Muslim Religious Teacher's In Malaysia Poisoning the Minds of Children with Hatred!

By Admin


Religious schools are one of the main issues related to terrorism and counter-terrorism. The image of Taliban (students from religious schools) and their Mulla (religious teachers) coloured perceptions of some people towards Islamic religious schools as breeding grounds of extremism and terrorism. 


It is important to understand the difference between the philosophy of Islamic education and various forms of Islamic religious schools. One must also understand differences between various forms of Islamic religious schools e.g pesantren, pondok, madrasah.


All these forms carry different meanings depending on the context or country where they are operated. For example, madrasahs in Singapore are very different in many aspects than madrasahs in Pakistan. Even in Singapore, the word madrasah is used for two very different Islamic religious education platforms; full time madrasah and part time madrasah. Pondok system practiced in Indonesia is different from what is practiced in Malaysia. In Indonesia, there are pondoks who are known as Pondok Moderen (Modern Pondok), which essentially operates just like any schools. The only different is that, they offer religious subjects in addition to normal subjects.


In the case of Malaysia, only one religious school was linked to JI, which was Sekolah Agama Tarbiyatul Islamiyah Lukmanul Hakim at Ulu Tiram, Johor. It is alleged that many religious school in Malaysia are breeding ground for the Islamic Party (PAS). Even if it is true, it is a separate issue. That itself is not sufficient to label an institution as a source of extremism or terrorism. While PAS dominance in Malaysian religious schools may be a political problem but it is not a security problem. 


What is really troubling here is the influence wielded by the Ustad's and Ustazah's over our children. Many urban Muslim parents in Malaysia have to juggle their time between career and family. As caring parents who are concerned about their children's well being, they are forced to put their trust into these Ustad's and Ustazah's for their children's religious formation. Even though these urban Malay Muslim parents are moderates and educated, their children are becoming more extreme in their religious outlook, very often seeing evil in their friends who are non Muslims and non Malays. This 'gospel of hatred' has been ingrained in the minds of Muslim children during their 'Mengaji' classes. The fact is, these half baked Muslim teachers who often ride on motorbikes have a profound hatred towards non Muslims and non Malays. Not surprisingly, these Ustad's and Ustazah's are pro-Umno and make sure that their charges have a hatred towards the Opposition.


What we have here is not only the breeding ground for more Hasan Ali's, Ibrahim Ali's. Ridhuan Tee Abdullah's and Zul Nordin's but probably future suicide bombers. Even in Government schools where there's a racial and religious mix, Ustad's and Ustazah's are given positions of power and prominence to carry out their diabolical agenda. 


The only way we can change this is to change the Government because the politics of BN/Umno will only encourage such extremism to flourish. Jom Ubah! Asalkan Bukan Umno/BN.