Malaysia needs a Saddam to keep the peace, says Perlis mufti

  • MALAYSIA needs a “strong, dominant” leader to keep the peace, said the Perlis mufti, citing former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein as someone able to prevent a country from being divided.
  • Free Malaysia Today reported that Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin’s remarks were part of his defence of earlier comments that Malay’s cultural and political dominance should be preserved in Malaysia.
  • He described as “thugs” those who sow discord by questioning Malay dominance, and said a leader like Saddam can rein in the chiefs of minority communities.
  • Asri’s remarks follow weeks of debate over the teaching of khat to Year Four pupils in vernacular schools and offensive statements by controversial preacher Zakir Naik.
  • The mufti said Malay-Muslims are not racists, and that Islam opposes such prejudiced thinking. But every country has its own identity, he said, and Malaysia’s is Malay, with the community being the “landowners”.
  • On the contentious khat issue, he described opposition to the inclusion of a few pages on the topic in the Bahasa Malaysia textbook as disrespectful.
  • Meanwhile, Dong Zong, Jiao Zong and other Chinese education groups want vernacular school management boards, instead of parent-teacher associations (PTAs) to decide on the introduction of Jawi to year 4 pupils under the Bahasa Malaysia syllabus.
  • The groups said they believe leaving the decision to PTAs and parents will create further problems and difficulties in the implementation process.
  • The groups said the cabinet’s decision overall showed that the government had been sensitive to the concerns of non-Muslims and that renaming khat to Jawi had helped in easing suspicions of Islamisation. This is because Jawi is already taught in the Year 5 BM syllabus in vernacular schools and is familiar to all.

External Link : https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/176923

External Link : https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/176997

20-Aug-2019