Muhyiddin directs Mara to lift MRSM ban on non-Muslim religious activities
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has directed Mara to revoke with immediate effect all regulations banning non-Muslim religious activities within the campuses of all its junior science colleges (MRSM) in Sarawak.
Muhyiddin made the decision after meeting with state Barisan Nasional leaders in Kuching yesterday.
Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri Dr James Masing, who disclosed the decision, said he was pleased that Muhyiddin understood the sensitivity of the issue in Sarawak.
He said the officers under the DPM and in the Education Ministry should have the same sensitivity on such issues.
The ban was not only opposed by Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem but Dayak leaders across the political spectrum.
Adenan summoned Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, whose ministry has the purview on Mara, to Kuching over the weekend to discuss the issue.
While Shafie denied there were religious curbs in Sarawak MRSMs, he told a press conference after meeting Adenan that if there were such regulations, “it is not right” and Mara would withdraw them.
A few days later, however, the minister was quoted by national news agency Bernama as saying that “MRSM had never imposed any additional rules that prevented students from following or practising their own religion”.
DAP vice-chairman Leon Jimat Donald, the opposition party's leader in Betong – a town in the Dayak heartland – raised the issue when he voiced the concerns of some Dayak parents who had children in MRSM Betong last October.
The Betong MP and minister of plantation industries and commodities Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah denied the allegation and accused Leon of looking for political mileage.
Shafie echoed similar sentiments saying it was a “political ploy” of the opposition.
Yesterday, Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian wrote to Mara requesting it to explain if the "additional rules" for non-Muslim students existed.
The enquiry was addressed to Abdul Wahid Ahmad, the director of secondary education at Mara's head office in Kuala Lumpur.
The Ba'kelalan assemblyman said it was important to find out the truth as he had earlier said he planned to take legal action against Mara if the rules were not withdrawn.
The issue is Rule 9 in the MRSM guide book for new students.
It stated that all religious activities, with the exception of Islamic religious activities, are totally prohibited within the college campus.
The rule prohibited the display of religious symbols like the crucifix necklace and students are required to seek permission to attend religious activities outside the campus.
Some parents viewed that as requiring permission to even attend church service on Sundays, raising anger among them.
Dayak non-Muslim Bumiputeras made up the majority of students in the college in this rural town of Betong – home of Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu – some 150km from Kuching. – February 13, 2015.
