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From: Dr Musa
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 8:19 AM
Subject: senior minister contemptuous of muslim
sensitivity 4th
May 2005 The
Muslim Professionals Forum (MPF) regrets Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik's
recommendation that religious matters be kept out of national schools if this
means abolishing religious instruction to Muslim students.
The
assertion that the teaching of Islam in national schools deters non-Muslims from
enrolling their children into national schools may have its substance, however
we think much of that has to do with ingrained prejudice and problems
inherent within the national schools system. Some
degree of religious instruction has always been an element of
our educational system, whether they are schools established by Christian
missions or national ones. It fulfils the holistic educational needs of our
children as we parents perceive them.
Children
of other faiths receive instruction in moral education when Muslim students have
their religious classes. .The recent initiative to introduce the teaching of
Mandarin and Tamil in national schools is indicative of the Ministry's concern
for further improving national integration. While
it is true that the family plays an important role in imparting religious values
to impressionable children, instruction in the basic fundamentals of Islam,
rituals of worship, study of the sacred texts, religious morality and
Islamic history has to be done by
qualified teachers. The
national schools have admirably fulfilled this need without altering
their character into religious schools. Muslim parents accept this
compromise and send their children for extra religious lessons outside the
normal school hours. It is utterly insensitive to demand that religious
instruction for Muslims be scrapped from national schools if that is the intent
of Dr. Lim's recommendations. By
virtue of demography and history, Islam has been very much part of
the nation's social and cultural fabric. Our colourful history bears testimony
to the religious tolerance, harmony and mutual respect which has stood the test
of time and which Malaysians have continued to guard
jealously. It
is somewhat baffling that Islam is suddenly demonized as an obstacle to national
integration. The call to keep religion out of the national schools is
contemptuous of Muslim sensitvity and flies in the face of our tradition of
respect and understanding among the religions. it
is an idea unmistakably borrowed from a particular brand of secularism that
has its roots in a conflict between religion and the state which has
a very specific historical context. It is by no means the universal
experience of all modern states, least of all Malaysia. Instead
of purportedly promoting national integration, such brazen insensitivity is
potentially disruptive of our hardwon religious harmony. That such a
proposal had come from a senior member of the cabinet is all the more
regrettable. There
are probably more valid reasons why non-Malay parents are reluctant to send
their children to national schools especially those outside the affluent
middle-class areas. And this has more to do with the school's academic
performance, class size, facilities, quality of the teaching faculty, morale of teachers
and standards of discipline rather than religious
studies. These
are equally the concerns of many Muslim parents, some of whom are willing to pay
for private education or send their children to Chinese schools. While
we urge that the government take immediate measures to remedy these
pressing problems, various aspects of religious instruction for Muslims need to
be tailored to mould young Muslims with Islamic spirituality (iman),
examplary behaviour (soleh wa
musleh) and intellectual strength (ilm) to prepare them as citizens of
a modern, pluralistic Malaysia. Puan
Elya Lim Abdullah Founding
Member Muslim Professionals Forum Suite
1810, 18th Floor, Plaza Permata (IGB Plaza) Jalan
Kampar, off Jalan Tun Razak 50400
Kuala Lumpur Tel :
03-40426102 Website
: http://mpf.org.my -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of Hidayahnet unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from Hidayahnet, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links
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