Muhammad Faliqh Bin Abdul Rahman

CENTRE MANAGER, OOGACHAGA.

If he seems familiar to you, it might be because you’ve seen him in Pink Dot 2017 campaign video “Starting a Conversation”. Faliqh was featured having a heartfelt honest conversation with a makcik in a hawker centre about the LGBTQ+ community in Singapore.

Faliqh is a 30-year-old gay man and beyond the camera, works as Oogachaga's centre manager. He bakes, cooks and spends his free time making toys out of felt. His hobbies are reflective of his personal description of himself: friendly and approachable, yet quiet to a degree.

Additionally, he feels that it is also important to provide visibility for a minority race, and invite others to come to terms with their own sexuality, just as he has. 
 

“The sense of curiosity. It’s a learning curve. Learning and exploring what I thought I was a defect eventually become my form of liberation.”

Why do you think the LGBTQIA+ community is susceptible to substance abuse and addiction?

"As part of growing up in a discreet environment,  they (youths) do not have role models to look up to. They know that they are different and the models that are available (heterosexuals) do not fit their intricacies. Hence they carve out their own path.”

The LGBTQ+ community is faced with a multitude of stigmas, which includes substance abuse in the community. When you look at the community today, what gives you hope?

"The youths of the LGBTQ+ community are getting more aware of the social policies that will impact their lives. They are starting to speak up on social causes. That gives me hope.”

Complete this sentence: "Our Story is..." 

"Our Story is the same. Do not let the moments of painlessness trap you in that cycle.”