Seca disputes Maszlee’s broader definition of ‘Medan Dakwah’

KUCHING: Sarawak Evangelical Christian Association (Seca) said it cannot accept the Minister of Education Dr Maszlee Malik’s explanation on a broader meaning for the term ‘ Medan Dakwah’ to try to defuse the furor created by his call to Peninsular Malaysia teachers to stay back in Sarawak.

A quick reference to any dictionary will tell us that the word ‘dakwah’ is not other than the rallying cry for Islamisation of the two East Malaysian states, Seca said in a press statement yesterday.

“We are sure that, after his remarks, Maszlee cannot unequivocally assure the people of Sarawak that there is really no ongoing Islamisation agenda in the education system in Sarawak.”

“The reality is that the government has been, and still is, overtly and persistently favouring one religion over the others in its policies and allocation of resources. This has been the case right from the early stage of the Federation.”

Seca said non- Muslims have been facing the increasing erosion of their religious space over the years.

The long- drawn ‘Allah’ court cases and the ‘Alkitab’ saga in 2011 are two clear examples of situations where the people of Sarawak have to fight for their right to practise their faith, the statement added.

It also viewed Maszlee’s statement as an infringement of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 ( MA63).

Prior to Seca’s response the Association of Churches Sarawak (ACS) has recently expressed its disappointment with what Maszlee had said in Parliament.

Standing with the people of Sarawak, Seca said, it upholds Sarawak’s unique right to ‘complete freedom of religion’.

“This is an ideal that was espoused by all the parties that were involved right from the time of the Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Committee ( MSCC) meetings, which subsequently led to the formation of Malaysia.

“The top leaders of the five territories, who came together in 1961 and 1962 to explore the concept of the new federation under the MSCC, all held high ideals of the kind of country we wanted to establish together,” Seca’s statement continued.

A key consensus of all the parties to MA63 was to ensure the continuity of the prevailing way of life the people would enjoy under the new federation. Our delegates to the whole negotiation process voiced strongly the need to keep the Sarawak way of life, said Seca.

“To protect us against possible disruptions to our unique way of life in the federation, we fought hard for safeguards of specific rights in those areas of our society which we believed were vital in keeping this way of life.”