Forcing birds of a feather to flock together

A few days ago, Education Minister Maszlee Malik spoke about the importance of racial integration among students. He claimed he does not understand why most students only mix with those of their own race and do not widen their circle of friends in a multiracial Malaysia.

Since our education minister doesn’t seem to comprehend the reason for this, as a mother of two and a person who works closely with children, I feel compelled to step in and share some stories I’ve heard from the children.

A couple of years ago, an 11-year-old student, in a state of confusion, asked if God would be angry at her for being friends with her two non-Muslim classmates.

She said: “My ustaz (male religious teacher) said it is haram(forbidden) to be close to people who are not Muslims. He said they could influence us to do wrong things that could eventually make God angry.”

Another student from a different school, this one a non-Muslim aged nine, said she no longer wanted to be friends with another student, a Muslim, who used to be her best friend.

“Lina said when she dies she and her family will go to heaven. But when I die, all of us will go to hell. She said her agama (religion) teacher told her so and she thinks it is the truth. I don’t like her anymore.”

Having been told something along these lines by my own ustaz and ustazah during my school years in the 1980s, I wasn’t shocked to hear their stories.

'Too many problems'

However, I was ultimately shocked when my teenage son, who was then doing his foundation level at a university in Perak, shared this incident with me:

Being unable to get along with his roommate, my son made an appointment to meet his student affairs officer in order to request to be relocated to a different room in the university campus.

“What is the problem?” the officer asked.

“Too many,” my son said. “He is unhygienic and disrespectful. He brings friends into the room, they stay up late, leave the lights on, turn on the music and a lot of other problems. I tried talking to him, but nothing has changed in these past few months.”

“Fine. I have to check where to relocate you,” replied the officer.

“I actually have a friend on the same floor who doesn’t have a roommate,” explained my son.

“His name?”

“Jackie.”

“Chinese?”

“Yes. Why, is there a problem?” my son asked.

“We usually place Muslim students together so it will be more convenient for them,” the officer replied.

My son was taken aback, not knowing what actually the officer meant by “convenient”. He then realised that all his non-Muslim friends were, in fact, roommates with other non-Muslims while his Muslim friends flocked together.

“It will be easier for Muslims to share rooms. You wouldn’t have to worry about performing the solat (prayers),” the officer continued.

“I am sure Jackie wouldn’t mind if I prayed in our room.”

“Are you sure?” the officer kept repeating.

“Yes, I am very sure,” my son said.

In the end, Jackie had to trouble himself by attending a meeting with the student affairs officer before my son was allowed to move into his room. All that just because my son is a Muslim and his friend is not.

Honestly, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see why most of our students are not mixing with others of different races. It is purely because they are conditioned to do so throughout the stages of their education, through the use of religion as a grounds for separation.

How do we move forward as a nation when religion is continuously used to indoctrinate our children?

Keep religion out

Our children should grow up as one community, appreciating one another as equal members of that community, without being reminded of how they differ from one another.

In order to do just that, all religious elements should be taken out of our schools – and this includes Maszlee’s own proposal to use Islamic teachings to educate students about moral virtues.

After all, anyone would be able to tell you that in order to bring people of different backgrounds together, one should focus on their similarities and not on their differences.

Here’s the thing - we can change the colour of our school shoes, change policies and guidelines or build bigger schools, nicer toilets or even share swimming pools with five-star hotels, but as long as religion creeps into our education system, our schools can never be a place for racial integration.

The school is the first place our children learn to integrate before they learn to function as a unit in a multiracial community. As such, the school is the perfect place for us to nurture young minds to love their friends and neighbours, whatever their race or religion is.

But how do we create bonds among our students when schoolteachers and school systems themselves spawn fear and discrimination?

Perhaps Maszlee can enlighten us on that.

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FA ABDUL is a passionate storyteller, a growing media trainer, an aspiring playwright, a regular director, a struggling producer, a self-acclaimed photographer, an expert Facebooker, a lazy blogger, a part-time queen and a full-time vainpot. - Mkini