by Amber _ Part one was about an experience Thauria went through in a full-time religious institution (Madrasah). I am immensely grateful to have shared such important experiences with Thauria in our Madrasah for the past 12 years and I am so honoured that she invited me to write about my experiences as well. What…
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by Thauria __ Growing up, many Muslims around me strongly believe that Madrasahs are institutional representatives of the Muslim community, which is not a baseless sentiment. Madrasahs have been institutionalised as the representatives of the community through legislation such as AMLA (Administration of Muslim Law Act). However, in many ways, this representation has been internalised…
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by Sha S. __ I am a beneficiary. I am a spurned sceptic. I am a perpetrator. I am an advocate. In the context of Singapore, where meritocracy and individual hard work are lauded as the twin rudders of social mobility, my parents are the textbook case of good parenting, having raised all of their…
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by Sya Taha _ In Secondary Two, after sports training, a friend said she could give me a lift in her father’s car. When I got in, I looked at the driver – it was not her father but a middle-aged Malay man. * In Primary One, I was called to see the English teacher.…
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by Sya Taha _ “I don’t know what I did wrong, but perhaps, you are too educated!” My father said to me to end a big quarrel we had. It worked. I was so dumbfounded at this accusation that I shrank away. He had always been, as I perceived, my biggest fan and supporter in…
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by Shaf Ghani _ I remember one of the Raya gatherings when a distant cousin, whose opinion I did not need (but had to listen to anyway because I was obligated to kuehs and protocols), casually commented that I read too much. It was pre-contact lenses days, and he said that the next time he…
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The theme of education, to my surprise, elicited the most responses so far. Submissions range from women who have studied in Madrasahs, to mainstream schools, to those who have been through the Gifted Education Programme. The theme of education was also interpreted outside the parameters of school to include meditations on the informal education we…
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by NL __ Awakening Story At the age of 8, I used to take swimming lessons at the Clementi Swimming Complex. For merely twenty dollars a month, many students, or rather their parents, willingly signed up for the swimming courses programmed by the school. On Tuesdays after school, a lot of us would leave class…
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by Naima Khan _ I was 14 when I had my first orgasm. It happened by accident and I was completely unprepared. I wasn’t precocious as a teenager. At that stage, other girls were starting to grow into their adult bodies and learning the ways in which their clothes and mannerisms affected the boys around them.…
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by Ayda _ I thought I was a good Muslim for not wanting to look at shirtless guys. I’d mostly look at my feet at the beach or cringe whenever a male lead exposed his abs in a drama. My friends would call a guy “hot” and I’d nod but internally, I couldn’t care less.…
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