Profile of Singapore Kadayanallur Muslim League (SKML)
Introduction
SKML was established in August 1941 in the vicinity of Tanjong Pagar Road to cater to the social, religious and educational need of our members who had originated from Kadayanallur, a village town in Tirunelveli District,Tamil Nadu with a predominant Tamil Muslim population. SKML now caters for and speaks for the Indian Muslim population in Singapore. SKML was instrumental in persuading all its members to become Singapore Citizens and to participate actively in Nation Building.
Past Achievements
Under the leadership of the late Mr. A. N. Maideen (a founder member), our members played a key role in raising funds to build and manage a Tamil High School: The Umar Pulavar Tamil High School (reputed to be the only, Tamil Secondary School in South East Asia). In recognition of our contributions made in the promotion of Tamil education, the street next to the building site of the school was named Kadayanallur Street. Another reason could be that many of the Indian Muslims living in Tanjong Pagar vicinity were from Kadayanallur.
Besides this in 1949, SKML also helped to set up the Kadayanallur Muslim Co-operative Thrift and Loan Society Ltd. This Co-operative society is still functioning with some 200 members benefiting from it.
Membership
Our membership stands at 1,000 members (15,000 if it were to include their family members). We are currently functioning from Blk 65 Telok Blangah Drive, #01-166
Singapore 100065.
We had to move from our former Club House premise at Tanjong Pagar Road due to URA redevelopment. We intend to raise funds to have our own building in the near future. In recent years, we had organised many fund-raising programmes such as walkathons, Donations Draw, concert for this purpose.
Associate Membership / Affiliation
We are an Associate member of The National Council of Social Service (NCSS). We are also affiliated to the Federation of Indian Muslim (FIM) and the Tamils Representative Council (TRC).
Legal & Medical Counselling Service
In 1995,we launched the Free Legal and Medical Counseling Service which is being run by our very own team of volunteer doctors and lawyers. Some of our main activities are held jointly with organisations like MUIS, JAMIYAH, MENDAKI, The Federation of Indian Muslims (FIM), SINDA, The Tamils Representative Council, Darul Arqam etc. SKML is now trying to get more youngsters involved in Community and Social work. It hopes to serve the Community and be part of the National mainstream.
Marriage Guidance Course
SKML has also started, since 1997, the Marriage Guidance course for young Muslim couples, which is conducted on Sundays. This course which is recognised by the Registrar of Muslim Marriages (ROMM) has now been made mandatory/compulsory for all newly registered Muslim couples to undergo prior to their marriage. The course was started to better prepare young couple for their new roles and to check the high divorce rate among Muslim couples. The response has been tremendous. To date about 1000 couples have benefited from this course. This course is an on-going activity runs for about 5-6 weeks each time.
Youth Group
We have also started a Youth Group to keep our youths actively involved in healthy pursuits. The youths are currently involved in vying for the National Youths Achievement Award (NYAA). Three of our youths recently won the NYAA Bronze Achievement Award ( a first for Youths from an Indian Muslim Organisation).
IT based activities
Recently we have also started Computer Awareness Classes to educate our members to become Computer/IT literate.
Jenazah (Islamic Funeral Services)
SKML provides Islamic funeral service to its members at a special concessionary rate.
SOME OF OUR MAIN ACTIVITIES
Some of our activities are:
- Conducting religious classes (Madrasahs) in both English and Tamil. About 150-200 members are attending these classes. We have hired a full-time religious teacher from India for this purpose. We are running these classes jointly with Mosques and other Indian Muslim groups.
- Holding free tuition classes for pupils. These classes are held regularly by trained teachers from our membership on an ad-hoc basis during school holidays.
- Organising Talks on Religious, Educational, Social and National Issues. E.g. Talk on Family Core Values; Computer/IT Awareness Classes; Health Talks & Medical Screening.
- Celebrating important events/festivals like National Day, Youth / Childrens Day, Mothers Day, Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Haji etc.
- Maintaining a library in our premises
- Organising indoor and outdoor games like 7-a-side Soccer, Badminton, Carom, Darts competitions etc. Organising Family Day / Picnic for members and their families to meet and to strengthen family ties.
- Organising educational tours for our members. Tour to Science Centre, Zoo, Night Safari, Malacca Historical Sites, Haj/Umrah trips etc.
- Printing a quarterly newsletter "OUR VOICE" (issued free) to keep our members informed of our activities, programmes and latest developments.
- Supporting and organising combined activities and functions with fellow social organisations like MUIS, MENDAKI, SINDA, JAMIYAH, AMP, FIM etc.
- Contributing money or other donations to needy members of our society. This is distributed during the fasting month (Ramadhan).
- Offering educational aid bursaries to our members' children to encourage them to excel in their studies..
- Attending our members’ wedding to offer congratulations/ and to promote our programmes through interaction with them at such happy occasion.
- Offering condolences and donations to members / their family during bereavement.
- Organising Essay Writing, Story-Telling, Oratorical, Art and other Literary competitions .
- Holding fund raising activities for our building fund – Jogathon, Donation Draw,Concert etc.
- Conducting Free Legal and Medical Counselling Services at the Association's premises.
- Conducting Marriage Counselling Course for newly registered Couples
- Computer classes and IT based activities.
SOME FUTURE ACTIVITES / PLANs
We intend to start a IT Centre and Social Service centre in the vicinity of Queenstown / Pasir Panjang where many of our members are located. We are currently doing a needs survey. We also intend to raise funds to have a building of our own. To date we have raised close to half a million dollars. We also intend to hold an awareness programme to encourage our members to understand the plight of people suffering from Kidney problem and to come forth with their pledges for organs. We want to complement the efforts of MUIS, SINDA, MENDAKI in creating a better educated, highly skilled & tolerant / gracious society.
SKML Address:
Blk 65 Telok Blangah Drive, #01-166
Singapore 100065.
President : Naseer Bin Ghani
Tel: 9652 4721/ 6270 2994
Gen. Secretary : Mr M A Mashuthoo
