Ustaz in Dayak-majority school in rural Sarawak keeps post

Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem has asked the state education department to adopt a wait and see position on the posting of a religious teacher from Kelantan as the principal of a rural school in which the students are mostly Dayak Christians. – The Malaysian Insider pic, November 30, 2015.The religious teacher from Kelantan whose posting as principal to a Dayak-majorty school in Sarawak stirred outcry from parents wary of religious conversions will keep his post.

Ustaz Roslin Che Mood is staying put in his appointment at SMK Sg Paoh in Sarikei after Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem told state education director Rakayah Madon "to let him stay put and see what happens".

Rakayah, however, did not say when the chief minister made the decision when she was asked about the matter today.

She had attended the opening of SK Matu Baru in Petrajaya by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who was representing Adenan.

Adenan on November 13 had said the state would intervene in the posting, if necessary.

Dayak parents, backed by Dayak community groups and even a senior minister in Adenan's cabinet, feared that Roslin would use his position to convert Dayak students, following precedents of conversions among native school children without their parents' consent in other schools in the Sarawak interior.

Still fresh for many Sarawakians is the attempted conversion by two female teachers of SMK Lutong in Miri of an underaged Dayak student in March.

Such sentiments also arise from the long-standing grouse that local Sarawakians are passed over for positions in the federal civil service, and in Roslin's case, questions have been asked as to why a local was not picked to head the school.

Despite the appointment being made by the Education Ministry, Adenan's intervention was consistent with his statement that Sarawak would like to have a say in education policies.

Rakayah said what was in favour of Roslin was that he had been teaching in the state for more than 30 years without problems.

The controversy sparked a fallout between members of the state cabinet, land development minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing and assistant minister of youth development Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

Masing had asked the Education Ministry to consider local sensitivities and the latest policy developments in the state before making such decisions.

Karim painted Masing as racist when he was quoted by the local media saying “politicians from both the government and opposition, including ministers who portray extreme and racist views, should stay out of the fray”.

- TMI