Stop using civil servants to propagate Islam, Sarawak churches tell Putrajaya

Updated 5 years ago · Published on 19 Dec 2018 10:33AM · 21 Comments

Education Minister Maszlee Malik recently appealed to religious teachers from Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah teaching in Sabah and Sarawak schools to make the states new fronts in their Islamic propagation activities. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, December 19, 2018.

PUTRAJAYA must stop using public servants, in particular teachers, to carry out any form of Islamisation in Sabah and Sarawak schools, said the Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS).

ACS said the federal government should honour the promises and undertakings of religious freedom safeguarded and guaranteed to the people of Sabah and Sarawak under the Inter-Governmental Committee Report 1962 (IGC Report) and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

It was also “deeply concerned” with Education Minister Maszlee Malik’s recent statement in Parliament, in which he appealed to religious teachers from Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah teaching in Sabah and Sarawak schools to make the states new fronts in their Islamic propagation activities.

“The statement by the education minister to make Sabah and Sarawak a ‘battlefield’ for propagation of Islam is not in the spirit of the MA63 and appears to be sanctioning Islamic religious teachers from Peninsular Malaysia to promote Islamisation and propagation to local students in non-religious schools in Sabah and Sarawak.

“If the West Malaysian teachers were to make Sabah and Sarawak their medan dakwah (propagation area), it could make the atmosphere in and outside schools intimidating, and local students and parents may feel uneasy and no proper learning can take place,” the association said in a statement today.

ACS said while it understood that sending teachers from the peninsula to serve in the two states helped alleviate its teacher shortage, it said educators “who are public servants should not be used as a tool to promote Islamisation in Sabah and Sarawak”.

The association also reminded Putrajaya of the peculiarities in Sarawak, where the state constitution provides for a secular government and society, and where Islam is not the state religion.

“It is clearly stated in the IGC Report that there should be no application to the Borneo states of any federal requirements regarding religious education.”

ACS also questioned Putrajaya’s will in the Borneanisation of the civil service of Sabah and Sarawak, a key agreement of the two states in giving the nod to forming Malaysia.

It said even after 55 years since Malaysia’s formation, the federal government’s promises and assurances had yet to be fulfilled.

“There would be sufficient qualified Islamic religious teachers from Sabah and Sarawak by now to teach in local schools if the government had honoured their promise of Borneanisation of the public service in Sabah and Sarawak,” it said, while reaffirming its commitment to promoting harmony and unity among the people. – December 19, 2018.

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Comments

  • We seriously need a professional education minister who will lay the foundation for the next generation. What has this guy done? I know this will just fall on deaf ears, maybe Im just wasting my time..... malaysia will never move forward with these type of leaders.

    Posted 5 years ago by Malaysia Baru . · Reply

  • Maybe the best thing to do is have an education minister who really is from the education sector and has functioned as a pure professional without association to religious studies but no left leaning idiot either. Otherwise the next nonsensical thing a lib will teach kindergarten kids is that gender is fluid and biology does not matter.

    Posted 5 years ago by K Pop · Reply

    • He is a former lecturer. Head of lecturer union in UIAM

      Posted 5 years ago by Azmin Ishak · Reply

    • THIS SHOWS the bad shape of our education system?..

      Posted 5 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply

    • WE REALLY NEED TO BE FORWARD-THINking? AND PREPARE FOR SPACE TRAVEL & TOURISM?..

      Posted 5 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply

  • is the country so short of talent that this man is the only man we can propose to be Education Minister?

    Posted 5 years ago by Arul Inthirarajah · Reply

    • Haha it makes you wonder right ?
      DAP /PKR - please help TDM and tell him this aint working.... you need a professional guy for this

      Posted 5 years ago by Malaysia Baru . · Reply

  • this mazlee needs to go. what has he done in the past 7 months other then colour of socks and swim at hotel's pool? our education is in serious jeopardy and time is running out. we need action ASAP. if not, we boot this govt out. I promise you

    Posted 5 years ago by . . · Reply

  • Ya this dungu is religiously slanted. Get a professional la. Doctor degree in Islamic religion doesn't mean a thing if he constantly inconsistent and not neutral. He was also partial in the 2 canteen issue. Out out out....!!!

    Posted 5 years ago by Alphonz Jayaraman · Reply

  • Tun DM and Mazlee both think only Islam will save the country from the corrupt culture. They are both wrong. No single religion can be an effective tool. Human beings must rely on themselves for civic mindedness and cultivate their own virtues. God is too distant, fear of God's autjorityq is not good enough as it more often creates extreme views and thus disrupts the peace of the world.

    Posted 5 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

    • **authority

      Posted 5 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • Mazlee is an idiot with brain infested with worms

    Posted 5 years ago by Jackal Way · Reply

  • Theres no future for the regular-joe next generation here in Malaysia.

    I think you need a non-Malay to fix this but they may never be able to accept it. So I guess thats it.

    Posted 5 years ago by Malaysia Baru . · Reply

  • All trainees who pass out as TEACHERS from KEDAH TERENGGANU KELANTAN Should be SENT BACK AS TEACHERS TO THEIR RESPECTIVE STATE TO SERVE. Why is the SELFISH GOVT SENDING TIS MORON MENTALITY TEACHERS TO CHIRSTIAN POPULATED AREAS. The Education Ministry shld be proactive not race religion base.The whole world knows what ISLAM is All About.All other Religions on Earth Practice HUMANITY .

    Posted 5 years ago by Tharan Singh · Reply

  • All Malay Muslim Teachers should be sent to KEDAH TERENGGANU KELANTAN . They are SUITABLE THERE . All Non Muslim Teachers shld be sent to Urban Areas for STUDENT MIND BE CONSTRUCTED CIVIC MIND. Religion we study at home from our Parents.

    Posted 5 years ago by Tharan Singh · Reply

  • SCHOOLS ARE NOT FOR PROSELYTISATION PURPOSES. DOES HE BELIEVE HE WILL BE BLESSED FOR PREACHING ISLAM TO NON-MUSLIMS? BUT THE PROPHET DID NOT ORDER THAT - HE SAID "TO YOU YOURS AND TO ME MINE".

    Posted 5 years ago by Ravinder Singh · Reply

  • Have we to wait for 2yrs for this education minister to be replaced. From day one i have commented, he is the wrong person to be in education dep. at any level.

    Posted 5 years ago by Rance ramasamy · Reply

  • i will support u yb maszlee 200%, keep up the good work...

    Posted 5 years ago by Faizal reza · Reply

    • .S.ADLY I REFLECT THAT TDM AS PM EARLIER TOLD US THAT MUSLIMS THE WORLD OVER WERE IN TROUBLE.

      Posted 5 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply

    • ....OR SUFFERING? ANY CONNECTION TO EDUCATION?.

      Posted 5 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply

    • I HOPE MALAYSIANS ARE BY THE SAME TOKEN NOT DESTINED FOR LET-DOWNS! AND CAUSED TO SUFFER? We need to save Malaysia again?..

      Posted 5 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply