Ministry probes Zakir exam paper question

PETALING JAYA: The Education Ministry is investigating an examination paper that apparently described controversial preacher Dr. Zakir Naik as “one of the icons of the Islamic world”.

Education Minister Maszlee Malik’s press secretary ZF Zamir confirmed this to theSun yesterday when asked on the issue.

“We are conducting an investigation.”

MIC vice-chief Datuk C. Sivarraajh had reportedly questioned the relevancy of the question in Universiti Malaysia Perlis’ (UniMAP) Ethnic Relations Course examination that was conducted last Sunday.

“I don’t understand why questions that do not respect racial sensitivity are produced as an examination question for a subject that’s intended to improve students’ understanding of the different races and religions,” he said.

He hoped the university would furnish an explanation on the matter.

The papers are available on MIC’s Facebook.

At press time, UniMAP was unreachable for comments.

The question reads: Zakir Naik is one of the icons of the Islamic world, he is very active in spreading true Islam and following the Quran and Sunnah of Rasullah SAW. He is able to reason and to answer every question that is asked to him. However, in Malaysia, he is no longer allowed to preach. In your opinion, as a Malaysian, why does this happen?

Among the answers were: (1) Malaysians do not bother; (2) sensitive Malaysians feel threatened (sic) for no reasons; (3) Malaysians who (sic) are normally submissive (4) Malaysians are ignorant about their own religion.