SUPP Youth raps S’wak PH MPs for not calling Maszlee out for his remarks
KUCHING: SUPP Youth has joined the chorus, criticising Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik (pic) for calling on religious teachers from Peninsular Malaysia to make Sabah and Sarawak their ‘medan dakwah’ (Islamic propagation field).
But what puzzles the movement is the absolute silence by the 12 Pakatan Harapan MPs from Sarawak who have not come out to tick off their Semenanjung colleague.
“How come none of them challenged Maszlee’s statement?” asked SUPP Youth Central chairman Michael Tiang.
“It’s been more than a week since he made the remarks, yet the leaders from Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH), especially DAP, have been silent inside and outside Parliament,” he said.
Tiang then directed his attention to Maszlee, saying that he had repeatedly shocked the public with his questionable decisions such as directing students to use black shoes and black socks and encouraging students to use hotel pools for swimming lessons.
“He even believes that recognising the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) of Chinese independent secondary schools would affect the unity and harmony among Malaysians, and most recently, he requested in Parliament for Islamic religious teachers from Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah to stay on in Sarawak and Sabah to carry out missionary works in the states,” he said.
Tiang said so far Maszlee had failed as Education Minister to resolve outstanding national issues such as getting dilapidated schools repaired or redeveloped.
“Instead, he is focused on religious activities,” he said, adding that although Islam is the official religion for the Federation of Malaysia, Sarawak does not have any official religion.
In fact, he stressed, Sarawak has been enjoying religious freedom since 1841 as all its ethnic groups have been wary of infringing on each other’s beliefs.
This, he recalled, was the reason why the late chief minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem insisted that 99 percent of teachers in Sarawak must be Sarawakians.
He knew that only Sarawakians could truly understand the state’s social culture and promote its education model according to their aspirations.
“I am worried about the current development of our national education. Maszlee’s remarks in Parliament on Dec 11 were absolutely outrageous! He does not understand East Malaysian cultures, sensitivities and sentiments. Worst of all, he failed to respect Sarawak’s emphasis on religious freedom.”
Having judged Maszlee by his performance and remarks in the past few months, Tiang felt that the minister was incompetent and appealed to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to replace him with a more capable person.
