●There are people I've spoken to who, if I can be blunt, they say, you know what, what is the Malay-Muslim Community complaining about? You got all these privileges. What else do you want?
Yatimah Yusof (YY) : Tunku ( referred to Malaysia's first Prime Minister , Tunku Abdul Rahman ) gave us 10 acres of land if you migrate to Malaysia in 1965.
● I get the sense that you feel that the Malay Community does feel that way. Not validated emotionally, not trusted.
YY : Are they being accepted as full total Singapore citizens? That is the question.
On Sunday, 28th July 2024 , Singapore 🇸🇬
● Hi, Yatiman, how are you? So good to see you.
(Handshaking 🤝)
YY : Thank you so much.
● Please come.
YY: Thank you so much.
YY : It's a fine place. (Laughing)
■ Yeah, here's a welcome drink for you.
YY : Yes. Thank you very much.
■ That's a non-alcoholic mango Margarita🍹 for you.
YY : Mango
■ That's right. And this one here for you.
YY : We cannot take alcohol when asking questions. (Laughter)
● Cheers , Cheers
● Yatiman, thank you for making time to join me in Inconvenient Questions .
Viswa Sadasivan (VS), Chief Editor of Inconvenient Questions ,Former Nominated MP.
VS: Now, you joined politics as a Member of Parliament representing the People's Action Party (PAP) in 1984.
YY : Yes .
VS: Now, before that, you made a name for yourself as a journalist and editor of Berita Harian, our Malay daily.
YY :Yes.
VS : Right, now and you often said subsequently that you had a lot more fulfillment as an editor, as a journalist in Berita Harian.
YY : Yes .
VS : As opposed to being a Member of Parliament.
YY: Yes.
VS: Why do you say that?
YY: Well, I think as an editor of a newspaper you are working quite close to the ground. You know the feeling. You know the sentiment. You know the dream. You know about the frustration of your community, which I managed to surface it in Berita Harian and Berita Minggu. That way, we will convey the message about the living conditions of the readers in Singapore.
VS: To the government?
YY: Yes. So, that was the premier reason why I changed, even though my work as a teacher was quite satisfying then. I was sent to primary school, secondary school and JC to teach. But this work as a journalist really exposes you to the minds of the leaders, and at the same time, from time to time, when you're invited for a lunch by the Ministers, you can convey the view to the relevant Ministers on issues uppermost in your mind.
VS: And you also maintained your autonomy.
YY: Yes, right.
VS: So why did you choose to become a politician, a political leader?
YY: Well, it is a very difficult decision to make. It was quite excruciating for me to change because I love my job as an editor of for me change because I love my job as an editor of newspaper so much I could work for 16 hours a day for the newspaper I didn't feel tired at all but this going into politics was something which was quite different and it was unexpected because uh when 1980 we had a forum over TV uh Dr Lee kuncho at that time invited me to join 1980 I justdeclined, but in 198l, when Mr Goh approached me declined, but in 1984, when Mr Goh approached me, he was DPM then he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for defense he was a shock to me because I've never thought of going into politics at all you know because uh of my past experience at that time I was quite happy helping my community as a teacher I became the Secretary General of the Singapore Malay teachers union, and then we were quite active in the central Council of Malay cultural organization and this is an umbrella body of 40 Malay Muslim organizations looking into different aspect of Malay life in Singapore is this majis pad it is Majlis Pusat, which just was forced to very sad. I'm really sad with the demise of the organization and the way it was d i I was with majlis pusat since my University days as a representative of Malay language Society into Majlis Pusat one of the 14 members then I continued serving uh the organization and we spent a lot of time in pinang doing a lot of projects so I was very happy doing what we thought we could help the Malay Community we organized uh counseling service for anti-drug people we organized a visit to various mamp we went to Tano we went to Jalan maap in jurong we went to the uh organization in Hind Drive near the Quarry and we went to many places and we talked to malays who were quite poor yeah and my impression at that time was that the problem burdening the Malay at that time was so heavy so huge that no amount of our resources in the central council
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