One Sneak Peek Into A Journey of Multicultural Advocacy and Leadership

Recently, I have been asked how I get interviewees for One Sneak Peek Into.

Well, some of them are my personal friends,

some of them are my mentors,

and others I met at events!

I first met Zainab at a CASA Social Club Singapore dinner party.

She struck me as a gentle lady with lots of wisdom to share, and we spent some time discussing Indonesian politics and current affairs.

With her 35 years’ experience in broadcasting, in both Malay and English, radio and TV - she dwelled into how new developments of the newly independent nation could and should benefit as well as enhance positive and creative values for all in the newly formed multiracial nation.

Born in 1947, two years after the WWII, her mother, a Chinese baby adopted by an Arab family from the Middle East and father, an Indian with an engineering mind, exposed her to new challenges and continuous learning journey in life.

Coming from a pioneer batch of Malay-educated students, Zainab went to Singapore University to study the social sciences in English. Learning French while at the University, she graduated amongst the top students of her cohort in 1970.

Spending thirty-five years working in the current affairs department of broadcasting, she was trained by the BBC trainers in Europe in 1979, and was attached to the Newsdesk of Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in the 1990s, before joining Tsao/Citibank’s financial literacy program in 2005.

From  mass communication to the realm of interpersonal communication, Zainab has won several awards, including the New York International Radio Festivals (2001). She was inducted into the Hall of Fame to be among 50 media professionals selected for the Media in Singapore Award in 2022 as well.

Her interest in mass communication eventually led her to refuse both invitations to join the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and to serve in the Malay bureau of the ruling People’s Action Party.

Read on to find out what we talked about! 

Here are the main points of my conversation with Zainab:

1. Advocating for Singaporean Culture

“I don’t describe myself as an advocate for Malay culture, but rather, I am an advocate for Singaporean culture by promoting multicultural activities that are good for all in our nation.

I was born 2 years after World War 2, when the different races in Singapore were separated by the ‘Divide-and-Rule’ policy of the British. Gangsterism was pervasive then. Street fighting was common too. These eventually led to racial riots.

But Lee Kuan Yew’s vision was multiracialism. He believed in the idea of a nation where all races could live together in peace and harmony. That’s why he came up with the idea of having a racial quota in each Housing Development Board flat to ensure a good racial mix among us all. He advocated for meritocracy. That was his mission.

I personally feel that in the early stages of life, parents should play the role of nurturing the good morals of children. For Muslims like myself, we need to be sympathetic to the young. We should re-read the Quran. The warring tribes were unified by Prophet Muhammad’s vision of living in peace. That was his mission, to achieve a vision of ‘unity’ or an ‘ummah’ among the warring tribes.  “Salam” means peace for all to live together with an ethos based on social justice, with respect and trust despite our differences.

When I worked for the Tsao/Citibank literacy program, I came across the work of Dr Martin Oriely who came from South Africa - where apartheid was practised. He was a fantastic man that believed in good ethics. He taught us that money is to be treated as our friend - to be treasured and valued.

We should not allow greed and use scams to cheat others. This is something that I learnt from the Quran. The Quran spoke of the need for us to live with others in fairness and prosperity for all. It tells us that all religions of God since the Dark Ages have believed in social justice for all. Unfortunately the Quran and Scriptures of the past were written long ago. In fact, it was written 1400 years ago and has been misunderstood by many as time passes. Pervasive illiteracy in the ancient time has caused misunderstandings in today’s world.

I personally will support anything good. For example, I enjoy dressing up in my Malay costume for Malay events - the kebaya is very elegant for us women.”

2. Don’t be caught up in the past. Look ahead!

“We are blessed with great country leaders.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is going for consensus building. This is also advocated by teaching of the Quran - a chapter on ‘the Cave’ or the Sleepers for the Christians. We have to look forward, as much as we respect and be grateful to the good work of the former leaders of Singapore.

We cannot say that just because we adopted English as the means of communication, Malay culture is hindered. It is up to Malay linguists to enrich the language to make it even better as time passes. Even in the food that we eat, there is a lot taken from both the East and the West. We must be creative - continuous learning is a necessity. For that, we have to understand the past, and understand why we speak or dress in the way we do now.

We should be proud of our accomplishments, yet helpful of others lagging behind.

I have always believed that a country’s culture must be rich, or else life would be very boring. Otherwise, our young would be lost. Could this be a reason for rising mental health issues, drug abuse cases or the prevalent breaking up of marriages?

We need entertainment and creativity, and we need to  learn from others as we become globalised. Malay culture, just like other cultures, will always evolve. We cannot be frozen and stuck in the past. Otherwise, we would be left behind by the tide of change.

Change is the only constant in life.

We should be thankful of what we have acquired from times long gone and move on. If one lives with regrets, he will eventually be very angry with himself and the past generation.  If you have things where you feel that you have not done as you should, you have to redirect your energy according to the changes in life and learn from your past mistakes.

The past should be a lesson for a better future for all of us.”

3. Stories from her days of working with Mr Lee Kuan Yew

“I was the editor of the current affairs broadcast. Mr Lee wanted to deliver a speech in Malay for one National Day,

But I felt the pre-written draft of the translation was too long-winded and vague, so I shortened everything into a single line.

When I met Lee Kuan Yew at his office at the Istana, he spoke to me only about the good qualities of the man who did the translation for him. Never did he say any bad things about that man, although in the end he accepted my suggestion.

He was a great leader whom I met long after he had left office as Prime Minister. The last meeting I had with him was after the financial crisis in 1997. Coming home from Indonesia where people were fighting against each other due to racial differences, I asked then Senior Minister Mr Lee, if that would happen to us in the future as well.

In his reflective mood, he told me that it would not. He was very confident that the younger generation would not allow it to happen because they were better educated.

That gave me much respect for him - our leader. I had an appreciation as well as  a greater understanding of the man - our founding father.”

Connect with Zainab: https://empowerment.sg/about-me/

Join our telegram channel: https://t.me/onesneakpeekinto

Stay tuned for more insights from our interview series as we continue to explore the stories of trailblazers breaking barriers and redefining success.