Dr Maszlee Malik clarifies statement on ‘dakwah’. He was merely urging for integrity.

Maszlee clarifies miscontrued statement

PUTRAJAYA: Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said his remarks that religious teachers should make Sabah and Sarawak their medan dakwah (proselytisation field) has been misconstrued to mean promoting Islam to non-Muslims.

Dakwah, he said, does not necessarily mean to spread Islam.

“Dakwah also means to be hardworking, have high integrity and fight corruption,” he explained.

He was clarifying his recent statement in Parliament where he asked religious teachers from Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah, who are teaching in Sabah and Sarawak, not to return home because of the shortage of religious teachers in the two states.

Dr Maszlee had urged the religious teachers to make Sabah and Sarawak their medan dakwah.

This led to criticisms, especially from Sabah and Sarawak, who felt that his statement was a form of Islamisation.

Speaking at an event yesterday, Dr Maszlee said that his remarks had been interpreted as telling the teachers to convert people to Islam.

“That’s a narrow understanding (of the term medan dakwah),” he said, noting that he had been accused of using schools to spread Islam.

Dr Maszlee said that dakwah, according to Islam, actually means to do good.

Teachers are still doing dakwah when they educate a child and help them succeed in life, he said.

In SIBU, Bukit Assek assemblyman Irene Chang said Dr Maszlee should acquaint himself with the sentiments and the educational needs of the people in the two states.

She said there were many things, which Dr Maszlee should address and resolve on an urgent basis like reviewing the education syllabi for primary and secondary schools.

“The full historical details of how Malaysia Agreement came about and the Cobbold Commission are not in the syllabus,” she said, citing as an example of topics that had been excluded.

Students, she said, were not taught to think out of the box.

“This is probably why a lot of our students find it very challenging to do well when they reach tertiary level of their education. English is another subject which the minister has to look into if we want to produce students who can communicate well globally,” she said, adding that there was also the problem of dilapidated schools.

Ministers, she said, should ensure that no one is allowed to use schools as a platform to propagate issues which could touch on the sensitivities of the people of Sarawak.