Terror threat: Zaid claims local varsities shaping dangerous minds

Malaysia may fall victim to terrorism because the education system is churning out those who are incapable of rational thinking, said former law minister Zaid Ibrahim.

He also accused certain quarters of encouraging violence.

"Malaysia will probably be next because some of us condone and in fact encourage violence.

"The atmosphere of violence is thick in the air here," he noted in a blog posting today.

Zaid said that an example was the reaction from Umno, Malays and Muslims about his comments on the M Indira Gandhi case where her ex-husband had converted their three children to Islam without her knowledge.

"Some say I was deliberately inciting hatred against Islam, and that if Indira has two children who are Hindus, then it is only fair that the youngest remains a Muslim. These Malays all have university certificates.

"It’s clear they do not understand the real issue, which is whether a husband can convert the religion of the child without the mother’s agreement. It’s a human issue. It’s a legal issue.

"But because these Malays are not able to think clearly, they see the issue differently. They see it as Muslims versus Hindus. That’s when they become irrational.

"Why are these Malays irrational? Because they go to universities that produce non-thinking, or rather dangerous-thinking Malays," he said.

PM must acknowledge the danger

Zaid said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak must acknowledge the danger of irrational thinking and understand that the situation is grave enough to warrant a transformation of the education system.

"Our rabid Malay/'Islamic' thinking is the reason for the rapid rise of extremism in Malay behaviour," he added.

A first step, Zaid said, is to replace Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh with someone capable of "tempering the rabid education policy" and creating a moderate one.

Zaid named two ministers, Mustapa Mohamed and Khairy Jamaluddin, as those capable for the task.

Elaborating on the current state of higher education under Idris' leadership, Zaid took issue with a motivational course provided to university professors, vice-chancellors and teachers.

The former minister said the individual responsible for this course had espoused less-than-moderate views.

"When G25 suggested that khalwat laws be reviewed, he commented that Muslims who are against Islam should have their heads chopped off.

"This is the quality of Malays who roam our universities. This is the type of Malay who is brainwashing younger Malays into having a dangerously skewed view of the world," he said.

However, Zaid was pessimistic that the current state of education would improve.

"Because the prime minister does not even understand that only a good education policy will produce intelligent and moderate Malays, he will not make any changes," he said. -Mkini