In a hyper-competitive environment that is Singapore, it may be counter-intuitive for a young professional to devote time to helping others in the community when he or she is already facing the pressures of balancing professional and family demands.

Why bother to volunteer for the community?

I am mildly ashamed to admit that a lot of my earlier decisions on volunteering were not a result of thoughtful deliberation but based on my gut instincts.

I now set out an overview of my personal journey on volunteerism, and my learning points.

My involvement with AMP started when I was 30, almost by chance.

This started in 1997. I was then a young Deputy Public Prosecutor/State Counsel at the Commercial Affairs Department. My immediate boss, Hamidul Haq, said that AMP was looking to engage younger professionals to tap into ideas for the community. I instinctively said yes – probably a factor of not wanting to offend Hamidul, but also wanting to do something for the community that I was in. I’d heard about AMP as an undergraduate at NUS Law School. As a law student, I took a non-law module and studied Political Science modules taught by Prof Hussin Mutalib in my 1st and 3rd year of studies.

My childhood made me quite aware of the issues faced by the community. My entire childhood was spent in Kampong Tempeh, from the late ’60s till the late ’80s, and I had personally witnessed some stark issues facing the community. Drug abuse was prevalent – I learnt the word “stoned” even when I was in primary school. I saw extended members of the family in their stoned glory. There was poverty. Kampong Tempeh was a small Malay enclave located in the middle of swanky Sixth Avenue, which was anything but Malay. It didn’t help that when kampong dwellers were told to clear their “temporary structures” by the authority, some sold their land (which was prime land) for a paltry rate of S$30 per square foot. So the only valuable assets that kampong dwellers were sitting on – very precious land – would be quickly taken away from them. I saw educational underattainment in primary school. Malay students were over-represented in the “Repeat” classes in Primary 6. Or in the then “basic stream” – where I saw rather grown Malay pubescent teenagers still in primary school. I then had also personally encountered discrimination myself at the SAF, during National Service. As a staff in the HQ of Officer Cadet School, I was appalled to learn that newly-commissioned Malay officers were excluded from many parts of the Army simply due to their ethnicity. It felt to me that discrimination was real and worse, institutionalised. Unfortunately, a lot of these issues persisted over the decades.

And so, coming back to the conversation with Hamidul to help out at AMP, these factors made me instinctively agree to the suggestion. It was probably the right thing to agree to devote some time – “a few hours a month”, said Hamidul – to give back to the community.

Frankly, I did not think too hard. It felt right and I went with the flow. This was a learning point for me – to go with the flow and to trust my instincts. I then helped out in the “STRIDE” Committee – which stood for “Strategic Initiatives Development”. One learning point for me at an early stage of volunteering was that AMP was fond of acronyms.

I met the persons whom I later learnt were the trailblazers of the community – persons such as the late Yang Razali Kassim, Alami Musa and Darke Sani. Along with other Muslim professionals, they all had the fire in the belly to uplift the community. STRIDE was a platform by AMP to mobilise younger professionals to generate ideas to uplift the community. I found the discussions on the community refreshing. It was intellectually fulfilling to think critically about the community and the role of the state beyond my professional legal work. It was inspiring that Muslim professionals from different sectors had devoted their ideas, energies and time, to actualise AMP’s vision of a model minority Muslim community. I fed my curiosity by learning so much about activism and the hard issues faced by the community. As things would turn out, a lot of the ideas thought about by STRIDE dovetailed into the strategies that AMP had thought about, and proposed at AMP’s 2nd Convention.

This was a Convention not without controversy.

AMP had then mooted the idea of collective leadership. I had, as a member of younger professionals, personally presented this on behalf of the Politics, Leadership and Civil Society panel at the Max Atria theatre at the Singapore Expo. Prior to the convention, nobody thought it was controversial – as the Collective Leadership was meant to be an inclusive platform involving the political and community leadership, to play the role of leading the community on strategies that could uplift it. Many thought it was a critical strategy for the community. The reaction to the Collective Leadership proposal from the establishment on the second day of the Convention, was, to me, surprising. Then PM Goh Chok Tong brought down the hammer and effectively said “No” to the collective leadership idea.

But as things were to unfold later, the establishment saw it fit to introduce the concept of a “Community Leadership Forum” (CLF) involving political and community leadership with elements that sounded similar to the original Collective Leadership Proposal. They say that imitation is the best form of flattery. Certain underlying ideas behind the Collective Leadership proposal – the need for political and community leadership to work together – therefore persuaded the establishment on the need to set up CLF. There were, of course, many other learning points from the Convention, which was predominantly a volunteer-driven, grounds-up endeavour. Mobilising the community was important and gave weight to the proposals at the Convention.

One negative learning point for me was the flip-floppers of convenience. I recall those who had fervently supported the idea of collective leadership when it was presented on the first day of the Convention, but who would on the next day, provide media interviews denouncing the idea as a bad one. I learnt that thought leadership may encounter resistance. But fundamentally, one needs to be guided by the clarity of purpose. After the Convention, Yang Razali would then, on several occasions invite me to join the Board of Directors of AMP. I politely declined, as I had just embarked on a career change, joining the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2000, and wanted to devote my time and energies there.

In October 2004, Young AMP was launched. This was Yang Razali’s brainchild. He was again instrumental in getting me involved in the build-up to Young AMP, and then in convincing me to agree to take up the role of the founding President. This was my first formal appointment within AMP and one which I took up with an initial sense of trepidation. It was not something that I had put up my hand for but Yang Razali was persuasive. I enjoyed the stint at Young AMP as it involved working with a blank sheet of canvas. It was fun working with the positive energies of younger and emerging professionals (i.e. students). Young AMP ran Reading Circles at the institutes of higher learning, which were well-received. Some time after being part of Young AMP, Yang Razali again said that because of my role in Young AMP, I would have an “automatic seat” on the board of directors of AMP. The Board was then chaired by Alami Musa. I remember chuckling and thought it was clever of him to find a way to get me on the Board.

And that was how I joined the Board of Directors of AMP – again, not by design, but as a result of my role in Young AMP. At that point, it felt right.

I remember Board meetings to be unduly long. They would start typically on a Friday evening and would drag past midnight right into the early hours of Saturday. Of course, there were many critical matters that the community was facing that warranted that time. AMP’s constitution had a clause mandating that one-third of the directors had to step down from the Board every two years. Then, Imram Mohamed had to step down as Chairman, and the issue of the new Chairman surfaced. The Board had a secret ballot on who should be the next Chairman of AMP, and when the votes were counted, to my horror, my name garnered the most votes. I recall that my instinctive reaction during the Board meeting was to state that I was not ready to take up the chairmanship. I then promised the Board to give the matter some thought and eventually agreed.

Now, it may seem that these roles that I undertook – in Young AMP, at the Board of AMP, and then chairing the Board were completely random and unplanned. But what was clear in my mind was the purpose that led me to carry out the roles as best as I could. What was clear was the community needed every bit of help.

In truth, Muslim professionals are a scarce resource. Yes, the numbers are growing in absolute terms, but we are still under-represented when compared with national figures.

As my AMP journey moved along, it became clear to me that the greatest need that the community needed was thought leadership and policy engagement with the national leaders. This was opposed to characterising issues as community problems, and the community trying to tackle these on its own. The various issues faced by the community – leadership, economic attainment, social issues, education, demographics – were very deep-seated and complex. They were oftentimes intertwined and are often symptomatic of deeper and more complex issues that warranted robust engagement with national policymakers. For instance, the only effective solution to alleviate the relative educational under-attainment of Malay children was national policy changes, as opposed to community-centric initiatives which tended to be symptomatic and ineffective treatments. This called into question policy issues as to how meritocracy was being implemented in Singapore. This careful process of thinking and re-thinking the strategic thrusts to find the best solutions not just for the Malay community, but other underprivileged communities in Singapore requires bold and brave discussions with policymakers, who oftentimes may not agree with our approach. But so long as you are guided by the correct niat or intention, and have clarity of purpose, things will be all right.

When political leaders doubted us, it was important for AMP to be steadfastly guided by its mission and play the role of the conscience of the community. This complex manner of engagement with policymakers and other members of the community required individuals with the critical ability, leadership and courage to champion these issues. This required professionals to come forward. At the back of my mind, my years of volunteerism were probably driven by my understanding of fardhu kifayah (communal responsibility). Muslim professionals have received the blessings of having the cognitive capacity to think critically about issues, define the root cause of problems faced by the community, and suggest strategies for the community to find its pride of place in Singapore. Supporting the oppressed, uplifting the wrong that befalls them, and maintaining social security are all important tenets of farḍhu kifayah.

For those considering volunteering, do consider:

• The cause that resonates best with you
• The time that you are willing to devote on a weekly or monthly basis
• The organisation that has a good fit in terms of cause, and need for volunteers
• Whether an organisation has a good volunteer management framework

From my end, volunteerism has helped me grow. I found an immense sense of satisfaction in contributing ideas. We know that some of these suggestions have influenced policy. Moreover, volunteering transcends charity; it fosters personal growth, strengthens networks, and cultivates lifelong friendships. As we mentor the younger generation, we pass on the torch of responsibility, nurturing future leaders committed to serving their community. I have made a lot of friends bound by a commonality of purpose. In essence, volunteering is a manifestation of our faith in action. It is a testament to our commitment to uplift the community. As Muslim professionals in Singapore, let us embrace volunteerism wholeheartedly, for in serving others, we fulfill our higher purpose.

Volunteering – why bother? Because it is not just an obligation that is rooted in Islam; it is our privilege and our legacy.

Mohd Nizam Ismail is CEO and Founder of Ethikom Consultancy. He was Chairman of AMP Singapore from 2006 to 2011 and the Founding President of Young AMP, the youth wing of AMP, from 2004 to 2009.