To the President and Council of Darul Arqam Singapore

Petition to the President and Council Members of the Muslim Converts Association of Singapore (Darul Arqam Singapore)

To:
1. Muhammad Imran Kuna/President
2. Foo Eng Yoong @ Adam Foo/Deputy President
3. Abdullah Suresh/Vice President, Corporate Affairs
4. Ng Keng Khong @ Saleem Ng/Vice President, Finance
5. Lim Kok Hao Ivan @ Iskandar Zulkarnain/Assistant Vice President, Finance
6. Zin Bo Aung/ Vice President, Converts' Development
7. Joy Joanne Shalome Bikarmjeet Singh @ Farah/Assistant Vice President, Converts' Development
8. O'Dempsey Anthony James @ Saleh O'Dempsey/Vice President, Education
9. Keng Poh Meng @ Mikhail Keng Assistant/Vice President, Education
10. Ariff Sultan s/o Yousoff Sultan/Vice President, Da'wah
11. Nur Hani Binti Nasir/Assistant Vice President, Da'wah
12. Aisha Bernice Peng/Member
13. Anwar Pillay @ G Tayvanathan Pillay/Member
14. Chung Yow Min @ Danial Chung/Member
15. Faiz Edwin Ignatious/Member
16. Fatimah Abdullah/Member
17. Gonzaga Venerando Canesa @ Abdul Al-Jabbar/Member
18. Harjit Singh Bot Singh @ Haziq Harjit Singh/Member
19. Luke Ong Kim Hoe @ Luqman Ong/Member
20. Neeta Puri Guruday @ Zaraa' Abdullah/Member
21. Ramesh Kannan @ Muhammad Shakir/Member
22. Razees Abdul Karim/Member
23. Ridzuan Ng/Member
24. Ridzuan Wu Chia Chung/Member
25. Selvasingam Ganapathi @ Sharukh Abdullah/Member
26. Veen Helena Marie @ Maryam Veen/Member
27. Wong Sai Fung @ Iman Binte Abdullah/Member

1.  As members of the Muslim Converts’ Association of Singapore (“the Association”), we are most concerned over the recent changes made to the manpower within the Association. This included the termination of the services of two senior staff, namely: Senior Executive Officer, Dr Siti Maryam Malinumbay Sumael Salasal (“Dr Maryam”) with 17 years of service and Deputy General Manager, Mr Iskandar Yuen Abdullah (“Brother Iskandar”) with 11 years of service. They have been informed on 14 August 2018 that they have been made redundant, and were released by the Association with a month’s notice and placed on “garden leave” from the date of the notice being given. We understand that no redundancy compensation package was offered to them.

2. In addition, we have been made to understand that the management in the Association has unilaterally converted the permanent positions of some of their permanent full time staff to a contract of employment with a fixed term, without providing due consideration to the staff affected, and without the consent of the same.

3. As a result of these changes, staff morale was affected and there has been a high number of resignations in recent months.

4. As members and for some of us, also in our capacities as volunteers of the Association, we have worked with Dr Maryam and Brother Iskandar over many years. They have shown us their commitment to the Association and we have also witnessed the efforts they have put in for the benefit of the Association. We are therefore filled with regret at the decision made by the Council of the Association to terminate their employment. Many of the staff who have resigned or are intending to resign are also committed staff who have worked beyond their regular duties for the advancement of the understanding of Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims in Singapore.

5. We are also concerned that the staff of the Association had not been treated with respect when dealing with the termination and/or changes to their employment. We were informed that the process did not provide dignity to the staff concerned, which goes against the Islamic values that we, as an Association, hope to propagate.

6. Our petition is therefore to urge the Council of the Association:

(a) To provide an explanation on the recent changes to the manpower of the Association;

(b) To rectify the situation that has led to the high number of resignations over the past month and the low staff morale;

(c) To provide compensation to the staff whose services have been terminated on account of redundancy at the prevailing norm of between 2 weeks to 1-month salary per year of service;

(d) To provide support to all staff whose services have been terminated on account of redundancy or who have resigned by providing written testimonials when requested for;

(e) To reinstate the permanent employment of staff whose contract had been converted from a permanent position to a fixed term contract;

(f) To give an option to staff whose services have been terminated or who have resigned to be re-employed by the Association within a reasonable period of time after rectification has been put in place by Council to address the manpower issues within the Association; and

(g) In the event that the decisions relating to the manpower have been made by individuals within the Council without the support of the Council, to consider passing a vote of no confidence against such individuals, in accordance with Article 6(b)(iii) of the Association’s Constitution approved on 8 October 2015.

#This petition will close on Friday 7 September 2018 at 12 pm.