THE Malaysia Chinese Muslim Association has appealed for tolerance, understanding and a level head from parents, teachers and school authorities over the issue of non-Muslim pupils eating at recess time during Ramadan.

Association secretary Nurul Nadhirah Liew said this issue would not crop up every year if people of different races and religions learn to be inclusive of one another.

The key lies in how the school handles the issue, she told The Malaysian Insight after a parent’s posting of a circular on fasting in her child’s primary school in her Facebook account sparked outrage among non-Muslim parents.

Nurul said non-Muslim pupils eating “is not a big issue”.

“It’s not. What is important is that people of different beliefs learn to respect each other.

“Be inclusive otherwise this country will never be united.”

She said non-Muslim pupils are free to eat and drink during Ramadan, but they just need to be respectful and not do in front of Muslims.

“Even if the canteen is open for non-Muslim pupils to go and have their packed food their parents had prepared, they should clean up after themselves.

“I don’t see a problem with that because Muslim pupils don’t go to the canteen during Ramadan.”

Nurul said her children went to Chinese elementary and junior high schools, and she had never heard any complaints from them, or other Muslim students, of non-Muslim students being disrespectful by eating in front of them.

Before the start of the fasting month, the parent of a SK Desa Pandan pupil in Kuala Lumpur posted a purported circular, which stated that the school cafeteria will be closed during Ramadan so as “to train Muslim pupils to fast and for non-Muslim pupils to respect those who fast”.

The posting also stated students who are not fasting make sure they had eaten at home before coming to school as they are not allowed to eat in school. The pupils are also not allowed to bring any drinking water to school.

The posting soon triggered a hot debate with many parents criticising the circular.

Some parents even tagged Education Minister Mohd Radzi Mohd Jidin to the Facebook debate.

The primary school, when contacted by the Malaysian Insight on the furore, said the parent had misunderstood the circular.

The school said the circular was for only Muslim students and did not concern non-Muslims.

“There are only 12 non-Muslim pupils in the school and they are allowed to eat and drink without restrictions during break time,” the school said.

The school said there are also specific classrooms provided for them to have their food and drink during recess.

It added that not all Muslim pupils in the school fast as there are those that are still too young to do so.

It said the school also provides specific classrooms for them to eat in as well.

The issue of eating in school by non-Muslims during Ramadan is nothing new.

In 2013, Seri Pristina school in Sungai Buloh was at the centre of a bitter row after its decision to order its non-Muslim pupils to eat in the school’s shower room went viral.

In 2015, a primary school in Kedah was similarly the centre of attention after a social media post by a parent claimed that a senior assistant of the school had asked non-Muslim pupils to drink only in the toilet and to drink their own urine if they did not bring water to school, because the canteen was closed.

The Education Department said it had investigated and dismissed the claim as untrue.

Comedian Harith Iskander had previously posted on his Facebook that when he was in secondary school, both Muslim and non-Muslim students respected each other during Ramadan – even Muslim students who did not fast.

He said now it was necessary for schools to impose mandatory rules prohibiting students from eating at school during the fasting month.

“When did such a change become necessary to the extent that the school administration imposed mandatory rules and regulations prohibiting students from fasting in school during Ramadan?” – April 9, 2022.