BN MP with all guns blazing

Religion & History: BN MP with all guns blazing
Beh Lih Yi Malaysiakini
Mar 15, 06 7:05pm




A Barisan Nasional (BN) parliamentarian today raised the temperature in the Dewan Rakyat by touching on history and religion. This prompted another BN MP to issue a caution.

In a no-holds-barred speech, Loh Seng Kok (BN-Kelana Jaya) complained about ‘imbalanced’ history textbooks, new prayer recital guidelines and the problems faced by non-Muslims with regards to places of worship.

Loh said the syllabus of history textbooks ignored the contribution of non-bumiputeras and only emphasised on the Islamic civilisation.

Terming it as “incomplete and imbalanced”, he said the syllabus does not encourage critical thinking among the students.

“For instance, the fight against the Japanese Occupation during World War II is portrayed as only the effort of the Malays but ignored the role of Chinese and Indian Malaysians,” he added.

Furthermore, he said the syllabus from Form One to Form Five does not provide a deeper understanding of other civilisations.

“Five out of the 10 chapters in the Form Four history textbook only focused on the Islamic civilisation,” he added.

Prayer recital guideline

Earlier, Loh also complained about the prayer recital guidelines which were being drafted by the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim).

According to him, the new guidelines would be imposed on “everyone and every government and private agency” during official or semi-official functions.

“The guidelines are being drafted without consultation, reference or discussion with representatives of other religions,” he said while seconding the motion to thank the royal address.

“This is against the principle of respect, understanding, discussion and transparency promoted by the government and its leaders,” he added.

Loh also urged the government not to ignore providing allocation and basic facilities for non-Muslim places of worship.

He claimed that one of the problems faced was the Registrar of Societies (ROS) revoking the registration of these places of worship without strong reasons.

For example, he said a church was recently de-registered by the ROS due to confusion regarding its membership, failing to publicly display meeting notices and accepting university students as church members without prior consent from the university’s vice-chancellor.

In view of this, Loh said the time was ripe for the establishment of a religions development department.

He said the department would be seen as a step towards recognising other religions and upholding the spirit of religious freedom enshrined in the federal constitution.

“If Jakim is needed, the religions development department must be established as well,” he added.

‘Dangerous’ interpretation

At the end of his speech, Mohamed Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) issued a caution to Loh, saying his words could be interpreted in a ‘dangerous’ way.

“The country’s harmony is based on the nation’s history, where there was a consensus reached by the different ethnic groups... we shouldn’t just look at superficial issues.

“The nation has also never denied freedom of religion,” he added.

Also irked was Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian), who told Loh not to question the prayer recital guidelines.

He warned that the BN MP’s speech could lead to a rift between the different races.

In another development, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in a written reply to Chow Kon Yeow (DAP-Tanjong) today reiterated his rejection to the formation of an interfaith commission.

He said the proposal had caused controversies and widened the division among different religions.

However, the premier added that dialogues will be held between the various faiths from time to time.