Upholding freedom of religion a must – Council of Churches

KOTA KINABALU: The freedom of religion as guaranteed in the Federal Constitution must be upheld and reflected in any policy of the government, says the Sabah Council of Churches (SCC).

While the government in safeguarding the position of Islam in this country, has every right to set up religious schools, as provided in Article 12 of the Federal Constitution, it is quite another to utilize teachers to propagate the Islam religion in non-religious public school, says the council.

Under the same Article 12 of the Federal Constitution, subclause (3) and (4), SCC points out that no person shall be required to receive instruction in or to take part in any ceremony or act of worship of a religion other than his own. And the religion of a person under the age of 18 years shall be decided by his parent or guardian.

SCC says the recent statement by the Education Minister in Parliament which suggests that the Ministry of Education is prepared to deploy teachers paid with public fund to carry out Islamisation in non-religious schools in Sabah and Sarawak, is totally unacceptable within the social and cultural fabric of the East Malaysian States.

“While there are more pressing issues challenging the standard and quality of educating our future generations, more particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, we find it most appalling to hear that the government has totally misused the precious resources of the rakyat’s money and manpower with the objective of spreading Islam in public schools, thus making them ‘medan dakwah’,” said the council in a statement yesterday.

SCC says the Federal Constitution was drafted with the recognition of the unique position of Sabah and Sarawak, as reflected in, among others, Article 161e, which gives the States the power to determine issues relating to religion and immigration.

“We have always enjoyed religious and racial harmony in Sabah due to the mutual respect of each other’s religion and race.

“The utterance of the Education Minister in Parliament goes against both the letter and the spirit of the Federal Constitution, and has the effect of disrupting the existing religious harmony in Sabah,” adds the council.

We urge the Federal Government to stop this act of eroding the rights and position of Sabah and Sarawak within the Federal of Malaysia and to cease from violating the Federal Constitution immediately.