'Sarawak teacher grouse proof DAP meddling in Islamic matters'

DAP's move to question the Sarawak Islamic Affairs Department's intervention in recruitment of a non-Muslim teacher in the state is evidence that the party meddles with Islamic affairs, said PAS Youth.

DAP had raised this after an application by a Mathematics teacher to join the service was allegedly rejected after vetting by the Sarawak Islamic Affairs Department.

But the the state government clarified that the teacher had answered an advertisement seeking teachers for Arabic language classes, Islamic learning classes and religious schools which are overseen by the Islamic affairs department.

"The DAP is now more clearly showing its enmity towards Islam and is attacking anything to do with Islam. This shows the chauvinism and racism upheld by the DAP.

"The teacher issue was raised by DAP's Bandar Kuching MP (Chong Chieng Jen) merely as justification for DAP's anti-Islam stand," PAS Youth information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said in a statement.

He said Chong raised the issue despite knowing that vetting by the Islamic affairs department is not part of procedures for hiring teachers.

"The DAP willfully cast doubt and aspersions in multicultural Malaysia where it is customary to respect and accept one another," Fadhli said.

He claimed that DAP showed the same anti-Islam streak in various other cases, including the ban on the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims and the recent controversy about pig bristles used for paint brushes.

"(These matters) should not have been exaggerated to cause more conflict," he said in a statement.

DAP has consistently denied it is anti-Islam.- Mkini