KUALA LUMPUR, December 30 (IslamOnline.net) - The United States is pressuring the Malaysian government to get rid of private Islamic schools and to change the curriculum of local primary schools to attract children of “Islamic oriented” parents, a member of the Party Islam Malaysia (PAS) told Islamonline.net Tuesday, December 30.

“We know that most of the Muslim countries are under pressure from the U.S. to reorganize and revamp Islamic schools and change the curriculum of Islamic schools,” said Dr Syed Azman, PAS MP in Terengganu state to Islamonline.net.

He was reacting to the news that the Malaysian government would revamp primary schools in an attempt to force the closures of Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) or private Islamic schools as reported in the Singapore Straits Times Tuesday.

“The government is planning to start fresh and complete Islamic education classes in primary schools, thus making it unnecessary for children to go to additional Islamic schools after normal school hours,” said Zakariah Amin, a teacher of a local private Islamic school.

“It is just a political ploy by the new Prime Minister to give a new Islamic image of himself and of his leadership. We have been saying all along that they want to politicize the issue of SAR. They should rather reopen such schools if they want Islamic education to prosper in Malaysia,” added Dr Azman.

“He also issued so many comments on the SAR yet the closure of the SAR is an American agenda,” said the Doctor who is PAS MP in Kuala Terengganu, the state controlled by the Islamic party since 1999.

“Looking at what is happening in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and elsewhere, the U.S. sees these schools as those that breed terrorists and hatred against the west.

“They want to change this and pressure the governments to change it too. Former Prime Minister Mahathir said that the SARs are part and parcel of terror activities and are anti-government etc,” Dr Azman added.

On its part, the Malaysian government said that it want to lure students away from the influence of conservative ulemas (scholars) and poorly funded madrassah’s or SAR schools, reported the Straits Times of Singapore.

The aim is to boost Islamic education in national schools and to produce students who are at ease in both the mosque and the corporate world, said the newspaper.

Under the plan unveiled by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last week, primary school students would learn Arabic and the Koran during school hours.

Announcing the plan to revamp Islamic education in Malaysia, Abdullah said: “I do not say I reject in total the religious education system today, but I feel that its implementation must be carried out properly and with good teachers who are qualified.

“I'm now actively focusing on the Islamic education subject which will be compatible with the national education system. The Islamic education subject must not be isolated under the national education system.”

Malay-Muslim students are sent to madrassah’s (private Islamic schools) and religious teachers outside the national school system are the ones teaching them. The government feels that these schools and their teachers are anti-government.

However, like Dr Azman, many in the country feel that the government is using this as a cover up to put a firm control on Islamic education and to bow to pressures from the U.S.

It is now understood that at the tertiary level in national schools, the government will allow students from the religious stream to specialize in subjects linked to science and technology and the arts, or to take up vocational training.

“Hence, Islamic studies will become part and parcel of the primary schools and the curriculum will be dictated either by what the U.S. wants the government to do or by the political agenda of the regime in place,” said Zakariah.

The teacher said he believed there is a blessing in disguise there too in this policy, since Malaysia is a democratic nation and in elections anything can happen.

“Let them do their ploy, we can still beat them where they least expect and if we take over the country, we can then instill our own brand of Islam, which is the true Islam in the system.

“That way, we will be able to reach a larger spectrum of the Islamic population in the country thanks to a work well done by the regime in power now,” said Zakariah, with a dose of sarcasm in his voice.

Nevertheless, making national schools more attractive could also slow the advance of radical interpretations of Islam and encourage Muslims to embrace both religious and worldly pursuits revealed the Straits Time newspaper.

Singapore is encouraging the Malaysian, Philippine and Indonesian as well as Thailand government to go ahead with changes in the way Islam is taught within their borders in order to carve a safer and less terror prone Muslim community in the South East Asian region.

The Singapore government is also not keen to have the PAS in power in Kuala Lumpur, fearing for its stability and the definite influence the Islamic firebrand party would have on Malays within its own borders.

The tiny republic has, however, failed to curb on existing religious schools in Singapore despite serious efforts to undermine them and to channel Muslims through the ‘knowledge based” educations system since 2001.

In Indonesia, more focus is being put on revamping and controlling traditional religious schools by offering government aid attached with a series of conditions that definitely means there should not be any form of radicalism in such institutions.

In Thailand, the authorities would not allow for the opening of new ‘madrassah’s’ and would assist Muslims who joins in community based activities, just like in Singapore.