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A block of 5-room flats, all lit up in the evening, each a picture of family bliss. But one of them is pitch dark.
Faishal, then a young PAP activist, knocks on the door. Two kids answer. “Hello uncle! We’re playing with candles!”
In fact, the family can’t afford to turn on the lights. This was the 2001 recession, and their parents had lost their jobs. Faishal had organised a donation drive and was delivering donated provisions to families like theirs.
Faishal recalls, “Some people felt we shouldn’t help those in bigger flats. Some even suspected they were overplaying their difficulties to get donations.”
“But I remembered how I would queue for donated food as a boy, and how it made me determined to help others when I grew up. I chose to believe in them.”
“True enough, most of these families bounced back. Years later, as Senior Parliamentary Secretary in MOE, I was at a school event. One of the students came up to me. He said, ‘Do you remember me Prof? My family is doing much better now!’ He was one of the kids from that 5-room flat.”
Assoc Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim
• Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Social and Family Development
• Former Associate Professor with National University of Singapore
• Grew up in kampungs and rental flats
Constituency Projects
• Cycling paths and park connectors for all of Yishun
• Oversaw rejuvenation of Nee Soon Central, including Singapore’s first Community Club in a mall
• Some of Singapore’s first shelters across wider roads and zebra crossings
Policy Initiatives
• National Healthy Living Masterplan
• Promoting strong marriages, early childhood education and positive parenthood
• Inclusive pre-school
• Active mobility
• Combating family violence
• COVID-19 financial assistance schemes