WHEN did it all go wrong? When did faith become brittle and parents easily rattled by something such as a prayer different from theirs?

Most Malaysians before Malaysia became prosperous in the late 1970s would have gone to missionary schools in cities and towns while government and religious schools were mainly in rural areas.

Of course, there were elite boarding schools such as the Malay College Kuala Kangsar and the Royal Military College but those were for either the landed gentry or those seen as having the potential to do better.

Depending on which missionary schools you go to, the principal was usually selected by the respective missionaries while the teachers were from the government service. These were partially aided or fully aided schools, depending on the aid given by the federal government.

These schools had traditions that reflected their past and founders. In St John’s Institution Kuala Lumpur, we had the school’s founding anniversary, the principal or Brother Director’s Feast Day and Founder’s Day – all based on Roman Catholic teachings.

We all took part in the activities and prayers were recited for the long health of the principal and longevity of our school and its founder’s memory. We even had a male student in tutu dancing the ballet once.

No one changed their faith because of this. No one. Not even in a school with its own chapel for the Catholics and a surau for the Muslims. And this goes for all the schools run by missionaries of other Christian denominations.

And these schools were the crucibles of unity among all Malaysians from both parts divided by the South China Sea. Parents sent them to these schools for education, not religious instruction.

That is what schools are for and parents need to know this. Malaysian schools were founded by missionaries and educationists who wanted to provide basic and advanced schooling to all, no matter creed or colour.

Some of them might have been founded on the notion of proselytising in the past but not since the federal constitution was enacted with education laws prohibiting such acts. 

A prayer is a prayer, not an invitation to enter a faith. Students go to school to study and not switch faiths. After all, all public schools these days follow the national education syllabus taught by teachers paid by the government.

Which means our schools must be secular. Which means it is up to the parents to provide religious instruction. If that is done, there is no fear of conversion due to prayers alien to one’s faith.

Perhaps, parents need to be taught parenting and not relying on schools to keep their children’s faiths intact. No, teachers are there to teach not babysit.

The many streams of public and private schools are already pushing students into racial, religious and class silos. The last thing Malaysia needs is parents who don’t know any better and perpetuate this further by complaining about prayers.

If anything, complain about education and sports standards, not faith, so that the ministry and education officials do something about it rather than just issuing warnings. – October 2, 2019.

* Jahabar Sadiq runs The Malaysian Insight.