HUMAN rights activist and lawyer Siti Kasim has hit out at what can best be described as moral policing gets out of hand with school teachers forcing Malay pupils – some as young as Year One – to don the tudung lest they will be subject to various forms of harassment and reprimand.
This follows viral confessions among female Malays on the social media as to how such practice is “almost mandatory” in national schools, particularly in rural areas, and even extends to the matriculation/university level.
Sekolah kebangsaan mana yang takde paksaan pakai tudung. Kat KL boleh la. Kitorang yang sekolah kampung semua kena paksa pakai. Sampai ke uni/matrik masih kena paksa2, waktu tu dah pandai la melawan
— harizan 🍉 (@Hrznsrd) February 11, 2025
Exposing what has stayed in her heart for so long, she fumed that there seems to be pressure in schools which makes such practice seemingly obligatory.
“While working in Sabah in 2005, I had a nice clerk who expressed her desire to not wanting to don the tudung anymore but felt incomplete by so doing because she had been forced during her schooling days to wear one against her will given offenders would be fined RM1 a day if caught without one,” she related in a YouTube video.
“I’ve heard from parents that it has become a norm for school teachers these days – mind you not religious lesson teachers – to force pupils to put on the tudung.
“A parent of a school runner has even complained to me how her daughter’s school forced the child to wear tudung on the pretext of haram although she feels uncomfortable enduring the heat when running.”
But strangely, Siti Kasim revealed that the Education Ministry (MOE) would deny the existence of a policy to force Malay pupils to don the tudung.
“So, my question is what type of teachers have you placed in schools? When I returned to the MGSS (Methodist Girls’ Secondary School) in Melaka as the school’s alumni, I was shocked to learn that there are now two canteens in the school, both of which are halal – one for the Malay pupils and another for non-Malay pupils.
Indoctrination, brainwash to hate
“Saddened, I even asked the then education minister Maszlee Malik who was present if such policy existed to which his reply was that this has nothing to do with religion surprised me.
“How do we expect multi-racial children to integrate if we segregate them … This was when a former schoolmate from the same batch who is now teaching in the school whispered to my ears that the Malay teachers had in fact requested for another canteen.”
This was when Siti Kasim wondered if the MOE is ever aware or simply closing one eye on the subtle indoctrination by school teachers on their pupils to hate others to the extent of “stepping on the Israeli flag because of existing Muslim animosity with the Zionist”.
“Would you not be angered if someone would to do likewise to the Malaysian flag? Inculcating such degree of disrespect is greatly unacceptable and it baffles me as to how the MOE can allow this to happen,” she berated.
“This is the problem I see in Malaysia where people in the position of power tend to force others to be pious like them when there is no element of force whatsoever in Islam.
“Isn’t this tantamount to brainwashing the children with their own version of Islam, ie to hate non-Muslims? Seriously, I’m so angry that our MOE is not doing anything for all these have been going on for so long.
“We thought the Madani government would have rectified this as part of its reforms but it’s all bull*hit … we certainly can’t allow this scary reality to continue and to ruin our future generation.”
Added the Orang Asli advocate: “Religion is a private affair between us and God … nobody can coerce us, hence I hope parents would start questioning school teachers (who go overboard).
“Some time back before the social media era, I was personally involved in defending some Orang Asli kids at a boarding school in Gua Musang (Kelantan) who got smacked by their Muslim teachers for not wanting to recite prayers in Arabic before their meals because they aren’t Muslims.
“What happened in the past is still happening today if we don’t initiate change. What is our government doing? Are they going to stop all these nonsense in our schools? I hope they’ll if not, we’ve to do something come the next general election to ensure our beloved country doesn’t go down the drain.” – Feb 14, 2025
