by Jennifer Gomez and Shahirah Rashid
The Malaysian Insider
February 06, 2014
National schools are the breeding ground for racial polarisation and the education system is the root cause of the problem plaguing the country now, an interfaith forum was told yesterday.
Parents Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim told an audience of about 65 at the interfaith forum titled “A dialogue for harmony”, that it was all about Malay supremacy in schools now.
PAGE was among 40 civil groups and non-governmental organisations at the forum in conjunction with World Interfaith Harmony Week, jointly organised by the Global Movement of Moderates and Promotion of Human Rights (Proham).
“The only solution is for the glory of national schools to be returned, which means we need more subjects in English in national schools, because right now, national schools are Malay schools and nothing more,” said Noor Azimah.
She said certain Muslim groups funded by Putrajaya were also the source of the problem.
Sisters in Islam executive director Ratna Osman also touched on the education system, saying her sons were told in school that they could not mix with non-Muslims.
“I was shocked when an ustazah told them they cannot be with non-Muslims because they are not like us, because we are supreme human beings.
“I am disgusted because that is not the kind of education which I received 30 years ago,” Ratna said. Continue reading “Interfaith forum blames education system, national schools for racial polarisation”