Hungry Artists of Our Times

The polytechnics have revealed that media and design graduates earn the least when compared to their peers from other courses. What does it mean for our Malay students who have long favoured these fields?

Singapore’s 5 polytechnics have released the results of its annual survey on poly graduates and their pay. On the surface, there seems to be plenty of good news to go around. Nearly 9 in 10 of those who graduated from poly are in some form of active employment in 2008. The number of graduates who join the ranks of the government has gone up a notch too, with 14.3% now employed in the civil service, up from 12.3% in 2008.

The average monthly pay for a poly graduate who has served national service is now $2130. While this number may still appear dismal, it represents a good improvement and is seen to be catching up with the pay of fresh degree holders, who could only make an average of $2451 in 2008.

But the more worrying statistic came late towards the end of the report. The survey reported that Media and Design graduates are the poorest of the lot, making an average of only $1,642 monthly. The creative industry is also notorious for being the least stable of the lot - designers, photographers and artists are known to be employed usually on contract and freelance basis, finding themselves in need of the next project to make ends meet.

While there are no official statistics on the ethnic enrolment by courses, it is pretty safe to assume by popular observation that Media and Design courses are by far the most popular choice for our Malay students in the polytechnics. Creativity in the arts and music has always been a forte for our Malay youngsters and it comes as no surprise that many have chosen to involve themselves in the media and design industry to make a living.

Since the 1980’s Malays have distinctly been the most economically retarded ethnic group in Singapore. Although median monthly household income has more than tripled from below $800 in 1980 to $3,100 in 2005, the disparity between wages between Malay families and families of other races have widened by more than twice over the last 25 years.



(Taken from "Progress of the Malay Community in Singapore since 1980”, MCYS)

What the grim statistic above means is that the average Malay worker is getting relatively poorer, while the rest of Singapore are forging ahead and getting richer. The community cannot afford to have a large chunk of its students risking their lives down the path of least returns by pursuing trivial careers in the media and design industry. The persistent shunning of more viable fields of study like science, engineering and economics by the Malay community surely is not an ingredient in our fight against the emerging Malay social underclass.

More efforts need to be made by Malay parents in guiding their children towards more economically rewarding fields of study. An economically sound and stable working force is the bedrock of a stable and prosperous community. Parents need to proactively guide and take on advisory roles in decisions such as the choosing of academic pathways.

Our youth need to be taught to be more sensible and distinguish for themselves the difference between a hobby and a career, between a fantasy and a viable ambition in the context of a country like Singapore where critical mass for a viable venture into the arts and entertainment industry often do not exist.

The writer is a student enrolled in the Bachelor of Islamic Revealed Knowledge at the International Islamic University & doing the Master of Science (Strategic Studies) at the Nanyang Technological University