18 Nov; BH, 5 Nov)
• iWorkHealth, an online assessment tool, will be launched early
next year to help employers identify sources of work stress. (ST,
19 Nov)
Source: ST
Source: ST
12

13. Community
• Singapore will be switching to a new COVID-19 management
tool: TraceTogether-only SafeEntry by the end of this year.
(ST, 10 Nov)
• ScamShield is a new app that can help prevent scam calls and
messages. (ST, 21 Nov)
• SingPass app users can now sign documents online using Sign
with SingPass. (ST, 6 Nov)
Source: ST
Source: ST
13

14. Community
Social Assistance
• Caregivers can tap on the Caregivers Training Grant as well as
the Home Caregiving Grant. They may also be eligible for levy
concessions when hiring a foreign domestic worker. (ST, 2
Nov)
• Health with KidStart is an initiative launched to help 800
families prepare healthier meals for their children. (ST, 7 Nov)
• Engineering Good has donated over 3,000 laptops to low-
income families, and is planning to conducts classes for digital
literacy as well as provide internet access in public rental
flats. (ST, 17 Nov)
• MSF will be partnering with Unity pharmacies and train staff
members to detect signs and symptoms of family violence.
(ST, 24 Nov)
Source: ST
Source: ST
14

15. Community
Arts, Culture & Heritage
• Heritage Conservation Centre recently launched a video series
of a live tour of its facilities that are usually out-of-bounds to
the public. (ST, 1 Nov)
• My Community Festival will take place from December 4 to
20. (ST, 19 Nov)
• Wisma Geylang Serai is launching a new online heritage trail
that features five iconic places in the area. (BH, 14 Nov)
Local Tourism
• Singapore Tourism Board launched 50 bundled promotions for
locals called “Singapolidays”. (ST, 4 Nov)
• ‘Made with Passion’ mark was launched by the Singapore
Tourism Board to boost Singapore brands. (ST, 21 Nov)
• Singaporeans are now able to redeem SingapoRediscovers
vouchers online from December onwards. (ST, 24 Nov; BH, 24
Nov)
Source: ST
Source: ST
15

16. Malay/Muslim Community
Mosques in Singapore
• 10 mosques will take part in a pilot to increase current limit of
congregants to 250 per session. They are Al-Islah, Al-Istighfar,
Darul Ghufran, An-Nur, Assyafaah, Yusof Ishak, Angullia,
Sultan, Al-Khair and Maarof mosques. (ST, 14 Nov; BH, 2 Nov)
• Malabar Mosque provides professional social services to the
community, including free legal clinics for all races and
religion. (BH, 13 Nov)
• Wakaf Masyarakat Singapura (WMS) is a new funding
programme to meet the needs of the community in the
future, including covering mosque operating funds and
supporting local asatizahs. (BH, 22 Nov)
Source: BH
Source: BH
16

17. Malay/Muslim Community
• Applications to hold weddings at void decks have resumed
early this month. (BH, 23 Nov)
• Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry will take
seven to ten working days to process applications for
weddings this year. (BH, 10 Nov)
• Warees Halal Limited and seven other industry partners have
launched Halal Warees Network that aims to bring local and
foreign players in the halal industry together. (BH, 21 Nov)
Support for Job Search
• Workforce Singapore and Berita Harian launched the “Cari
Kerja Masa Pandemik” (Job Searching during the Pandemic)
platform to answer queries on job searches. (BH, 5 Nov)
Source: BH
Source: BH
17

18. MENDAKI
• More than 1,000 people have signed up as mentors under
M3’s (MUIS, MENDAKI and MESRA) empowerment
programme. (BH, 1 Nov)
• MENDAKI’s Cari Kerja app has helped match people to
available jobs with features such as MENDAKI SENSE’s #JUMP
Virtual Career Fair available. (ST, 23 Nov)
• On 21 November, President Halimah Yacob visited MENDAKI’s
Chua Chu Kang satellite centre, where she had highlighted
MENDAKI’s role in building resilience within families. (ST, 21
Nov)
• According to President Halimah Yacob, Malay/Muslim
organisations such as MENDAKI has strived to help improve
education and job prospects within the community. (BH, 22
Nov)
Source: Berita Mediacorp
Source: ST
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19. Published by
MENDAKI Research and Planning Department
(November 2020)
19