HUMAN rights activist and lawyer Siti Kasim has hit out at the Education Ministry – whether lower or higher education – for allowing Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) to coerce non-Muslim Bumiputera undergraduates from Sabah and Sarawak to attend spiritual seminars at mosques right under its nose.
She was further flabbergasted that the Malaysian education authorities does not have a policy in place “to control people in the university who consider themselves entrusted by God to coax non-Muslims into embracing Islam”.”
“First thing first, coercion is inacceptable as non-Muslims are not obliged to follow instructions which force them to attend a religious talk,” the Orang Asli advocate pointed out in a YouTube video.
“I can’t fathom that people doing so believe they’ll receive pahala (godly merit) if they’re able to convert non-Muslims to Islam … Where does such belief originate from till they will be so overjoyed to convert a Muslim thinking that the door of heaven will open wide for them.
“This is complete rubbish,” she fumed while wondering what type of Islam is being taught in Malaysia to the extent that it is mandatory for every non-Muslim undergraduate in public universities to enrol for one or two compulsory-to-pass Islamic-related subjects “to qualify them for their degree”.
“This has been validated by non-Muslim undergraduates even though their courses, eg petroleum engineering, have nothing whatsoever to do with Islamic studies,” revealed Siti Kasim.
“What type of system is this? What type of people do our Education Ministry intend to produce … I put the blame on our politicians for ruining (menjahanamkan) our country with their brainless policies and methods.”
In Siti Kasim’s contention, if one desires to study Islam with the intent of converting, then by all means the person can do so himself but a blanket policy which forces every undergraduate to attend religious talks or e to enroll for religious subjects that bear no relevance to their degree is totally uncalled for.
“I’ve said this many tines that the problem lies with politicians in our government – both past and present. They’re the root cause of the problem … if we don’t get the right people in the government, I can’t imagine what type of nation we’ll end up with in the near future,” she added. – Jan 14, 2025
