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PSSA 2008 -
Individual Category Award Winner
 Mr
Abu Bakar Maidin
Mr Abu Bakar, a stalwart in the community and social service sector, started volunteering in community service in the 1950s when he was a youth. In 1970, Mr Abu Bakar became the President of the Muslim Missionary Society or Jamiyah Singapore. He has held this portfolio since then.
When he assumed office as President of Jamiyah Singapore, there was less than $6 in Jamiyah’s coffers. Mr Abu Bakar then suggested a re-organisation of work functions and administration of the community programmes into several departments such as education, welfare, publications and youth. Under his leadership, Jamiyah has grown steadily and now offers a total of 18 social service programmes.
Mr Abu Bakar is a strong proponent of education. He strongly believes that education and training open up opportunities for people to progress in life, and should be made available, accessible and affordable for people of all ages. He has been instrumental in the set up of Jamiyah Education Centres, Jamiyah Business School and several childcare centres and kindergartens.
In 2003, the Education Trust Fund was set up. Under Mr Abu Bakar’s stewardship, the trust fund committee managed to raise more than $10 million to provide financial subsidies to poor and needy children of low-income Malay/Muslim families for their pre-school education.
To help the less-privileged meet their daily needs, Jamiyah also launched the Meals-on-Wheels programme and have issued food rations such as cooking oil, sugar and rice to 1500 needy families.
Mr Abu Bakar also introduced two programmes in the 1970s, which are still running today - the Jamiyah Free Clinic, which operates twice a week offering free medical consultation to the public and free legal counselling services providing legal advice to the needy.
Jamiyah also launched several programmes to enhance family bonding and relationships. One of them is the annual Exemplary Mothers Awards, organised by the Jamiyah Women’s section, which is now in its 12 th year. This programme is intended to enhance filial piety and reverence to mothers. To address marriage problems, Jamiyah set up the Jamiyah Counselling Centre to provide counselling to Muslim couples who face marital difficulties.
Mr Abu Bakar has played a significant role in turning around Jamiyah and the impact of his leadership and contribution to enhancing lives of various groups of people such as the needy, children and families is considerable. For his dedication and long history of service to the community, Mr Abu Bakar is honoured with the President’s Social Service Award (Individual Category).
Other
PSSA 2008 winners:
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