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Students learn how to recite the Holy Quran and perform prayers
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By
Kazi Mahmood, IOL
South Asia
Correspondent
KOTA
BARU, November 3 (IslamOnline) - The Malaysian government remained firm
in its decision to terminate the traditional funding for Islamic schools
despite intense lobbying by school owners and the opposition Party Islam
Se-Malaysia (PAS) to have the decision reversed.
Several
Islamic schools around Malaysia may simply close doors or force their
students to start paying fees as from January next year, while the PAS
has appealed to the government to review its decision and to appease the
anger of the Malay community at large.
Many
of the schools affected are in Terengganu, Kelantan, which are under the
control of the PAS, the major opposition party against the ruling
National Front (NF) of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Islamic
schools are popular in
Malaysia
a country with a large majority of
Malay-Muslim population. It is the basic school for hundred of thousands
of Muslim toddlers and pre-primary school students.
In
the state of Kedah, which is considered the strong hold of Mahathir,
Islamic schools are looking forward to a slow death, says parents and
teachers who spoke to IslamOnline on the issue.
It
is not possible to get the figures right on how many such schools exists
in
Malaysia
but it is undeniable that they have
great influence in the community of Malays around the country.
“The
NF government felt these schools were threats to its ideals of a secular
country and style of government, that is why the funding has been
stopped so brutally,” said a mother who sends her children to Islamic
schools in Selangor, the richest state in
Malaysia
.
Parents
says it is not a question of financial constraints that forced the
government to cut the funding, adding that they believe it is part of
the government’s plan to reduce the influence of Islam in the country.
“All
Islamic schools and students of these schools are labelled “PAS” by
the government, so it is obvious that they want to ban such schools.
Falling short of a pure ban, which they tried but failed a few months
ago, they now cut the source of income…” another angry mother said
to IslamOnline.
In
Selangor parents are ready to put up a fight to keep these schools alive
and running, ensuring that their children gets the basic Islamic
education before they go to primary schools, which are run by the
Ministry of Education and has a different calendar and agenda from the
Islamic Schools.
A
teacher in Selangor, who teaches in a local Islamic school that is
facing closure after the ban, said the government plan was to satisfy
the desires of “external” forces, such as the
United States
.
“It
is all part of the “war against terror” that is being waged against
Islam. The government is surely under pressure to put some pressure on
Islam based schools in order not to raise the wrath of the
U.S.
for example,” Ali Kalla said when
IslamOnline met him in his school on Sunday.
The
government really does not have any motives to cut down the funds for
Islamic schools while it maintains funds for non-Islamic schools and
institutions. It is unfair and it shows the double language of the
regime in place, added a PAS member who also works in one such Islamic
Schools called “Maktab”.
The
Maktab teaches the Quraan, Islamic basic principles and prayers to
children of such young age as 3 to 5 years old. The school produces
young Muslims who recite short surah’s of the Quran and recite the
various prayers they are taught by their “Ustazah’s” (female
Muslim teachers.)
It
is entrenched in the mind of the public that Islamic schools are the
basis for the young Muslims to study Islam and to learn the first steps
in becoming good Muslims and citizens, a female teacher by the name of
Norasmah told IslamOnline.
Most
of the schools are privately “owned” or set up by individuals who
have Islamic knowledge and are trusted both by the authorities and the
parents, Norasmah said, adding that it was not fair to cut the funding
for such schools since many of the children who frequents the schools
are not of rich families.
In
the state of Johore, the state government run by the NF controls Islamic
schools and leaves little space to opponents such as PAS and others to
spread through such schools.
However,
the few resisting schools are branded “PAS” by the authorities
though the owners insist they are not PAS owned and do not portray
anything that could link them to the Islamic opposition party.
The
opposition PAS says such schools are not only there to instill the basic
of Islam in
Malaysia
but it is also the right of the people
to have such “Maktabs” and other schools that teaches the Quraan and
other basic Islamic principles.
The
PAS and owners of several schools deny firmly the comments by the
government that Islamic schools were used for political purposes and
that the opposition were infiltrating such schools for political gains.
“Instead,
the cutting of the funds is a political action that will cost the
government dearly in the end. The Malays, be they pro government or not,
are still Muslims and they do not like such brutal actions,” Ali Kalla
said.
Mahathir
Mohammad, the Malaysian Prime minister, spoke on Friday, October 24,
announcing that the government has stopped giving per capita grants to
religious schools after some of the schools were found to be used for
politics, Malaysian news agency, Bernama, reported.
