Umno Youth education bureau is giving those who threatened a Muslim school teacher to remove her "tudung" (headscarf) 24 hours to apologise to all Muslims.
Umno Youth exco and bureau chairperson Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen said if they fail to do so, the Education Ministry must sack the school headmaster.
"The management board officer who made the threat should be made to apologise and vacated from his post.
"If this is not forthcoming, I urge the ministry to intervene and sack the headmaster as someone who does not understand Muslim sensitivities does not qualify for the post," he said.
Mohd Rafiq also complained about the alleged "slow reaction" from Education Ministers Muhyiddin Yassin and Idris Jusoh who have yet to publicly denounce the matter.
He was referring to a report the bureau received from Johor Umno Youth that a 25-year-old Muslim school teacher in SJKC Nan Ya in Kota Tinggi was told to take off her "tudung" to continue teaching there.
He said that Johor Umno Youth had also visited the school and spoke to the headmaster, who promised no repeat of the incident and described it was a "misunderstanding".
"These are just stereotype answers," Mohd Rafiq said.
He said that Umno Youth representatives had also visited the district education department and was told the teacher, who has not been named, has been transferred to another school due to safety reasons.
He said the teacher had also lodged a report against the school management board officer who had allegedly threatened her safety.
This has been confirmed by the police, according to an Utusan Malaysia police report dated Jan 13.
Malaysiakini has contacted the school but the headmaster declined to comment.
'Frequent insults to Islam'
Mohd Rafiq said the matter is no longer about the teacher's safety or right to don the tudung, but is part of "insults against Islam" which have become "more and more frequent".
"What we want is an assurance that such insults to Islam will not recur...There is already existing laws which prohibit this but it is strangely, these issues keep recurring.
"Like (The Herald editor) Father Lawrence Andrew, who is still free to make statements. What is the problem (that there is no action taken)?
"We fear that there are political considerations, that we are afraid to offend some people like the Christians. If this is true, then we are going to lose support from both sides, the Muslims and non-Muslims, as the Muslims are angry that no action is taken," he said.
Lawrence was probed for sedition for his statements in a news article where he said Christians will continue to use the word "Allah".
The Herald is appealing a Court of Appeal decision barring it from using the word "Allah". The Court found that the world is not essential to the Christian faith.
However, Christians who worship in Bahasa Malaysia and other indigineous languages say they have been using the word to refer to God in their worship for centuries.
The issue came to a head again on Jan 2 when the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department seized more than 300 copies of the Bahasa and Iban Bible from the Bible Society of Malaysia.
Umno Youth exco and bureau chairperson Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen said if they fail to do so, the Education Ministry must sack the school headmaster.
"The management board officer who made the threat should be made to apologise and vacated from his post.
"If this is not forthcoming, I urge the ministry to intervene and sack the headmaster as someone who does not understand Muslim sensitivities does not qualify for the post," he said.
Mohd Rafiq also complained about the alleged "slow reaction" from Education Ministers Muhyiddin Yassin and Idris Jusoh who have yet to publicly denounce the matter.
He was referring to a report the bureau received from Johor Umno Youth that a 25-year-old Muslim school teacher in SJKC Nan Ya in Kota Tinggi was told to take off her "tudung" to continue teaching there.
He said that Johor Umno Youth had also visited the school and spoke to the headmaster, who promised no repeat of the incident and described it was a "misunderstanding".
"These are just stereotype answers," Mohd Rafiq said.
He said that Umno Youth representatives had also visited the district education department and was told the teacher, who has not been named, has been transferred to another school due to safety reasons.
He said the teacher had also lodged a report against the school management board officer who had allegedly threatened her safety.
This has been confirmed by the police, according to an Utusan Malaysia police report dated Jan 13.
Malaysiakini has contacted the school but the headmaster declined to comment.
'Frequent insults to Islam'
Mohd Rafiq said the matter is no longer about the teacher's safety or right to don the tudung, but is part of "insults against Islam" which have become "more and more frequent".
"What we want is an assurance that such insults to Islam will not recur...There is already existing laws which prohibit this but it is strangely, these issues keep recurring.
"Like (The Herald editor) Father Lawrence Andrew, who is still free to make statements. What is the problem (that there is no action taken)?
"We fear that there are political considerations, that we are afraid to offend some people like the Christians. If this is true, then we are going to lose support from both sides, the Muslims and non-Muslims, as the Muslims are angry that no action is taken," he said.
Lawrence was probed for sedition for his statements in a news article where he said Christians will continue to use the word "Allah".
The Herald is appealing a Court of Appeal decision barring it from using the word "Allah". The Court found that the world is not essential to the Christian faith.
However, Christians who worship in Bahasa Malaysia and other indigineous languages say they have been using the word to refer to God in their worship for centuries.
The issue came to a head again on Jan 2 when the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department seized more than 300 copies of the Bahasa and Iban Bible from the Bible Society of Malaysia.
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