Scholarships among various ground-led initiatives to help people of Palestine: Shanmugam

SINGAPORE - An initiative that offers scholarships to study in Singapore is one of various ground-led efforts to help the people of Palestine, said Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam.

He met three recipients of

the Palestinian Scholarship Initiative

on Oct 9. Two of the Palestinians are pursuing postgraduate degrees at the Singapore University of Social Sciences and National University of Singapore (NUS), while another is in an undergraduate programme at the Singapore Institute of Management.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Shanmugam noted that there are other initiatives that the Government supports, including an effort to collect funds and items useful for the people in Gaza. The Republic of Singapore Air Force helped deliver these supplies via air drops.

“People on the ground working hard, constructively, government coming in – we’re all working together as a society. This is a very good initiative by the people who came together to bring the students,” Mr Shanmugam said.

Asked about Israel and Hamas

agreeing on the first phase of a peace plan on Gaza

, he said there is more hope now than there was previously.

On Oct 8, indirect talks in Egypt yielded an agreement on the initial stage of

US President Donald Trump’s 20-point framework

to bring peace to the Palestinian enclave.

Mr Shanmugam said that while media reports and headlines are encouraging, seasoned observers are urging caution because in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, “it’s never done until it’s done”.

“But we all hope that this will be done. The situation today, at least there is some hope, more hope than there was previously,” he said.

To arrive at the situation currently, Mr Shanmugam said a lot of credit has to go to Mr Trump.

“You have to say, this would not have been possible without President Trump. He has to be commended tremendously for pushing both sides, and ultimately only the United States of America can influence Israel’s course of action.”

“We hope that he achieves his stated goals, it will help the people of Palestine,” he added.

Mr Trump on Oct 8 said Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first phase of the peace plan, adding that this meant all the hostages would be released very soon, and that Israel would withdraw its troops to an agreed upon line.

On the scholarship initiative, Mr Shanmugam said the Government has agreed to support it.

“We support (a) free Palestine, and there are good students. We’ll be happy to have them here, then they can go back and contribute,” he added.

“We all want to see a free Palestinian state, and that’s going to need administrators, that’s going to need people who can help run the place.”

Mr Shanmugam, who is also the Coordinating Minister for National Security, said he asked to meet the students. They are young people with “a lot of ideas”, he said, adding that he told them to imbibe as much as they could, study hard and absorb what Singapore has to offer.

“When they go back, they have a bridge between Singapore and Palestine. We wish them the best. Hopefully they can, when they go back, they are able to contribute back to their society in very significant ways,” he said.

“By them being here, by our students interacting with them and understanding different cultures, we benefit as well,” he added.

In a statement on Oct 8, the Palestinian Scholarship Initiative said that since its launch in October 2024, it has raised over $510,000 in total, including more than $370,000 raised through the Ray of Hope crowdfunding platform and an additional $140,000 from private donors.

Four Palestinians, who are all from Gaza, were awarded full scholarships to study in Singapore after careful deliberation by the initiative’s scholarship assessment committee, its organisers added.

While three of them had evacuated from Gaza before applying for the scholarship, the fourth was unable to do so in time for the start of this academic year.

“NUS has kindly offered to hold the spot for the next academic year,” the organisers said.

The funds raised have been used for the scholarship holders’ flights to Singapore, one-time settling-in allowance, accommodation, university fees, laptops and monthly stipends.

Each one is paired with two dedicated befrienders – one from the wider community and one within the host university, to help the scholarship holder settle in.