Shafie Apdal: It's not right, no government policy to restrict religion in Mara colleges.
FMT
KUCHING: Mara will be ordered to lift a religious ban at its colleges and university campus in Sabah and Sarawak, the federal minister in charge, Shafie Apdal, announced today after protests by native non-Muslim parents whose children are enrolled in Mara institutions.
There is no federal government policy to restrict religious practices among Mara students, Shafie Apdal said at a hastily-convened press conference this morning, the Malaysian Insider reported.
He said if there were any such restrictions, “they were not right”. He added: “If there is a rule, we will withdraw it.”
Shafie, as minister for regional and rural development, has oversight over Mara, set up as a bumiputera trust agency, which also runs residential science junior colleges and the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
The press conference was called after Sarawak chief minister Adenan Satem met Shafie last night, over concerns of Dayak parents that their children were not being allowed to practice their faiths while enrolled at Mara colleges.
Adenan is reported to have told Shafie that such rules went against the Sarawak government’s policy on the freedom of religion, according to Malaysian Insider.
Baru Bian of Parti Keadilan Rakyat had said earlier today that he would consider legal action against Mara as the ban on non-Islamic activities was unconstitutional and against the constitutional guarantee to practice religious faiths.
Three Mara colleges are reported to have banned all non-Islamic religious activities within the campus; forbidden the use of non-Islamic religious symbols; and students forbidden from non-Islamic religious activities outside campus on weekends except with college permission.
Dayak parents have also said their children were forbidden to bring their Bibles or home-cooked food, and banned from using college transport to attend church services.
Shafie said a “misinterpretation” of the rules might have cropped up because the rules were first drawn up in 1972 when Mara colleges were first established in the peninsula, where all bumiputera students were Malays and Muslims.
Parents have said the restrictions amounted to religious discrimination and would breed intolerance and lack of respect. One parent refused to send his daughter to college and posted online a copy of additional rules for non-Muslim students.
Shafie denied there had been any discrimination. “There has been no prohibition on non-Muslim students to practise their faith. On weekends, we provide transport for Christians to attend church very much like we do for Muslims students to attend Friday prayers.
“They can take their Bible to campus and if there is anyone who tries to stop them, report them to us and we’ll act,” Shafie said.
Sarawak second minister of resource planning and environment Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the rules for all Mara colleges in Sarawak should be rewritten.
State land development minister James Masing has said the restrictions were constitutionally and morally wrong. State DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen had appealed to the Sarawak government to reject the rules.
FMT
KUCHING: Mara will be ordered to lift a religious ban at its colleges and university campus in Sabah and Sarawak, the federal minister in charge, Shafie Apdal, announced today after protests by native non-Muslim parents whose children are enrolled in Mara institutions.
There is no federal government policy to restrict religious practices among Mara students, Shafie Apdal said at a hastily-convened press conference this morning, the Malaysian Insider reported.
He said if there were any such restrictions, “they were not right”. He added: “If there is a rule, we will withdraw it.”
Shafie, as minister for regional and rural development, has oversight over Mara, set up as a bumiputera trust agency, which also runs residential science junior colleges and the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
The press conference was called after Sarawak chief minister Adenan Satem met Shafie last night, over concerns of Dayak parents that their children were not being allowed to practice their faiths while enrolled at Mara colleges.
Adenan is reported to have told Shafie that such rules went against the Sarawak government’s policy on the freedom of religion, according to Malaysian Insider.
Baru Bian of Parti Keadilan Rakyat had said earlier today that he would consider legal action against Mara as the ban on non-Islamic activities was unconstitutional and against the constitutional guarantee to practice religious faiths.
Three Mara colleges are reported to have banned all non-Islamic religious activities within the campus; forbidden the use of non-Islamic religious symbols; and students forbidden from non-Islamic religious activities outside campus on weekends except with college permission.
Dayak parents have also said their children were forbidden to bring their Bibles or home-cooked food, and banned from using college transport to attend church services.
Shafie said a “misinterpretation” of the rules might have cropped up because the rules were first drawn up in 1972 when Mara colleges were first established in the peninsula, where all bumiputera students were Malays and Muslims.
Parents have said the restrictions amounted to religious discrimination and would breed intolerance and lack of respect. One parent refused to send his daughter to college and posted online a copy of additional rules for non-Muslim students.
Shafie denied there had been any discrimination. “There has been no prohibition on non-Muslim students to practise their faith. On weekends, we provide transport for Christians to attend church very much like we do for Muslims students to attend Friday prayers.
“They can take their Bible to campus and if there is anyone who tries to stop them, report them to us and we’ll act,” Shafie said.
Sarawak second minister of resource planning and environment Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the rules for all Mara colleges in Sarawak should be rewritten.
State land development minister James Masing has said the restrictions were constitutionally and morally wrong. State DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen had appealed to the Sarawak government to reject the rules.
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