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Speech by Chief Executive of Muis, Hj Abdul Razak Maricar at the Mosque Investiture and MODS Graduation

 SIH AUDITORIUM ON SAT, 21 MAR 2015

Sohibusamahah Mufti Negara, Dr Mohamed Fatris Bakaram
Ahli-ahli Majlis Tertinggi Muis
Pemimpin Veteran Masjid
Para ahli Lembaga Pentadbir Masjid
Sidang hadirin yang berbahagia
Assalamualaikum Wr Wb

 

    Puji dan syukur ke hadrat Allah swt kerana kita dapat bersama di Majlis Watikah ini, yang juga mencerminkan kesungguhan kita semua untuk menyemarakkan masjid-masjid sebagai institusi penting dalam nadi kehidupan masyarakat kita.

  1. Hari ini kita akan menyaksikan perlantikan seramai 233 relawan yang bakal memimpin 20 masjid sebagai anggota Lembaga Pentadbir Masjid (LPM). Saya ucapkan tahniah kepada semua yang terlantik untuk mentadbirkan masjid-masjid kita dan tampil berkhidmat kepada masyarakat Islam Singapura selama tempoh tiga tahun yang akan datang. Ia suatu tanggungjawab yang besar dan mulia dalam kita berpeluang memakmurkan Rumah Allah. Perlantikan kali ini termasuk LPM untuk Masjid Al Islah, yang sebelum ini bertungkus lumus sebagai anggota Jawatankuasa Pembinaan Masjid Punggol untuk mengumpul dana perlengkapan masjid. Alhamdulillah berkat usaha mereka dan sokongan padu dari masyarakat, Jawatankuasa Pembinaan Masjid Punggol telah mengumpul dana melebihi jumlah sasaran dua setengah juta untuk kelengkapan dalaman Masjid Al Islah. Masjid Al-Islah akan dibuka sebelum Ramadan dan penduduk Punggol insya Allah akan dapat berterawih dan melakukan ibadat Ramadan lain di masjid baru ini dan juga solat Hari Raya.

  2. Syabas saya ucapkan kepada semua anggota LPM yang terlantik. Masjid merupakan institusi penting. Ia dekat di hati masyarakat Islam. Ia juga lambang kehidupaan keharmonian beragama di Singapura. Keperluan masyarakat terhadap masjid terus meningkat dari dulu hingga kini sesuai dengan kepelbagaian latar belakang kehidupan masyarakat kita dan peningkatan aspirasi yang terus tinggi. Alhamdulillah, kini semakin ramai masyarakat Islam berkunjung ke masjid untuk mendekatkan diri kepada Allah, meningkatkan kehidupan kerohanian mereka dan mendalami ilmu keagamaan daripada para asatizah yang bertauliah. Begitu juga kami melihat lebih ramai relawan yang tampil kehadapan untuk menabur bakti sebagai pentadbir masjid. Kedua-dua perkembangan ini amat menggalakkan dan ianya saling bertaut dari segi peningkatan kehidupan beragama di Singapura. Ia memberi panduan yang jelas kepada kita sebagai pentadbir masjid, iaitu semakin ramai masyarakat yang menjadikan masjid sebagai pusat mendapatkan khidmat dan rujukan. Dengan lain perkataan, permintaan terhadap khidmat masjid meningkat. Di segi yang lain pula, semakin tinggi keperluan untuk meningkatkan taraf khidmat yang diperlukan masyarakat. Natijahnya ialah, khidmat masjid tidak lagi boleh selesa dengan khidmat di takuk lama. Ia perlu berubah dan dipertingkatkan untuk “menyerap” dengan terbaik, permintaan dan aspirasi masyarakat.

  3. Kini izinkan saya meneruskan ucapan ini dalam bahasa Inggeris.

  4. Alhamdullilah, with the grace of Allah swt, today we will be witnessing a total of 233 volunteers from 20 mosques receiving their appointment letters as members of the mosque management boards (or MMBs). The 20 mosques include 13 mosques in South West Mosque Cluster (or SWMC) and 6 mosques from the North West Mosque Cluster (NWMC).

  5. Also to be appointed today is the Mosque Management Board for Al–Islah Mosque in Punggol. The Mosque Building Committee performed admirably in raising funds for the internal furnishings of Al–Islah, raising well beyond the target of $2M which allow the excess income to be put to good use for the mosque running operations. I would like to express my deepest appreciation for all the hard work they have put in and also for the strong support of the community. Al-Islah will be the 24th Mosque to be built under the MBMF scheme. It is now in its final phases of construction. We hope to have the mosque opened to the public before this Ramadan, Insya Allah.

  6. To all our MMBs, congratulations to all on your appointment!


    7. Our Mosque Management Board (MMB) – Our Assets

    Dear Mosque leaders

  7. Our MMBs and our mosque staff and volunteers are the backbones of our mosques. Each of you have a very important role to play. Our mosque is an important institution and central to the lives of our community. While we are building more mosque and upgrading existing mosques to cater to the increasing demand for prayer space, it is the people who serve in the mosque who will make our mosques transformational touchpoints for our community.


    8. Building our capabilities

  8. To ensure that our mosque remain vibrant and serve the community well, for the past few years, we have invested and seen significant achievements in the area of capabilities development for mosque MMBs and staff, particularly through our Administration of Mosque and Leadership Programme, or, in short, AMAL. I understand that many among you here are from the NWMC and SWMC and have recently undergone this programme. This is the first time that members underwent AMAL before receiving their watikah. I trust you have found the session very useful and I would like to encourage those who have not done so to attend the training. We want to help all our mosque leaders to be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to better serve the community.


    9. Muslimah in MMB

  9. Alhamdulillah, increasingly, we are seeing more Muslimah coming forward to serve on the Mosque Management Board. About 10-15% of our MMB members are ladies. Muslimah have always played an important role in our Islamic tradition.Historically, they have been known to be given important positions in governance. For example, Saidina Umar bin al-Khattab appointed As-Syifa’ as a supervisor for the governance of the markets. I am pleased to note that there are 34 Muslimah in MMBs in both clusters here today, making up about 15% of those appointed this time. Ten of these dedicated ladies are serving in senior positions as Key Appointment Holders. I am pleased to welcome the two Muslimahs receiving the watikah today into the position of
    Vice Chairperson II. They are Hajjah Sumah Fadalee of Darusalam Mosque and Hajjah Salmah Mansor of Al-Khair Mosque. Both have served as MMB for many years and have contributed at cluster level as leaders of the SWMC Muslimah. Hajjah Salmah, a staff in an international school here and is a grassroots leader serving as a Resident Committee member since 1998.


    10. Mosque Officers Development Scheme - Graduation

  10. Alhamdulillah, today, we will also witness the graduation of 30 officers who participated in the training programme leading to the Certificate in Mosque Management (CMM).2 These officers are holding supervisory level positions in their respective mosques. I understand that, as part of their course, they presented six projects that look into various systems such Volunteer Management and Staff Performance Management systems. I hope they will put what they have learnt to good use. .


    11. Dear Mosque Leaders

  11. In the three year tenure of your appointment, I look forward to your mosques 3- year Action Plans. While we have the MC11 as a guide to your plans, I would like to
    suggest that you give special focus to three areas; Islamic Education for the Young, Outreach to the Poor and Needy and Strengthening Governance.


    12. IE for the Young

  12. Our first focus is in the area of Islamic education. Alhamdulillah, mosque madrasah aLIVE programmes conducted at 36 mosques have shown steady increase in enrolment. Today we have more than 16,000 students. But we need to intensify our effort reach out to more of our youth who currently are not benefiting from Islamic Education. To do this, I urge our mosque to synergise our outreach effort with our partners, the private operators (PIENet)3 and other MMOs and IMOs partners to reach out to more of our youths and their parents.


    13. Outreach to the Poor & Needy

  13. Next, we must always pay special attention to the less privileged members of our community. Close to 50% of our annual zakat collection has been allocated to benefit those needing financial assistance and qualify for zakat. Muis has revised our eligibility criteria and zakat quantum so that more aid can be given to more people. I hope our mosques will be able to enhance our outreach, to ensure that we can reach out to more families and connect them to programme and services offered at the mosques and alsoat the national level.


    14. Governance

  14. Our third important priority is to build capability is in the area of Good Governance. It is our amanah to ensure that good governance is upheld by our mosque leaders and staff. Muis has completed a review of the Mosque Financial Regulations in 2014. We will continue to strengthen our mosque governance capabilities by offering Mosque Financial Regulation (MFR) & Governance training for mosques staff and MMBs. We will also be consulting Mosque Management Board members as we continue reviewing the Mosque HR Manual and the Mosque Management Board Code of Conduct which will be carried out this year.


    15. Conclusion – Celebrating our Pioneer Mosque Leaders

  15. As we welcome our newly appointed Mosque Management Board members today, we must always remember our pioneers who had led, serve and prosper the mosque as a place of worship and learning Islam including providing many other socio religious activities to meet the needs of our community. They have built a very strong foundation in our mosques, and it is now our time to further build upon the foundation they have laid out for us. Let us work together to develop our mosques to be the pride of the community, and build a vibrant socio-religious life for our community. May our mosques be havens that provide tranquillity, spiritual enrichment, religious knowledge and guidance for our community.

  16. It leaves me know to once again express my heartiest congratulations and my heartfelt thanks to the mosque leaders for your tireless contributions and sharing his vision to make our mosques transformational touch-points that Enhance Spirituality,Guide the Community and Change the Lives of our community. My congratulations also to the 30 of our mosque staff who will be receiving their Certificate in MosqueManagement.

             Wabillahitaufiq Walhidayah, Wassalamualaikm Wr Wbt

PDF icon Speech by CE Muis at the Mosque Investiture and MODS Graduation (PDF, 232KB)