Commentary by Mustafa K. Anuar 

IT is refreshing that the Education Ministry has recently made a ruling that is in sync with the social realities of a multiethnic and multireligious Malaysia. 

In anticipation of the holy month of Ramadan, minister Fadhlina Sidek announced school canteens would open to cater to the needs of non-Muslim students in national schools. 

To reinforce her commitment to inclusivity, she called on canteens to operate in schools even if only 10% of the student population were non-Muslims.  

This measure would go a long way towards instilling in the students the importance of respecting the religious beliefs of their friends. It would also help foster unity among them. 

Aside from fasting during Ramadan, Muslim students will learn to understand there are groups of people who do not fast as it is not prescribed by their respective faiths. This religious difference should not be a reason to disrespect them.  

Similarly, non-Muslim students would learn to respect the rights of their Muslim counterparts to practise their religion and understand that some people are required to abstain from food and drink, among other things, from dawn to dusk. 

Besides, having non-Muslim students eating in the canteens would serve as a useful test of the determination of Muslims to fast in the face of challenges.

In a sense, it is the Muslim students’ preparation to face other temptations in the wider society as they grow up. Politicians, for instance, would tell you that there are bigger “canteens” outside the school compound. 

Such a school context would help students, being our future generation, to accept and appreciate the diversity life has to offer. 

Students should steer away from the folly of some adults who are bigoted, divisive, judgmental, and inconsiderate. 

In such a situation, noble values such as compassion, empathy, tolerance and justice should be imparted to the students.   

The minister’s pronouncement is also crucial in making it clear to school administrators and teachers that the basic rights of both Muslim and non-Muslim students are to be respected. 

In this way, school children would be saved from such ignominy and injustice as the one experienced by non-Muslim primary school pupils in 2013, who were reportedly forced to eat their recess meals in toilets and changing rooms during Ramadan. 

The empty canteen was cordoned off so it would not be “dirtied” by the presence of non-fasting pupils. 

In 2010, ethnic Chinese students in a secondary national school in Kedah were accused of being insensitive to, and disrespectful of, their Muslim peers for having eaten in the school compound during Ramadan. 

The Chinese students were even told to “return to China” as a result. The racist teacher concerned should reflect on his or her bad behaviour. 

There is also a horrifying story of a teacher in Kedah said to have told non-Muslim students to drink water in the washroom, and to drink tap water or their own urine if they did not have water. 

If this 2015 incident did happen, one wonders whether the teacher misread the holy scriptures as anger management and compassion, among other things, are also vital during Ramadan. 

It is feared such misconduct of the teachers concerned might weigh heavily on the impressionable minds of particularly Muslim children so that some of them might mistake it for normal Islamic practice or the education system’s standard operating procedure. 

Muslims, students and teachers alike, must not lose sight of the underlying message of Ramadan. The canteen issue is indeed food for thought. – March 24, 2023.