Kicking off the sixth edition of the Malay Muslim Fathering Month (Bulan Kebapaan) is Jamming With Dad – a platform for fathers and children to bond over music and performing. The event took place on 2 September 2023 at Nee Soon Central Community Centre, where five groups of fathers and children performed. Heartiest congratulations to Mr Rizal and his daughter Sorfina who clinched the first prize with their fantastic rendition of Led Zeppalin’s Whole Lot of Love! Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of National Development graced today’s event as the guest of honour.

The Malay Muslim Fathering Month is an initiative by Centre for Fathering and Bapa Sepanjang Hayat which aims to encourage active fathering among Malay/Muslim fathers. This year’s Malay Muslim Fathering Month, themed Strengthening the Role of Fathers in the Family, will help fathers appreciate the importance of their role in the family, and how to become a more effective father. Through the Malay Muslim Fathering Month activities, CFF and BSH reach out to more than 300,000 Malay Muslim fathers and family members each year.

The organisers have lined up many exciting activities this year. Besides Jamming With Dad, another activity is Adventure With Dad – an activity for fathers to improve their communication and deepen their bond with their children through adventure learning on a rock wall, dark maze and high elements; and other exciting father-children bonding activities such as go-karting and fishing. Fathers need a community to support each other and there will be dads only activities such as an outing to Johor for durians and walk around Marina Bay Sands.

Dr Faishal also gave an update on the Nakhoda taskforce in his speech, “Last year, we set up the Nakhoda taskforce to develop strategies to encourage the active role of fathers in the Malay/Muslim community. Various Malay/Muslim organisations came on board the taskforce, under the ambit of M3, to look at ways to help fathers overcome challenges and obstacles that could hinder them from being an effective father.”

Among the strategies that the taskforce has developed includes:

• Creating and celebrating a community of positive fathers who can serve as role models to others;
• Organize workshops, seminars, and classes to enhance fathering skills;
• Provide Islamic teachings related to fatherhood; and
• Promote healthy family dynamics according to Islamic principles.

Several programmes will be rolled out in the coming months, based on the strategies developed by the taskforce. I do hope that those here, and fathers everywhere, will give their full support to the programmes that will be rolled out.

He added, “Once again, let us remind ourselves that fathers who are positively involved in their children’s lives, will have a constructive influence on them. Let us also remind ourselves to play an active role in their upbringing, as reflected in the Malay idioms: Pepohon pokok tidak akan berliuk-liuk jika tidak ditiup angin.”